Bound to the Cruel Alpha’s Pact

Neah

"Where is she?"

Beta Kyle's shout cracked through the servants' corridor before the storm outside could swallow it. I knew he meant me. In Alpha Trey's house, there was only one person expected to appear the second someone barked an order.

Me.

I pushed myself up from the pantry floor, my knees stiff from scrubbing spilled oil off the stone tiles, and reached for the wicker cleaning caddy beside me. The rain had turned the windows black, and the old Moonshine Pack house groaned under the wind rolling down from the ridge. Somewhere in the front hall, men were moving furniture, polishing silver, pretending this place was grander than it was.

Tonight, Alpha Trey wanted to impress someone.

Which meant I would pay for every speck of dust he imagined.

I had barely stepped into the corridor when Kyle came toward me. His palm struck my cheek so fast the cleaning bottles rattled in the caddy.

I did not cry out.

Pain was easier when I gave it no sound. Years in this house had taught me that silence kept punishments shorter. Not gone. Never gone. Just shorter.

"Alpha Trey told you to prepare the east study," Kyle snapped. "Our guest arrives tonight, and you're hiding in the pantry like the useless thing you are."

My fingers tightened around the caddy handle.

If courage could have lived in my hands for just one second, I would have swung it into his face.

But courage did not keep me fed. Defiance did not open basement doors. Kyle was stronger, and my stomach already ached from the last time they decided I needed to learn obedience.

So I lowered my eyes and nodded.

"Alpha Dane of Black Shadow is not some minor border Alpha," Kyle went on, stepping close enough that his breath hit my cheek. "He commands the largest pack alive. Trey needs this alliance. You understand what happens if you embarrass us?"

I said nothing.

It was a trap. Questions from Kyle usually were. If I answered, he would call it insolence. If I explained myself, he would call it excuses. Silence was the only answer that sometimes left my bones intact.

Alpha Dane.

I had heard the name in scraps, passed between pack members who forgot servants had ears. Ruthless. Unforgiving. A wolf other Alphas feared because he did not bluff and did not lose. Black Shadow was said to swallow smaller packs whole when they stepped wrong.

Why Trey wanted him here, I did not know. Moonshine had not been attacked. We had not gone to war. But my brother never explained anything to me unless he wanted me afraid of it.

Kyle grabbed my shoulders, his nails biting through the thin fabric of my dress, and turned me toward the east wing. Then he shoved me hard enough that I stumbled.

"Move, broken wolf."

I walked.

The east study sat beyond the formal dining room, a room Trey used only when he wanted visitors to believe our family still had dignity. I slipped inside and shut the door softly behind me.

The room was already spotless.

The mahogany desk gleamed. The decanter tray had been arranged beside two crystal glasses. The fire had been lit, casting gold light over the shelves of books no one in this house ever opened. Rain tapped against the tall windows, and the office smelled of smoke, polish, and expensive liquor.

There was nothing for me to clean.

Of course there wasn't.

I leaned back against the door and let myself slide down until the cold floor pressed through my dress. My cheek still burned. My body was tired in the deep, hollow way that came from hunger and too many years of being useful only when someone needed a target.

I had believed things would change when I turned eighteen.

Four years later, I was still here. A slave in the home where I had been born. A servant to my brother, Alpha Trey, and to the pack that called me traitor. My ex-mate, Beta Kyle, moved through the halls like he owned my shame, reminding me with every look that rejection was not the worst thing he had done to me.

A glass clicked softly.

I froze.

I had not been alone.

Slowly, I leaned forward and looked past the side of the desk.

A man sat in the chair near the fireplace, one ankle resting over his knee, a glass of amber liquor in his hand. He had short dark hair, broad shoulders, and eyes the color of deep blood. Not brown. Not red in the way fire was red. Crimson, sharp and unnatural, fixed on me with unnerving stillness.

My back slammed against the door.

His mouth curved slightly. "Is hiding on the floor part of Moonshine's hospitality?"

The voice was low enough to vibrate through the room.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, scrambling to my feet. "I thought the study was empty."

Power rolled off him even without my wolf senses. I felt it in the air, in the way the fire seemed quieter around him. He did not need to introduce himself. Men like him expected the world to know who they were.

"Come here," he said.

My throat tightened.

Alpha Trey would kill me if he found me alone with his guest. Kyle would enjoy helping.

Still, an Alpha had given an order.

I stepped around the desk and stopped where the firelight could reach me. I kept my eyes down and braced myself for whatever came next.

"You smell wrong," he said after a moment. "But you are a wolf. Aren't you?"

I nodded.

Silence stretched.

His tone hardened. "Use your words. I don't care for guessing games."

