The Royal Alpha

Chapter 16: Failure!

"Why the hell have you trapped me in here?"

My voice crashes against the stone walls of the cell, raw and hoarse from shouting myself hoarse long before this moment. "I should be out there searching for my mate."

Elder Amaruq stands a few paces away, hands clasped behind his back, his expression infuriatingly calm—as though I am nothing more than a storm he intends to wait out. The thick metallic scent of wolfsbane still clings to my blood, but it is fading now. I can feel it. My wolf is waking, stretching, pushing against my ribs with restless violence.

I don't know how long it's been since Sierra disappeared. Minutes? Hours? Days? Time has dissolved into nothing but rage and dread.

"Your anger is going to get us all killed, Fenris," Amaruq says at last, his voice level and cold. "One she-wolf's life does not outweigh the lives of every student in this school, or the safety of this building."

Something inside me snaps.

"I will not allow you to provoke the rogues into open war," he continues. "If you leave these grounds, they will retaliate. You will promise me you will not search for Sierra. Only then will I consider releasing you."

My hands curl into fists.

"I have every right to search for my mate," I growl, each word vibrating with barely restrained violence. "And you have no right to decide that her life is expendable."

"Fenris," he replies coolly, as though addressing an unruly pup, "you do not understand the power these rogues wield. They use black magic. They erase scent trails. They bend territory itself. I will not let my reputation as an Elder be destroyed because of one girl's foolishness."

The air goes deadly still.

Nobody speaks of my mate like that.

The chains binding my wrists rattle as I pull against them, my wolf surging forward with a force I have never allowed before. Heat floods my veins. My vision sharpens until every crack in the stone wall becomes painfully clear. The scent of fear—Amaruq's fear—bleeds into the air.

I tear free.

The enchanted chains snap from the wall with a thunderous crack, metal shrieking in protest as I step forward.

The moment he dismissed her life was the moment I forgot who he was.

I try to restrain my wolf. I fail.

A red haze bleeds into my vision as I imagine Sierra alone, hunted, terrified—suffering because this man chose convenience over duty.

"How dare you," I snarl, my voice no longer fully my own, "speak about my mate as if she were nothing."

Amaruq stumbles backward. I don't let him escape. My presence presses down on him like a physical weight, suffocating, inescapable. His fear thickens, cloying and sharp—and I savor it.

"I didn't mean it that way," he stammers, raising his hands. "Fenris, listen to me. The rogue alpha demanded cooperation. He claimed he only needed to inspect the female wolves—to identify the royal heir's mate. He swore no harm would come to them."

My growl deepens with every word.

"If I refused," he continues desperately, "he would have attacked outright. He promised they would be returned. Sierra will be sent back as well."

A humorless laugh tears from my throat.

"You are a traitor," I snarl, slamming him against the wall. My hand closes around his throat, tightening slowly. "You sold lives to protect your status."