Alpha Vorthrane's Pet

Liora's POV

The light in the throne hall danced across the walls, casting long, jagged shadows. Every shadow seemed to lean toward me, curious, hungry, waiting.

My chest heaved, not from exertion, but from a mixture of fear and something I refused to name.

Alpha Kael's hand remained on my arm, his grip firm, unyielding, a hold to my sense of reality even as the air around me thrummed with tension.

The council was silent, their presence like a physical weight pressing down on the room.

Their eyes swept over me, sharp and piercing, as if trying to read every secret hidden in my blood, in my body and my very soul.

I forced myself to stand tall, to meet their gaze. I would not cower. I would not give them, or him, the satisfaction of complete control.

Kael's gaze never left me. His wolf simmered just below the surface of his skin, and I could feel the tension radiating from him like heat from a fire.

"You have brought forbidden blood into our territory," the eldest council member said finally, his voice low and commanding.

His silver hair caught the light as he leaned slightly forward, studying me as though I were a riddle he had spent lifetimes trying to solve.

Kael's jaw tightened.

"Explain," he demanded, his voice sharp, a warning to them and to me.

The council's gaze turned toward me, unblinking, merciless. One of the them stepped closer, his own wolf scent so strong I felt it like a pressure against my skin.

"That girl carries a lineage that was hunted for centuries, a bloodline that should not exist. She holds a scent that drives wolves mad, that corrupts Alpha control. She should never have been born" he said.

My stomach twisted. I had no idea what he meant but the fear, the awareness of how sharp their gazes were pressed against me.

Kael's grip on my arm tightened imperceptibly. His eyes flicked toward the council, then back to me. My pulse spiked, feeling the heat of his wolf threatening to surface.

One council member raised his hand slowly and cut the palm of my hand with a ceremonial blade.

I let out a scream as blood dripped onto the cold stone floor, pooling and spreading everywhere.

Immediately, the air changed and the torches flickered violently. I felt a strange heat surge through me as if my own blood was calling unto these wolves.

Alpha Kael stiffened beside me. His eyes went golden, a warning flash of the wolf beneath his skin.

His breath caught as he inhaled, the scent of my blood overwhelming his senses. His grip on my arm was now tightened, yet he made no move to release me.

His control trembled, and I felt the subtle quiver of hunger beneath the surface of his arrogance, the pull of desire and instinct threatening to shatter him.

The council stared in stunned silence and one elder whispered, his voice trembling.

"Impossible... she should not exist. We had whiped her kind out completely all those years ago" he said but I heard him.

What did he mean by that?

The elders leaned forward, their gaze locking onto me with a mix of fear and awe.

"She is the last Ashwyn."

The words struck me like lightning.

My parents had made me forget that name and now, here I was, standing in the throne hall, the most feared Alpha at my side, the council staring in shock, and a name I had never been allowed to speak or remember whispered like a verdict.

Kael's eyes locked onto mine. That dark, unreadable expression deepened. His wolf growled low in his throat, a vibration I felt in my chest.

"I knew it" he said, his voice dropping so low I could barely hear it, yet it reverberated through the hall.

Every nerve in my body screamed in response to his words. What was happening?

He stepped closer, closing the space between us. The scent of him, of his wolf, of dominance, danger, and fire, wrapped around me, making my heart hammer and my skin ache with awareness.

I took a breath, trying to steady myself, and that's when I noticed the weaker guards around were reacting badly to my blood.

Their wolves shifted in the air, their growls low in their throats, eyes narrowing, their fangs glinting in the torchlight. They had all lost control while the council were struggling to keep theor hunger in check.

This was all because of me.

Kael's hand moved to the small of my back, pressing me to him as though shielding me but also claiming me.

His wolf pressed against mine in a battle for dominance and instinct, and I felt a strange pull, a tug I didn't understand, but which made my pulse spike.

He was fighting to control himself.

The eldest council member's eyes widened further.

"This... this is forbidden," he whispered. "She... she cannot exist among us."

I shivered, not from fear entirely, but from the heat of the room, from the press of Alpha Kael's body beside me, from the shock of realizing that I was more than anyone had ever known.

Alpha Kael's jaw clenched. He looked down at me, his hand still at the small of my back, holding me close enough that I could feel the pulsing muscles in his chest, the power in every movement.

"Do you hear them?" he asked, his voice dangerous, yet trembling with a hunger I had never noticed before.

I nodded.

"Good, because this is only the beginning" he murmured.

He turned his gaze back to the council, but I could feel his wolf straining under his skin. Something primal and uncontrollable, was clawing at him.

Alpha Kael's fingers tightened at my back slightly. I inhaled sharply, aware of how close he was, how impossible it was to ignore the heat radiating from him.

He leaned in just slightly, close enough that the smell of his cologne and power enveloped me, but not close enough to kiss me.

His grip faltered for a second, just enough that I felt the pull of his hesitation, of desire, of something deep and raw that his wolf wanted to claim.

The council stared at us, their shock palpable. The room seemed to shrink around us, every wolf trembling and then the eldest council member stepped forward again, his eyes wide, his voice low and trembling.

"She is the last of the Ashwyn line, the power in her veins could shatter packs, could destroy Alphas and as such, she must be killed" he said.

Alpha Kael's gaze snapped to mine, dark, possessive, and terrifying.

"You will not touch her," he said, his voice low and deadly. "She is mine now."