Chapter 5 · The Alpha's Wrong Contract Bride - Chapter 5: A Summons in Moonlight

"No."

He crossed the room in three strides. I heard the floorboards creak, smelled that cedar and smoke scent that meant he was close. Too close. I kept my eyes on the page, on Mom's handwriting, on the little note she'd scribbled in the margin: *If they ask, you don't know*.

"Lena." His hand came down on the desk, inches from mine. "The pack court convenes tomorrow night. If they see that summons—"

"They'll what?" I flipped the page. "Kill me? They already want to. Says so right here."

"They'll use it as proof you're involved."

"Involved in what?" I looked up then, met his eyes. Gold flecks in the dark. Dangerous. "What did my mom do that got her name on a wolf hit list?"

Kael's jaw tightened. He didn't answer.

"Right." I went back to the notebook. "So you want me to hand over the only evidence I have that someone in your world wanted her dead. Real smart."

"I want you alive."

"You want your crown." I turned another page, even though I wasn't reading anymore. My pulse was doing that thing where it tried to climb out through my throat. "You need a bride at the trial or you lose the pack. That's what Noah said. I'm just the cheap backup you grabbed when Vera walked."

Silence. Heavy, tight silence.

Then Kael moved. His hand closed over mine, pinning it to the page. Warm. Too warm. I felt his pulse against my knuckles, fast and hard.

"Look at me."

I didn't want to. Looking at him made things complicated. Made the anger slip. But I did it anyway, tilted my head up, met those gold-shot eyes.

"You think I grabbed you because you're cheap?" His voice dropped, rough at the edges. "You think I don't know what it costs you to sit in this house and pretend you belong here?"

"I don't belong here."

"No. You don't." He leaned in. I smelled cedar, smoke, something underneath that was just him. "But you're wearing my ring. You signed the moon contract. And tomorrow night, every wolf in Northbridge is going to try to prove you're a threat so they can tear up the match and put me down."

My breath caught. "Put you down?"

"The beast problem." His thumb moved against the back of my hand, slow, deliberate. "They'll say I'm too unstable to hold the line. They'll call for execution or exile. And the only thing standing between me and a slit throat is you."

I should have pulled my hand away. Should have told him to back off, get out, stop touching me like he had the right. But his pulse was hammering against my skin and I could feel the tension in his fingers, the way he was holding on like I might disappear.

"So you need me," I said. "That's what you're saying."

"Yes."

"And if I give you the summons, if I let you bury the evidence—"

"I'll find out who killed your mother."

My heart slammed. "You're lying."

"I don't lie." His eyes didn't move from mine. "I don't have time to lie. The trial's in twenty hours. If you walk in there with that paper, they'll twist it. They'll say you're blackmailing me, using blood-debt law to force the bond. They'll say your mother was a spy or a thief and you're finishing her work."

"Was she?"

"No."

"Then why is my name on a kill list?"

Kael's hand tightened over mine. For a second I thought he'd pull away, shut down, give me that cold pack-lord face he wore in public. But he didn't. He stayed right there, close enough that I could see the gold flecks in his eyes shifting, flickering.

"Because you're a loose end," he said. "Someone thought your mother knew too much. And now they think you do too."

My stomach dropped. "Know what?"

"I don't know yet." His thumb traced across my knuckles again, slow and deliberate. "But I'm going to find out. And you're going to stay alive long enough for me to do it."

I should have said no. Should have grabbed the summons and walked straight out the door, called Noah, told him to find me a lawyer who specialized in wolf law and blood contracts. But Kael's pulse was still wild against my hand and there was something in his eyes that looked almost desperate.

"What do you get out of this?" I asked. "Besides keeping your crown?"

"You." The word came out rough. "I get you alive. I get your blood keeping my wolf quiet. I get to walk into that trial tomorrow and prove I'm stable enough to lead."

"And after the trial?"

His mouth curved, just a little. Not quite a smile. "After the trial, you're still my wife. Still bound by moon law. Still stuck in this house with me."

"Sounds like prison."

"Sounds like protection." He let go of my hand, stepped back. The cold rushed in where his palm had been. "The trial starts at midnight. You'll sit in the consort's chair, you'll wear the moon-mark visible, and you will not speak unless the council asks you a direct question."

"What if they ask about the summons?"

"They won't. Not if it's already gone."

