The Alpha's Shatter Zone ✔️

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A bit more from Kaiden's perspective in this chapter 😄
Enjoy!
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She was silent for a few moments, then he heard her take a breath. "The wind."

"The wind?" he asked quickly before smothering his surprise.

"Yes, and how he moves through the trees and across the land." She paused, taking a deep breath as if debating whether or not to continue. So she didn't trust him with her thoughts. As if she'd trust him with her heart.
"So freely."

He was startled by her soft voice.

"Coming and going anywhere he pleases, as weak or as strong as he wants to be," she hesitated for a few moments, and his ears strained to catch her words. "No one to tell him what he has to do. No deals he has to make. He just is."

He tried to catch any subtle meaning behind her words, but wasn't quite understanding.

"The mountains can't stop him, the forest can't contain him. He blows right through them. Storms and tornadoes fall at his feet, hurricanes and blizzards feed him his every desire. They are nothing without wind, yet they boast they are the master of him. Yet they have no power over him. He relies on moon and sun to awaken him, yet cannot be touched by either. Death cannot reach him, yet we are all stagnant and dead without his kiss of life."
She released a deep sigh.

"Interesting concept," was all Kaiden could say, unsure if he would break a spell by merely speaking. "But I don't understa—"

"My father often told me that story. I always wanted to be like the wind. Strong and free, mastered by no one."

He finally got her point. "You feel trapped."

"And you feel like you've won."

He was silenced for a few minutes and neither said anything as the moonlight and shadows played across the porch and courtyard.
"Chesca," he began slowly. "I'm not trying to take your pack, I'm just...grateful now that we can...perhaps work together on this?"

She remained silent, and he was dying to know what she was thinking.

He watched her intently, her image blurred by the shadows, but soon she patted the bench beside her. "I need to explain myself," her voice was quiet in the darkness. "And make one thing perfectly clear," yet it held the icy edge he knew not to mess with.

He tentatively sat beside her, and couldn't help but wonder if she'd clobber him if he so much as brushed against her.

"In regards to our...arrangement, that's all it's going to be. An arrangement. A ceremony and nothing else. We'll make Asa happy that we're mates, and then I'll get my land, and my pack will be well off."

So this was what it was all about. Her need to be in total control. And she called him power hungry.

"You mean, he'll give you his land. It's not yours, Chesca. Alphas don't normally just hand their territory away when others ask for it," he clenched his jaw, trying to get her to see just how generous Asa was being towards her.

"You're right, they fight for it. Would you rather I fought Asa and took it from him that way?"

"That seems to be how I work, didn't you know?" he couldn't resist the dig.

"Well, it's not how I work," she huffed. "Asa is agreeing to give me some of his land, and I'm going to agree to his peaceful conditions. No fight. No bloodshed."

He heard her voice drop on those last words and wondered what she was referring to. He chose to remain silent when she sighed and continued.

"It will still be my pack. I'm not giving you any rights or control, do you understand?"