"Yes," I said, barely above a whisper. "I'm a wolf."

"Then why didn't you scent me? Why did you walk in like you had no idea I was here?"

I hated that question.

I hated the answer more.

People never asked because they cared. They asked because the truth entertained them. Because a wolf with no wolf was funny until she became disgusting.

"Answer me," he said.

My hands curled into the caddy handle until the wicker dug into my palm.

"My abilities are bound."

The room went very still.

"Bound," he repeated.

I nodded once.

Twice, I wanted to say. They had been bound twice. But that was a story no one wanted from me, and I had learned not to hand strangers extra pieces of myself.

"Look at me when you speak," he said. "No Alpha in this pack taught you basic respect?"

A shiver moved through me at the command. Slowly, I lifted my eyes, but not far enough to meet his. His boots. The edge of his chair. The glass beside his hand. Anything but those crimson eyes.

"It was punishment," I said.

"For what?"

My mouth went dry.

If he was the Alpha Trey needed to impress, one wrong word from me could ruin everything. And if Trey's deal failed, my body would carry the blame.

"For what?" he asked again, quieter this time.

"For what happened to my parents."

His fingers tightened around the glass. "That explains nothing."

The door opened before I could respond.

"Neah, what the hell are you doing in my study?"

Alpha Trey's voice sliced through the room.

My brother filled the doorway, fury already twisting his face. Then he saw the man by the fire and forced his expression into something closer to panic than politeness.

"Alpha Dane," Trey said quickly. "I apologize. My sister should not have disturbed you."

Sister.

The word sounded filthy in his mouth.

He turned back toward me, hand lifting.

I closed my eyes.

"I wouldn't," Alpha Dane said.

The blow never came.

When I dared to look, Dane was standing. He had crossed the room so fast I had not heard him move, his hand locked around Trey's wrist. He was taller than my brother, broader too, his presence filling the office until Trey seemed smaller inside his own house.

"Neah was the first person in this pack who managed to be useful," Dane said. "She showed me where to wait after you failed to meet me at the front entrance as requested."

My breath caught.

That was a lie.

No one lied for me.

Trey's eyes flicked toward me, cold enough to promise I would suffer later. "Of course. Neah, go find Beta Kyle. Tell him our guest is here."

I nodded and left before anyone changed their mind.

The dining hall was lit for the meeting, candles throwing gold over empty plates and untouched wine. Kyle sat at the far end with a newspaper open in front of him, pretending he had not been waiting for the summons.

"Beta Kyle," I said softly.

His eyes lifted, dark and warning. I had spoken first. Another mistake.

"Alpha Trey is in the east study with Alpha Dane. He sent me to get you."

Kyle folded the newspaper with slow precision, then shoved back his chair. As he passed, he stopped behind me and grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking my head back until pain sparked across my scalp.

He leaned close, his breath hot against my ear.

He said nothing.

He did not need to. Kyle liked reminding me that he could hurt me whenever he wanted, for any reason or none.

Then he released me and walked away.

I tried to stay busy after that. I wiped counters that were clean. Straightened napkins no one would notice. Checked the champagne twice. Anything to keep away from the study.

It did not last.

"Neah!"

Trey's voice carried down the hall.

I picked up my pace, smoothed my expression into something obedient, and opened the study door.

"Bring champagne and glasses," Trey ordered. "We're celebrating."

Celebrating meant the deal was going well.

Celebrating also meant I could still ruin it by breathing wrong.

I fetched the bottle from the cabinet and returned with a tray. Dane watched every step I took. I felt his gaze on the side of my face, on my hands, on the way I kept my shoulders small. No one watched me like that unless they were searching for a flaw to punish.

I set the tray near his chair and reached for the bottle, but Dane took it from me.

"I can pour my own drink."

Heat rushed into my face.

I should have filled the glasses before entering. I should have been faster. I should have known better than to let an Alpha correct me in front of Trey.

My brother's glare confirmed it.

Dane did not look away from him. "Neah is your sister?"

"Unfortunately," Trey muttered.

"Then why do you treat her like filth?"

The words struck the room harder than Kyle's hand had struck my face.

No one asked Trey that. No one questioned how they treated me because everyone in Moonshine believed I deserved it.

My grip on the empty tray tightened. I needed to leave. If Dane kept pushing, Trey would blame me for every uncomfortable answer.

"Neah killed our parents," Trey spat.

The tray trembled in my hands.

I closed my eyes, but it did nothing to stop the sting behind them.

Dane's voice dropped into something dangerous. "How?"

Trey answered with disgust, each word sharpened for maximum damage.

"She served them wolfsbane."