Chapter 35 Thirty five
Saturday mornings in the Alpha house were usually quiet, but that day Harper woke with a strange heaviness pressing against her chest. She stayed in bed longer than usual, tangled in her sheets, staring up at the pale ceiling as sunlight spilled lazily through her curtains. The house felt different somehow—like it was holding its breath.
Her thoughts drifted where they had been drifting far too often lately.
Koda.
She turned onto her side, pulling her pillow closer as if that could quiet the ache creeping into her ribs. She could still picture him the last time she saw him—chained, restrained, caged like something dangerous instead of someone human. The memory unsettled her. The image of iron bars, cold stone, and his eyes—fierce, wounded, furious—lingered longer than she wanted.
Would he stay there forever?
The thought made her stomach twist.
He had always talked about fate. About mates. About bonds that couldn’t be broken. He had wanted answers. Needed them.
And now he was locked away before either of them could truly know anything.
Harper exhaled sharply and pushed herself upright. Lying in bed wasn’t going to fix anything. She changed into something simple and comfortable, tied her hair back loosely, and stepped out of her room.
The moment she reached the main hallway, she froze.
Voices echoed from downstairs. Laughter. Instructions being called out. The scrape of ladders against walls. The scent of fresh flowers drifted through the air.
Harper frowned.
That wasn’t normal.
She descended the staircase slowly, confusion growing with each step. The living room had transformed into organized chaos. Members of the pack were moving back and forth carrying garlands of white and silver flowers, hanging lanterns from the ceiling beams, draping long sheer fabrics along the walls.
Even the usually stoic guards looked slightly less rigid, shifting furniture and adjusting decorations.
“What’s going on?” Harper asked one of the women arranging flowers near the fireplace.
“Careful with that ribbon—no, higher!” the woman called to someone else, barely glancing at Harper before rushing off.
Harper stepped aside to avoid someone carrying a stack of folded chairs.
“Hello? What is happening?” she tried again.
No one stopped long enough to answer.
Her confusion deepened. The house looked like it was being prepared for something important—something ceremonial.
That’s when she spotted him.
Kai walked casually through the hallway, completely unbothered by the commotion around him. He had an apple in his hand and was taking slow, deliberate bites as if he were watching a show unfold for his personal entertainment.
Harper marched toward him.
“Kai.”
He looked down at her, chewing thoughtfully. “Good morning.”
“What’s going on?” she demanded.
He raised an eyebrow. “You really don’t know?”
Her irritation flared instantly. “I don’t have time to be teased. Just tell me.”
Kai smirked faintly, clearly enjoying her impatience. He leaned against the wall, crossing one ankle over the other.
“The Bloom Moon Ceremony,” he said finally.
Harper blinked. “What?”
“It’s tomorrow night,” he continued, taking another bite of his apple. “And since my father enjoys making statements, he decided to host it here.”
Her heart skipped.
“The Bloom Moon Ceremony?” she repeated slowly.
Kai nodded. “The one where wolves discover their mates. Ring any bells?”
Of course it did.
Every child in the pack grew up hearing about it. The night when the full moon shone brightest in early spring. The night fate revealed itself. The night wolves met the person their souls were bound to.
Her chest tightened.
“So that’s what all this is for,” she murmured.
“Yes.” Kai straightened slightly. “The entire pack will be here. It’s tradition.”
Harper’s mind immediately drifted again.
Mates.
Her thoughts betrayed her.
Koda’s voice echoed faintly in memory—asking her if she ever wondered. If she ever felt it. If she ever thought they might be tied together by something deeper than coincidence.
She had brushed him off back then.
Now he was chained in a dungeon beneath the same house that was about to celebrate destiny.
“Yes,” Kai said lightly, as if reading her silence wrong. “Who knows? I could be your mate.”
The teasing note in his voice snapped her out of it.
She swatted his arm. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
He groaned dramatically, rubbing his hand. “Violent.”
“You wish,” she shot back.
Kai grinned. “You’d be lucky.”
She rolled her eyes, but her smile didn’t fully reach her eyes.
Because the thought wouldn’t leave.
What if Koda had been right?
What if that strange pull she sometimes felt around him wasn’t just tension or shared stubbornness?
What if it was something else?
And if it was… what did that mean now?
Kai studied her for a moment, his playful expression softening slightly.
“You’re thinking too hard,” he observed.
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
She looked away from him toward the decorated staircase. White fabric cascaded down the banister like mist. Lanterns shimmered faintly in the daylight.
Mates.
Fate.
Bonds.
And Koda in a cage.
Her chest tightened painfully.
“Harper!”
She turned at the sound of her name. One of the house staff was hurrying toward her.
“Yes?”
“We need extra hands setting up the courtyard. Can you help with the lantern strings?”
Harper blinked, momentarily pulled from her thoughts. “Oh. Yes. Of course.”
Kai took another bite of his apple, watching her carefully.
“You’ll survive one ceremony,” he said lightly.
She didn’t respond.
As she walked toward the courtyard, her mind was no longer on decorations.
It was on the dungeon below.
On iron chains.
On a boy who had once looked at her like she was something rare.
Maybe she should visit him.
Just to see.
Just to know.
If the ceremony truly revealed mates… and if he believed so strongly that they might be tied together…
Didn’t he deserve to know before tomorrow night?
She slowed slightly near the hallway that led toward the lower levels of the house.
Her heart beat faster.
It would be reckless.
If anyone saw her—
“Harper!”
She turned again.
Another pack member waved at her from the courtyard entrance. “We need you out here!”
She hesitated.
Just for a second.
Then she forced herself to turn away from the dungeon corridor.
“Coming!” she called back.
But as she stepped outside into the bright afternoon light, the weight in her chest didn’t fade.
The house buzzed with excitement.
The pack buzzed with anticipation.
Tomorrow night, under the Bloom Moon, destinies would be revealed.
And Harper couldn’t shake the feeling that hers was already tangled somewhere beneath her feet—
Locked behind iron bars.