Alaeric's Pov
I sat at my desk; the heavy oak surface covered in maps that I couldn't even see.
My eyes were fixed on a single ink blotch, but my mind was miles away, trapped in that dusty, dark room with her. I could still feel the phantom heat where her fingers had brushed mine. I could still hear her voice not the quiet, broken whisper of a servant, but the roar of a woman who had been pushed too far.
"My name is Alyse! Stop calling me Red Hollow!"
The way she had snapped at me… no one in the Blackthorn Pack dared to raise their voice to me. Not even the Elders. But she had looked at me with those wide, glowing eyes and defied me. She wasn't acting like an Omega. She was acting like…
"Stop it," I growled to the empty room, slamming my fist onto the table.
My wolf paced restlessly behind my ribs, his claws digging into my soul. He didn't care about politics. He didn't care about my reputation. He wanted her. He wanted to claim her, to mark her, and to roar to the world that she belonged to the Lycan Prince.
But I couldn't.
I was the Alpha of the most powerful pack in the North. I was a Lycan Prince. If I accepted a weak, rejected Omega as my Luna, I would be a laughingstock. The other Alphas would see it as a sign of weakness.
Selene was the only logical choice. She was strong. She was high-born. She understood the blood and the steel of our world. Marrying her would secure my borders and satisfy the Elders. It was the "perfect" match.
So why did the thought of Selene feel like a death sentence, while the thought of Alyse felt like a breath of fresh air?
A sharp knock at the door broke my thoughts.
"Come in," I barked, trying to smooth my expression into a mask of cold stone.
Kael walked in, his face unreadable. He didn't go to the map table. Instead, he pulled up a chair and sat across from me, crossing his boots on the corner of my desk. Only he could get away with such disrespect.
"You look like you're ready to bite someone's head off, Alaeric," Kael said, his voice casual. "Is the map giving you trouble, or is it the girl in the Dust Room?"
"I don't want to talk about her," I snapped, turning my gaze back to the parchment. "She's a distraction. A spy. I should have sent her back to Kayden in a box the moment she crossed the line."
Kael let out a dry, short laugh. "A spy? Is that what you're telling yourself so you can sleep at night? Because I spent an hour talking to her today, and she's the worst spy I've ever seen."
I looked up, my eyes narrowing. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you've been an idiot, brother," Kael said, his voice losing its humor. "And so was Kayden. You've been treating her like a broken Omega because that's what her enemies wanted you to see."
I felt a strange chill go down my spine. "What did she tell you?"
Kael leaned forward, his expression dead serious. "She isn't an Omega, Alaeric. Not by birth. Her father was the Gamma of the Red Hollow Pack. She was his heir. He taught her war, strategy, and high-court politics since she was a child."
I froze. Gamma's daughter? That was impossible. A Gamma's child held the third-highest rank in a pack. They were the heart of the military.
"Her mother died," Kael continued, his voice low. "Her father remarried a woman who wanted her own daughter to take the title. They used lies and abuse to break her. They demoted her, stripped her of her rank, and treated her like a slave until everyone, even her own father, forgot who she really was. Kayden didn't reject a servant. He rejected a high-ranking warrior because he was too stupid to see past the rags she was wearing."
The room went silent. I looked down at my hands, remembering the way she had deflected that spear with a water bucket. The way she had spoken back to me earlier.
It all made sense. She wasn't weak. She was a survivor of a war that had been fought inside her own home.
"She can read the old maps, Alaeric," Kael said. "She knows packs movements better than our best scouts. And today, I found her organizing the archives like a professional scribe. She's literate, she's brilliant, and she's sitting in a pile of dust because you're too proud to admit the Moon Goddess gave you exactly what you needed."
My heart hammered against my ribs. The guilt hit me like a physical blow. I had treated her like trash. I had let Selene strike her. I had insulted her birthright every time I called her "Red Hollow."
"She belongs in the War Room," Kael said, standing up. "Not as a servant. As a Scribe. Give her a chance to work, Alaeric. Not because of the bond, but because we are losing this war and she is the only one who sees the patterns we're missing."
I looked at the map of the Ironwood Pass. I thought about her voice, shaking with rage as she told me her name.
Alyse.
"The Elders will protest," I muttered, though my heart wasn't in it anymore. "They expect Selene."
"Let them protest," Kael shrugged. "You're the Prince. If you tell them she's an essential tactical asset, they can't say a word. Besides, wouldn't you rather have her where you can see her? Where you can… keep an eye on her?"
Kael knew me too well. He saw the hunger in my eyes that I was trying so hard to hide.
"Fine," I said, my voice rough.
"Bring her to the War Room tomorrow morning. Give her a proper desk. And get her some clothes that don't look like they were pulled from a fire."
Kael smiled a real, wide grin. "Good choice, Alpha. I'll go tell her the news."
As Kael left the room, I sank back into my chair. The restless pacing of my wolf had stopped, replaced by a low, satisfied hum.
I was still terrified. I was still a Prince with a curse and a kingdom to protect. But as I looked at the door, I realized I didn't want the "perfect" Luna anymore. I wanted the woman who had shouted at me in the dark.
I wanted Alyse.