Chapter 14: The Alpha's Decision
(Mara POV)
Warmth.
That was the first thing.
Not the bed. Not the blanket. Not even the room.
Him.
The bond hummed like a quiet, steady heartbeat under my skin. I didn't want to feel it. My body didn't care.
I woke slowly. Not fully. Like the world opened a curtain halfway and waited to see if I would look through it.
My eyelashes fluttered.
The scent hit first.
Forest. Rain. Earth after a storm.
My wolf lifted her head instantly.
Mate.
No, I thought back, weakly. She didn't listen. She pressed forward like waves hitting shore again and again and again.
I didn't move right away. I listened.
Quiet room. Slow breathing. Not mine.
His.
He was close.
That realization hit me harder than it should have. My heart jumped, tripped, caught itself, and kept going too fast.
I opened my eyes.
Moonlight washed the room in silver. The curtains moved with wind. Shadows rested in the corners like sleeping animals.
He sat in the chair beside the bed.
Same posture. Same stillness.
Liam.
His elbows rested on his knees. Fingers laced together. Head bowed a little, eyes half-closed like he hadn't slept but also hadn't allowed himself to fall apart.
He was not relaxed. He was contained.
The difference mattered.
My breath caught in my throat before I could stop it.
His eyes opened.
Forest green. Sharp. Focused.
On me.
The bond tightened like someone drew a line between our chests and pulled.
I didn't say anything. He didn't either.
Silence had weight now.
Then his voice, low:
"You're awake."
Three words. That was all it took.
Everything in me reacted.
Heat. Fear. Want. Confusion.
"I… didn't mean to fall asleep," I whispered.
"You needed to," he said.
There was no argument in his tone. No room for disagreement. Just truth he had already decided.
I pushed myself up slowly.
My arms shook less than before. My head still felt floaty, like gravity forgot what to do with me. My wolf paced in circles, tail high, ears forward, too happy.
I was not happy.
His gaze followed every movement I made. Not in a hungry way. Not in a casual way.
Controlled. Watchful. Possessive under the surface.
"Are you in pain?" he asked.
I froze at the gentleness.
"I'm fine," I said too quickly.
The lie was obvious. The tension in my muscles. The tremble in my hands. The way my voice scratched like I had screamed all night.
His jaw tightened but he didn't call me out.
"Your fever broke," he said instead. "You were shaking. Your wolf kept pushing against mine through the bond."
My cheeks heated.
"I didn't mean to," I muttered.
"I know."
Silence again.
The System flickered.
[Vitals: Stabilizing.] [Heat symptoms: suppressed temporarily.] [Bond effect: active, heightened.]
"Great," I thought. "Perfect. Amazing. Exactly what I needed."
[You are safe.]
"Am I?" I thought back.
The System didn't answer.
I looked at Liam again.
He hadn't moved since I woke up. It was like he was afraid that moving wrong would shatter something.
I swallowed.
"You really didn't sleep?" I asked softly.
He held my gaze.
"No."
"Because of me?"
"Yes."
There was no hesitation. Nothing complicated. Just fact.
My chest tightened in a way I didn't have words for.
"You didn't have to," I whispered.
"I did," he said. "You are my mate."
There it was again.
That word.
Mate.
Not pretty. Not gentle. Not soft.
Heavy. Permanent. Real.
"I don't know how to do this," I admitted.
His eyes softened. Fully, this time.
"Neither do I," he said. "But I am not leaving."
My wolf practically rolled on her back in relief.
I didn't.
"That's the problem," I whispered.
He straightened slowly. Not threatening. Not loud.
But the air shifted around him.
"Tell me," he said. "All of it."
My throat tightened.
I looked down at my hands. At the faint marks on my wrists. At scars I didn't remember getting. At the thin blanket pulled over my legs like a shield that didn't really shield anything.
"I left my pack," I said quietly.
His wolf surged behind his eyes.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because I wasn't safe there," I said.