I looked down at the paper, at my name in those cold block letters. *Lena Christine Vale. Blood-debt inquiry. Scheduled termination pending tribunal vote*.

"Who ordered it?" I asked.

Kael didn't answer right away. When I looked up, his expression was unreadable.

"I don't know," he said finally. "The signature's been redacted. But there are only five wolves in Northbridge with the authority to issue a termination summons."

"And you're one of them."

"Yes."

My throat tightened. "Did you—"

"No." He didn't let me finish. "I didn't order it. I didn't know it existed until you shoved it in my face twenty minutes ago."

I wanted to believe him. God, I wanted to believe him. But trust was expensive and I was broke.

"Give me until tomorrow," I said. "Let me make a copy. Let me—"

"No copies." Kael's voice went hard. "No photos. No records. If the council finds out you have documentation, they'll subpoena it. They'll tear apart your mother's entire life looking for conspiracy. They'll question your stepfamily, your old neighbors, everyone who ever sold her a bottle of lavender oil."

I thought of Claire's smug face. Of Richard's cold smile. Of the way they'd shoved me into this marriage like I was cargo.

"They'd love that," I said quietly.

"I know." Kael held out his hand. "So give me the paper. Let me bury it. And tomorrow night, we walk into that court together and we make them believe this bond is real."

I looked at his hand. Strong fingers. Scars across the knuckles. The faint shadow of claws just under the skin.

"What if I can't?" I asked. "What if I mess up? Say the wrong thing?"

"You won't."

"You don't know that."

"I know you." His eyes met mine, gold and dark and burning. "I know you walked into a wedding you weren't invited to and stole your stepmother's key card. I know you read a fifty-page moon contract in under an hour and found the one loophole that gives you legal standing. I know you're smart enough to lie and stubborn enough to win."

Something hot and tight coiled in my chest. I told myself it was anger. It felt like something else.

"Flattery doesn't work on me," I said.

"Good. I'm not trying to flatter you. I'm trying to keep you breathing." He stepped closer again. I felt the heat of him, the weight of his presence. "Give me the summons, Lena. Trust me for twelve hours. If I'm lying, if I don't find answers, you can walk. I won't stop you."

"You'll lose the trial."

"Yes."

"They'll kill you."

His mouth twitched. "Probably."

I stared at him. At the hard line of his jaw, the faint shadow under his eyes that said he hadn't slept. At the way his shoulders were tight, locked, like he was holding something back.

"You're insane," I said.

"I'm desperate." He held out his hand again. "Please."

That word shouldn't have mattered. But it did. It cracked something open in my chest, something I'd been keeping locked down since Mom died.

I picked up the summons. Stared at my name one more time. Then I put it in his hand.

Kael's fingers closed around it. He didn't smile. Didn't say thank you. He just looked at me for a long, heavy moment, and then he turned and walked to the fireplace in the corner of the study. He crouched down, struck a match, held the flame to the edge of the paper.

I watched it burn. Watched my name curl and blacken and disappear.

"Midnight tomorrow," Kael said, his back still to me. "The car leaves at eleven-thirty. Wear something formal. Something that shows the mark."

"What mark?"

He stood, turned. His eyes were still gold, still burning.

"The consort's mark," he said. "The one you'll receive tonight."

My stomach dropped. "What?"

"Moon law. The bond has to be visible before the trial. It's a brand. Silver and ash. It'll hurt."

"You didn't say anything about a brand."

"I'm saying it now." He crossed to the door, paused with his hand on the frame. "Be in the west wing at ten. The pack elder will perform the rite. It takes about thirty minutes."

"And if I say no?"

Kael looked back at me. The firelight caught the edge of his jaw, the shadows under his eyes.

"Then we both walk into that trial unmarked," he said. "And they'll know the bond is fake. They'll annul the contract, execute me for fraud, and issue a new termination summons with your name on it."

My throat went dry. "That's not a choice."

"No," he said quietly. "It's not."

He stepped out into the hall. I heard his footsteps fade, heard a door close somewhere deep in the house.

I sat there in the study, staring at the ashes in the fireplace, at the faint gray dust that used to be my name.

My phone buzzed. I pulled it out, checked the screen.

Noah: *Got the court roster. You need to see this.*

I opened the attachment. It was a scan, low quality, but readable. A list of names. Pack council members. Tribunal witnesses.

And at the bottom, in small print: *Scheduled terminations pending vote.*

Three names.

Mine was first.