Elara Thornfield

"Why is your face so pale, Elara? Are you feeling unwell?" Willow Ashbourne asked, her brow furrowing with sudden concern as she stepped into the corridor of the Moonstone Summit Lodge.

My breath caught in my throat, my Zeta wolf shivering with pure terror as the scent of Alpha Ronan's heavy tobacco and scorched cedarwood still clung to the lining of my mouth. Willow had been my close ally since our young pack days in the Ashbourne Pack, but right now, looking into her eyes made my whole four-foot-five body shake.

Seeing the sheer panic on my face, Willow grabbed my arm, her ears perking as she scanned the grand hallway of Blackridge Pack Officials.

"In here, now," Willow muttered under her breath, pulling me inside the private sanitation washroom and throwing the heavy iron latch shut. "What happened in Alpha Command? Did Alpha Ronan threaten your life?"

I collapsed against the stone wall, sliding down until my knees hit the cold floor, tears spilling hot over my cheeks.

"Elara, talk to me!" Willow hissed, kneeling beside me with a hand on my trembling shoulder. "If the Alpha catches you breaking down like this, he will execute you! You know how ruthless the Blackridge Bloodline is."

Every wolf in Moonhaven Ridge knew Alpha Ronan Blackridge showed zero mercy to weak Zeta lower-castes. Just last month, he stripped a whole high-ranking warrior line of their titles and drove them into the rogue wasteland because a maiden cried during a territory briefing.

"I cannot lose my position in the Blackridge Alpha Dominion, Willow," I choked out, my chest heaving as I pressed my palms over my face. "If I am exiled from Moonhaven Ridge, the Thornfield Council will starve!"

"What did you do to anger him?" Willow asked, her voice tight with rising panic.

"I... I slept with him," I sobbed into my hands.

Willow froze. The silence in the stone room became deafening.

"What?" Willow whispered, her hand dropping from my shoulder as if my skin had caught fire. "What did you just say?"

"I stayed in his den last night," I forced out through my heavy breaths, the raw memory of his massive hands tearing my Zeta shirt open flooding my mind. "After the Summit feast."

Willow recoiled, backing away until her spine hit the heavy oak door three meters away. "You slept with Alpha Ronan? Are you insane? Female wolves who try to trap him with claims of carrying his bloodline end up in Beta Kieran's execution pit!"

"It was an accident!" I cried out, my hands trembling violently in my lap. "The pack elders kept filling his cup with moon-ale. I stepped in and drank three golden goblets to protect his honor, but the heat effect took over my Zeta blood! My wolf went crazy, and it went completely out of hand!"

"Out of hand?" Willow gasped, her eyes wide with total horror. "You threw your four-foot-five self onto the strongest Alpha in the Grand Alpha Council?"

"I do not know what to do," I wept, rubbing at the red bite marks hidden under my collar. "He gave me twenty-four hours to find the female who pinned him down, or he will have Beta Kieran hunt her down and snap her spine!"

Willow blinked, her panic suddenly stalling as her eyes narrowed. "Wait. He gave you twenty-four hours to find the culprit?"

"Yes," I whispered.

"He does not know it was you?" Willow demanded, taking a slow step forward.

"No," I admitted, shaking my head. "He did not see my face clearly in the dark when my heat flared."

Willow let out a sharp breath of relief, smoothing down her robes. "Good. Because if the Blackridge Bloodline linked this to you, the Ashbourne Pack would be wiped out for recommending you to his service."

She unbolted the door, glanced down the empty hall of the Moonstone Summit Lodge, and locked it again.

"There is only one way out of this," Willow whispered, leaning down close to my ear. "We wipe the Pack Sentinels' records before Beta Kieran inspects the den."

"Will that really work?" I asked, my heart hammering against my ribs.

"It has to," Willow gritted out, dragging me up by my arms. "Move fast."

Two hours later, Alpha Ronan finished addressing the Grand Alpha Council in the main hall.

I stepped into the Alpha Command break room right behind him, keeping my eyes locked on the floor and my submissive Zeta posture tight.

"Alpha Ronan," I reported, my voice synthetic and flat like a machine to hide the tremble in my lungs. "The investigation is complete."

Alpha Ronan sat on the dark leather couch, his broad shoulders casting a shadow across the room. He held a freshly lit cigarette between his thick fingers, blowing a slow plume of grey smoke toward the ceiling. His piercing black eyes settled on me, colder than frozen iron.

I swallowed the lump of fear in my throat, forcing my voice to remain steady.

"I accessed the Pack Sentinels' room and reviewed every record," I lied, holding out the blank parchment. "No wolf entered your private quarters after I left you last night. The silver pendant must belong to a Wandering Rogue from the previous moon cycle."

Ronan took a slow, deep drag of his cigarette, the tip glowing a harsh ember red in the dim light. He did not move. He did not blink.