"Because being omega… meant being less."
The words shook out of me. Small. Bare.
He didn't interrupt.
"I was rejected," I continued quietly. "Cast out. Treated like I didn't matter."
My chest rose and fell too fast.
"I ran because staying meant disappearing. Because they had already decided my value for me."
I swallowed.
"I swore I'd never let anyone choose my life again."
Silence.
Then he spoke:
"I will not reject you."
I looked up at him.
Something in his voice had changed. It wasn't simply calm anymore. It was oath. Stone. Ground beneath feet.
"You will choose," he said. " What you do, Whether you stay, Whether you leave."
The bond pulsed hard enough to make my fingers curl into the blanket.
"You say that," I whispered. "But you're an alpha."
"I am," he said.
His gaze didn't waver.
"I am Alpha of this territory. I lead. I command. I decide."
He paused.
"But with you," he continued, voice lower, "I do not command. I ask."
That… was worse and better at the same time.
"You don't even know me," I said.
"I know enough," he replied.
"What do you know?" I challenged before I could stop myself.
He answered without thinking.
"That your scent calms my wolf."
My heart skipped.
"That your eyes shake when you lie."
I swallowed.
"That your hands shake but you still look me in the eyes anyway."
I looked away.
"That you ran alone through the Dark Forest and survived."
My breath caught.
"That you are mine," he finished quietly.
The room went still.
I hated the way those words wrapped around me like warmth I didn't ask for but desperately wanted anyway.
"I don't want to belong to anyone," I said weakly.
"You don't," he replied. "You belong to yourself."
He held my gaze.
"And still," he added softly, "you are my mate."
The System chimed.
[Bond acknowledgment mutual.] [Compatibility: confirmed.] [Warning: Emotional stress elevating heart rate.]
"I know," I thought. "I can feel it."
The pressure behind my ribs refused to leave. It wasn't painful — not exactly. Just… present. Constant. Like breathing air that remembered someone else's lungs.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
Liam's eyes snapped away from me.
His wolf surged.
"Enter," he said.
The door opened. A man stepped in — tall, dark blond hair, beta presence, respectful posture.
He didn't look at me at first. He bowed his head to Liam.
"Alpha," he said. "Scouts returned from the eastern sector. There are tracks. Large. Not wolf."
The air cooled.
Not wolf.
My heart stuttered.
Liam's voice changed. It sharpened. Steel under velvet.
"Where?"
"Deep forest," the beta said. "Close to where she was found."
His gaze flickered to me now. Curious. Concerned. Not cruel.
My wolf bristled at a stranger looking at me. The bond pulled tight.
Liam noticed.
His voice dropped.
"Eyes off," he said calmly.
The beta immediately looked back at him.
"Apologies," he said.
Liam stood.
The room reacted again when he moved. His presence filled it, pushed against the walls, flooded the space like a tide moving in.
My breath caught.
He was taller than I thought when he straightened fully. Broader. More dangerous. More controlled. Power rolled off him in quiet waves.
"Describe the tracks," Liam said.
"Too wide for wolves. Too deep for deer," the beta replied. "Claw spacing wrong for bears. It circled. It did not walk straight."
Circled.
Hunting pattern.
My blood went cold.
Dark Forest.
Shadows. Breath. Something following me.
The memory snapped into me like a branch breaking.
The System flashed.
[Threat correlation: high.] [Recommendation: immediate protection protocol.]
My breathing sped up.
Liam glanced at me.
He saw it. Of course he did.
"What did you see in the forest?" he asked gently.
I closed my eyes.
"I didn't see it," I whispered. "I felt it."
The room faded. The forest returned.
Cold air. Bending trees. Silence too heavy to be natural.
"It didn't chase me," I said. "It walked. Slowly. Like it knew I couldn't escape anyway."
The bond pulsed hard enough to hurt now.
"My wolf went silent," I continued. "Not scared. Terrified. Like something older than us was looking at me."
The beta swallowed.
