Chapter Eight: The Alpha's ChainsLucian's POV
The halls of Black Hollow Keep had never felt colder.
I sat in the war room, hands clenched on the table in front of me, the weight of silence pressing in. The walls were lined with weapons forged from silver and stone. Above the hearth, the banner of the Eclipse Pack hung, its fabric torn from an old battle, soaked in generations of blood and duty.
But tonight, it felt more like a shroud.
Across from me ,father stood near the fire, eyes sharp as blades, voice low and dangerous.
"You failed to retrieve her," the Alpha growled. "Again."
I didn't flinch. I had grown used to his father's disappointment. It wrapped around me like an old coat uncomfortable, but familiar.
"She escaped with him," I said. "The Shadow Guard tracked them to the hunter's cabin. They were gone by the time the flames caught."
"You let her run off with a traitor," father snapped. "Your own brother."
I looked down at the table. "He wasn't supposed to fight me for her. He never even looked at her that way until she looked back."
The Alpha stepped forward, shadows dancing across his face from the firelight.
"She was promised to you, Lucian. Marked at birth. Chosen."
My jaw tensed. "I never felt the pull."
"What you feel doesn't matter."
There it was again that hollow tone father always used. Cold. Calculated. Like feelings were just weakness dressed in pretty words.
I pushed back my chair and stood, pacing toward the window. The moonlight spilled in through the tall panes, painting silver patterns across the stone floor.
"She doesn't love me," I said. "She never did. Even as kids she looked at Kael like he was her whole world. And he"
"Enough," my father growled. "You don't need her love. You need her blood."
I turned slowly.
"What?"
The Alpha's eyes glinted. "The Moon gave her power. More than she realizes. Her lineage is older than even she knows. Her grandmother was once a High Seer. Her blood is blessed by the Moon herself."
My heart pounded. "Then why pair her with me?"
"To bind her to the pack," my father said. "To you. So that power stays in our bloodline."
I swallowed hard. "That sounds like politics. Not the will of the Moon."
"It's both," the Alpha replied. "The Moon doesn't make mistakes. She gave her to you for a reason. The bond must be completed."
my stomach twisted.
I didn't hate Aria. I never had.
She was beautiful. Fierce. A fire I could never hold, no matter how close he tried to get. But now I understood why.
She didn't belong to me.
And deep down, I had always known that.
"She'll never come back willingly," I said quietly.
"Then make her," my father said. "We'll find her. Drag her back. Complete the bond before the next moon. Once the mark is made, it cannot be undone."
I stared at him. "She'll hate me."
"Let her."
I wanted to protest. Wanted to say that's not how this is supposed to work but the words caught in my throat.
Because something was wrong.
I felt it. In my chest. In my mind.
A pull.
A fog that clouded my judgment every time Aria's name came up. Every time father touched my shoulder. Every time the bond was mentioned.
I had never felt drawn to her, not really.
Not like Kael had.
Not like she had.
But when my Father spoke, my pulse would race. my skin would warm. My heart would feel like it needed her.
Was it the bond? Or something else?
I took a step back. "What did you do to me?"
My father raised an eyebrow. "I raised you. Trained you. Prepared you to lead. Everything I've done was for the good of this pack."
"That's not what I asked."
The Alpha's eyes narrowed. "You're letting emotion cloud your judgment."
"I'm letting truth speak louder than lies," I shot back. "You said the Moon doesn't make mistakes but what if you did?"
My father stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Are you saying you'd let Kael have her?"
Lucian paused.
Images flashed through his mind Kael, beaten and chained. Aria's face when she looked at his brother. The way her voice had trembled not with fear, but with love, when she called out for him.
"He already does," Lucian whispered.
My father's face twisted. "So you'll throw away everything? The pack? The bond? Your future?"
My throat tightened.
"I don't know what's real anymore," I said honestly. "But I do know this: I won't force a woman who doesn't love me to wear my mark."
The Alpha sneered. "Then you're weaker than I thought."
I turned toward the door.
Maybe I was.
But I was done pretending otherwise.
Later that night, I stood in my chambers, staring at the moon through the window.
It was full again. Bright. Watching.
My reflection stared back at me in the glass same eyes, same scars, same strength.
But something had changed.
I touched his chest, right over where my mark should've burned with connection. It didn't. It never had. There was no pull, no ache, no thread between them.
And yet, my father insisted the bond must be made.
Why?
I closed his eyes and whispered, "If the Moon doesn't make mistakes… then why don't I feel her?"
I opened my eyes.
And for the first time, I wondered…
What if this bond was never real at all?
Then suddenly the urge to get Aria back crawled in
Like I was under a spell that was renewed
MUST . GET . ARIA