"A Wandering Rogue," Ronan drawled softly, his deep Alpha voice vibrating straight through the floorboards and making my core ache with remembered heat.

He leaned forward, setting his cigarette in the tray, and pulled a piece of thick parchment from his inner jacket, sliding it across the table.

"Then explain why Beta Kieran just found your Thornfield Pack scent printed all over the velvet sheets," he said.

Elara Thornfield

My heart slammed against my ribs as Alpha Ronan Blackridge stared down at the sheet of parchment, his dark complexion unreadable in the dim break room.

"A Wandering Rogue," Ronan drawled, his voice low, thick, and laced with absolute Alpha authority that made my Zeta wolf quiver in submission. "Are you absolutely certain, Elara?"

"Yes, Alpha," I lied, keeping my tone deadpan and holding my hands firmly behind my back so he would not see them shaking. "The Pack Sentinels verified the entry runes. No female crossed your threshold after I deposited you into your quarters."

The silence stretched so thin I could hear the slow, rhythmic burn of the cigarette between his fingers.

"Good," Ronan said, taking a quiet drag and letting the smoke drift between us. "Bring me the Seaward Territory proposal for the Grand Alpha Council."

I bowed my head, stepping backward out of Alpha Command before my trembling legs gave out.

For the next four weeks, we traveled across rival territories on pack business. I moved like a ghost, keeping my short, four-foot-five body as far from his suffocating Alpha presence as possible, hiding the thick scent of heat that still tried to bloom in my skin whenever he walked past.

When we finally returned to the Blackridge Alpha Fortress in Moonhaven Ridge, I sank into the chair in the Ashbourne Pack quarters, my body entirely exhausted.

"Did Alpha Ronan bring it up again during the entire journey?" Willow Ashbourne whispered, locking the heavy timber door behind her.

"No," I replied, tracing the worn pattern on my sleeve, my heart racing at the sheer memory of his dark eyes. "He believes it was a rogue. He moved on to pack business immediately."

"Good," Willow sighed, pulling out a chair across from me. "Because the last female who tried to claim a mate bond with Alpha Ronan was stripped of her mark and banished to the silver mines by Beta Kieran. You got lucky, Elara."

I swallowed hard, reaching into my bag for my silver ledger. "I need to go to the Moonhaven Treasury before the sun sets."

"Is your brother demanding more pack resources again?" Willow asked, her tone turning sharp with disgust. "He is an adult wolf. Why is he still bleeding your Zeta stipend dry?"

"He has not been assigned a duty by the Thornfield Council yet," I whispered, keeping my gaze locked on the floor.

"Because your mother shields him while you work yourself to the bone for the Blackridge Bloodline," Willow spat. "She never gave you a single copper after your father died."

My phone vibrated violently against the wooden table, the glowing screen revealing my half-brother's mark. I swiped the screen to reject it, but it immediately began buzzing again in my palm.

I snapped the line open, bringing the device to my ear. "Use the time you spend harassing me to petition the Thornfield Council for a duty post."

"Watch your mouth, Zeta," my brother's harsh voice barked through the speaker. "Mother needs five hundred silver coins for the pack tribute today, or she will tell Beta Kieran that you sold your virginity to a Wandering Rogue."

My breath caught in my throat, my wolf freezing in absolute terror. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me," he sneered into the line. "Mother found the blood-stained linens you hid in the trunk. Bring the money to the Moonstone Lodge within the hour, or the whole Blackridge Alpha Dominion will hear about your dirty little secret."

Elara Thornfield

The voice on the other end of the line was heavy, thick with absolute dominance. Even though he did not speak for three agonizing seconds, my Zeta wolf cowered, a violent shiver running up my spine.

I froze, pulling the screen away from my ear to look at the glowing runes.

When I saw Alpha Ronan Blackridge’s name shining on the crystal interface, I wanted to dig a hole and crawl into the earth.

I cleared my throat instantly, slipping right back into my submissive lower-caste posture. "Forgive me, Alpha Ronan."

"Return to Alpha Command," Ronan snapped, his voice rough as iron before the connection cut out.

Watching the screen go dark, I bit my lip until I tasted copper, silently mourning the end of my recovery day.

I rushed back inside the Ashbourne Pack quarters to change my clothes, but I did not forget to drop a roasted venison leg on the table for Willow.

Willow frowned the second I stepped through the entry arch. "Did the Treasury have a line clear out to the outer boundary?"

I panted, pulling off my casual tunic. "Alpha Ronan summoned me back to the Blackridge Alpha Fortress. I left your meal on the table."

I hurried into my chamber, pulling on my structured black Zeta armor suit. Alpha Ronan demanded perfection from every Blackridge Pack Official, and showing up in loose robes was grounds for a public lashing.

As I tied my hair back, Willow yelled from the outer room, her voice dripping with rage.

