Chapter 7 Bonded By Blood, Bound By Law
His scent haunted her.
Even when the walls of the healer’s lodge separated them, Tiara could feel him like a pulse beneath her skin, like a heartbeat that was not hers. The more Damien tried to stay away, the stronger the pull became, tying their breaths, weaving their instincts, gripping her chest whenever he was near… or even when he wasn’t.
She didn’t understand it. He did. But he pretended not to.
The future Alpha walked through the training grounds without glancing her way, though his hand clenched tightly behind his back every time she passed. She kept her head down the way a breeder should, hands clasped in obedience, even as her heart screamed each time his wolf shadow growled low in his chest when another wolf approached her.
It didn’t make sense.
Breeders were meant to serve.
Not haunt Alphas.
Not make Alphas lose control.
She spent her days trying to shake the feeling off, working in the nurseries, tending to the pups, and pretending that she didn't feel Damien whenever he was too close or too far.
But then came the summons.
“Tiara of the Fairly Moon Pack, breeder by title,” announced Beta Rolan, his voice echoing across the Pack Court. “Step forward. You have been accused of interference with the rightful Alpha succession line.”
Interference. The word felt like a slap. Wolves rustled around her, their whispers sharp and poisonous.
“She seduced him.”
“She tricked the future Alpha.”
“She bewitched him, Moon bless us, look at her eyes.”
“She smells like him.”
Tiara trembled as she stood in the center of the stone ring, unmarked, unwanted, bare-footed, dressed in a plain white tunic that made her look more like prey than a defendant. The council sat in a crescent row, silver robes glimmering under the moonlight.
Damien stood behind them. Silent. Watching.
His hands were clenched. His wolf was restless.
Beta Rolan stepped closer to Tiara, circling her like a predator. “You have no rank. No power. No name. Yet, somehow, the future Alpha tracks your scent. Defends you. Reacts to you.” His lips curved with disdain. “Do tell us, breeder. How did you lure him?”
The words felt like knives, but Tiara said nothing.
Rolan took another step toward her. Too close.
A low growl rumbled through the court.
Damien.
His wolf had surfaced.
Beta Rolan froze, eyes widening. But he didn’t step back. Instead, he laid a hand on Tiara’s shoulder.
A mistake.
Damien’s wolf burst through.
Before anyone could blink, Damien moved swift, feral grabbing Rolan’s wrist and shoving him away from Tiara. His voice was not huma, it dripped dominance, command, fury.
“Do not touch her.”
The council erupted in chaos.
“You dare break protocol?”
“Control your wolf, Damien!”
“She’s dangerous…look at her!”
“Breeders cannot form bonds!”
Damien stood in front of Tiara shielding her. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he fought his wolf for control. His eyes flickered gold.
Pack law was clear: Alphas did not claim breeders. Breeders did not touch power.
Yet here he was, defying all of it.
Tiara’s voice trembling, whispered, “Why… why do I feel you even when you’re not here?”
Silence fell.
The council froze.
Damien’s eyes snapped to hers as if her words unleashed something neither of them could control.
For a moment, he looked shattered.
Then he exhaled, defeated.
“Because…” he rasped, his voice cracking, “…you are my mate.”
Gasps echoed like thunder.
“But you were never meant to be.”
The air cracked.
She felt it. He felt it. The pack felt it.
The truth was too loud to deny.
A breeder never belonged to an Alpha. It had never happened in any pack, in any generation. The Moon Goddess did not pair breeders with leaders.
It went beyond forbidden. It was impossible.
Whispers mutated into growls, accusations turned to curses, and fear bled into the air.
“This is wrong!”
“Unnatural!”
“The Alpha line must not be tainted!”
“The bond must be broken!”
Council members rose to their feet. Some called for silence, others for punishment.
Some called for her removal.
Damien’s father, Alpha Magnus, stood slowly.
His gaze was heavy, cold as ice, sharp as a blade.
“Enough.”
The court fell silent.
He turned to his son, voice eerily calm.
“Mates or not… you will break the bond.”
Damien’s jaw tightened. His wolf fought him.
“You will not choose her,” Alpha Magnus continued. “Not over your rank. Not over this pack.”
He turned, eyes settling on Tiara like a verdict.
“A breeder cannot be Luna.”
The murmurs roared again.
“Yes.”
“It’s against tradition.”
“She weakens him.”
“She has no lineage.”
“She has no wolf.”
Those words sliced Tiara’s heart open.
No lineage.
No wolf.
No place.
No right.
Damien looked like he wanted to speak, but someone stepped in before him.
Elder Rowan.
His aged hand rose, his voice quiet but firm.
“The girl will be moved to the old Alpha house until the court decides what to do with her.”
It was not a suggestion. It was a decree.
Alpha Magnus tensed. The council exchanged looks. But no one argued.
The decision had been made.
Tiara would be isolated.
Damien would be tested.
And the bond would be contained.
For now.
The path to the old Alpha house was silent, moonlit, and overgrown with time. Wolves once lived here generations ago before the current Alpha line took over.
Tiara’s hands shook as she stepped inside.
It was dusty, abandoned, and cold. Not like a prison, but not like a home either. It felt like a place untouched by time… or memory.
She walked slowly through faded portraits, broken wall mirrors, and cracked stone floors. Something about the air felt familiar. Like she’d been here before.
But that was impossible.
She paused by the old fireplace.
Dried blood stained the stone.
She knelt, brushing her fingers over it—
And gasped.
There was something beneath it, something buried, hidden.
She dug carefully until a metal crest came loose.
She wiped it clean.
It was old. Heavy.
And marked with an ancient sigil of a moon, a wolf, and a sword.
Not Fairly Moo
n pack.
Not any pack she knew.
Her heart pounded.
Because it felt like it belonged to her.
Her fingers trembled as the air shifted.
The crest pulsed warm.
A whisper crawled through her mind
Alpha.