Liam's expression darkened.
He turned back to him.
"Double the patrols," he said. "No one goes near the eastern woods alone. If it crosses again, I want to know before it breathes."
"Yes, Alpha," the beta said.
He left.
The door closed. Silence returned.
But it wasn't the same silence.
"You aren't safe beyond these walls," Liam said, turning back to me.
I held his gaze.
"I wasn't safe before these walls either," I replied.
He didn't argue.
He stepped closer.
Not enough to touch. Enough to feel.
"I will protect you," he said quietly.
"I don't need—"
The lie died halfway through the sentence.
He didn't smile. But something softened in his eyes like he heard the rest of the words I didn't say.
"You do," he said gently. "And it is not weakness."
My hands tightened in the blanket.
"I don't want my life to revolve around an alpha again," I whispered.
"It won't," he said.
"Then what will it revolve around?" I asked.
He answered without hesitation.
"Your choices."
My throat tightened.
He continued:
"You can stay here. Or you can leave. You can reject the bond. Or accept it. You can curse the Moon Goddess. Or thank her. But you will choose it — not because anyone forces you, not even fate."
He paused.
"And while you choose," he said, voice like iron wrapped in warmth, "I will be here. Guarding you. Whether you hate me or not."
I didn't have words for that.
The System did.
[Mate behavior: atypical alpha profile.] [Risk assessment: lowered.] [Note: Emotional bond strengthening despite resistance.]
"Stop," I thought at it. "Just stop talking."
[Apologies.]
I sighed.
He watched me carefully.
"Are you hungry?" he asked suddenly.
I blinked.
"What?"
"Hungry," he repeated.
I hesitated, then nodded reluctantly.
"Good," he said. "You will eat. Then rest."
He turned slightly, then stopped as if something dragged him back.
He looked at me again.
"Mara," he said.
"What?" I whispered.
His gaze deepened.
"If anyone touches you without your permission," he said slowly, "I will end them."
The room went cold and warm at the same time.
He wasn't threatening me. He was promising the world.
My wolf purred. I hated that she purred. But I understood why.
"Liam—" I began.
He shook his head once.
"I am not asking for your trust," he said. "I will earn it."
The words landed somewhere I didn't want them to.
His voice lowered further.
"I will not mark you," he continued, "until you ask me to."
Everything inside me stopped moving.
The bond pulled so tight it hurt and soothed at the same time.
Ask.
The idea itself burned.
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
He turned to leave, hand on the doorknob, shoulders tense like he was holding himself together with force.
"Get some rest," he said without looking back. "Tomorrow, I tell the pack."
My heart dropped.
"Tell them what?" I asked quickly.
He paused.
Silence stretched.
Then:
"That their Alpha has a mate."
The world tilted.
Voices in my head rose instantly.
Omega. Again. Belonging. Again.
Pack eyes. Again.
My throat went dry.
"Wait," I whispered. "I'm not ready—"
He finally looked back at me.
His gaze softened.
"I know," he said. "But danger doesn't wait. They need to know why your scent is in this house. They need to know you are under my protection."
The words pressed against me from all sides.
Under his protection.
Safe. Seen. Claimed.
Not marked. Not controlled.
But unmistakably his.
My hands trembled.
"What if I don't want to be known?" I whispered.
He answered simply:
"Then they will know without seeing you."
"What does that mean?" I asked
.
His jaw tightened.
"It means," he said, "that anyone who even thinks of challenging your place here will deal with me."
The bond surged again.
He opened the door.
Moonlight spilled in from the hall. Voices echoed faintly somewhere far away in the pack house.
He looked at me one last time.
"I just found you, Mara," he said softly. "I'm not letting you go."
The door closed.
Silence returned.
But this time, it had a new shape.
The System flickered.
[New Quest Available.] [Title: The Alpha's Mate.] [Objective: Decide.]
I stared at the message.
"Decide what?" I thought.
The System answered.
[Whether to stay or run.]