"Alpha Ronan is completely out of line! You spent a whole month traveling through hostile pack territories for the Blackridge Alpha Dominion. Why is he taking away your rest cycle? I am going to petition Beta Kieran to move you to the Ashbourne Patrol Unit!"

"I am not strong enough to be a patrol warrior, Willow," I called back, rushing out the door.

It was a ten-minute run from the lower-caste quarters to the fortress keep. Living in the shared pack house saved me precious silver coins, even if it meant being at the Alpha Command’s beck and call every hour of the day.

I ran until my lungs burned, throwing open the heavy oak doors of Alpha Command.

Alpha Ronan stood by the high stone archway looking out over Moonhaven Ridge. The afternoon sunlight caught his massive, five-foot-eight muscular frame, painting his dark skin in broad strokes of shadow and gold. A unlit cigarette sat firmly between his lips.

"Alpha Ronan," I panted, dropping my gaze to his boots. "How may I serve Alpha Command?"

Ronan turned slowly, his lethal black eyes locking onto mine with a weight that made my knees tremble. Because of the secret I carried in my body, every look he gave me felt like an execution sentence.

"Fetch the Seaward Territory pact scroll," Ronan ordered, his tone flat.

I blinked in confusion. "The pact scroll, Alpha? But Beta Kieran handles all territorial legalities."

"Did I ask for Beta Kieran, Zeta?" he growled, the Alpha aura rolling off him in suffocating waves.

"No, Alpha. Right away," I stammered, turning on my heel and rushing down to the pack archive.

I retrieved the heavy parchment and brought it back to his heavy oak desk. Alpha Ronan took a dark ink quill, made swift alterations across the animal skin, and tossed it back toward my chest.

"Transcribe these changes into the official pack record," he commanded.

"Yes, Alpha."

I took the scroll to my side desk and began rewriting the territorial boundaries. Just as I dipped my quill, my phone vibrated with a message from Willow, asking if I would be finished in time to purchase herbs at the moon-market.

I typed back quickly: Editing the Seaward treaty now. Give me thirty minutes.

It was a simple transcription task. Thirty minutes was more than enough.

Yet, when I presented the fresh scroll to Ronan, he barely glanced at it before dragging his quill across three more sections. "Redo it."

I swallowed my frustration, took the ruined scroll back, and rewrote the entire text from scratch. He rejected it again. Then again.

My fingers ached, and my four-foot-five body throbbed with exhaustion. Two hours passed in agonizing silence, broken only by the scrape of metal on parchment.

Finally, Ronan rolled the latest version shut. "That will suffice for today."

I took the scroll carefully, my heart beating fast. "Shall I deliver this to the Seaward Elders for signing before sunset?"

If he said yes, my whole evening would be spent riding hard across the border.

Ronan reached into his coat, pulling out a small silver lighter. "The Seaward Elders do not arrive until the next full moon."

My jaw tightened. He did not need the scroll for two weeks, yet he had summoned me from my quarters and forced me to rewrite the same parchment four times. But I knew better than to question an Alpha.

"Is there anything else, Alpha Ronan?" I asked softly, keeping my face completely blank.

Snap.

The blue flame illuminated his sharp jawline as he lit the cigarette held between his fingers. The bitter scent of burning tobacco and raw male cedarwood filled the tight space between us, instantly triggering a sharp pulse of heat deep inside my wet core. My wolf stirred, remembering the way that same scent covered my skin while he pinned my wrists above my head.

"Who were you expecting when you answered my call earlier, Elara?" Ronan asked, his deep voice slicing through the silence like a blade.

I froze. "What?"

"You yelled into the device," Ronan drawled, stepping around the desk until his massive frame towered directly over my small stature. "You told me to use my time looking for a duty post."

My face burned with intense humiliation. "I... I thought it was my half-brother, Alpha. I did not check the runes before speaking."

Ronan leaned down, the heat of his body radiating against my cold skin as smoke drifted between our lips.

"Female Zetas serving in Alpha Command are forbidden from taking mates before their twenty-fifth winter," Ronan growled, his hand coming up to grip my jaw, his thumb pressing possessively into my skin. "It is pack law."

I had never heard of such a law in the Blackridge Alpha Dominion. But with his thick fingers bruising my chin and his dark eyes burning into mine, I could barely draw breath.

"I have no mate, Alpha Ronan," I choked out, my heart pounding violently against my ribs. "I am not courting anyone, nor will I ever mate."

The oppressive Alpha pressure in the room eased slightly, though his thumb lingered on my jaw, tracing the sensitive curve of my throat before letting go.

Before I could step back, Beta Kieran slammed the door to Alpha Command open, holding a stained piece of cloth in his leather-gloved hand.

"Alpha," Kieran reported, his voice tight. "The maidens stripping the bedding in the Summit Lodge found this tucked inside the mattress frame. It carries the blood of a Zeta female."