Married to the Billionaire Alpha

Snow blanketed the mountains like a silken shroud, swallowing the world in silence as Eva Silas stepped out of the armored black vehicle. Her feet crunched against the ice-coated stones of the long driveway leading up to the mansion-the Alpha's mansion. A fortress of steel and glass, cold as the man who ruled it.

Kael Draven.

Her new husband.

She hadn't seen his face clearly at the wedding. The ceremony had been a blur of snarling Alphas, unreadable gazes, and vows she hadn't written. She'd spoken them anyway-words sharp as knives carved into her tongue.

"I, Eva of the Eastern Pack, swear loyalty and unity..."

Unity? That was a lie.

The moment the vows were sealed with blood, the Northern Pack's guards had taken her away like cargo. No kisses. No celebration. Just business.

A cold gust swept her thin cloak back, and she clutched it tighter around her. Behind her, the guard who'd escorted her glanced at the mansion doors, then back at her, hesitating.

"You'll be fine," he muttered, though his eyes said otherwise.

Eva didn't answer. She had no words left. She just climbed the marble steps and walked through the door.

The interior hit her like a breath of winter. Glass walls overlooked the snowy cliffs below. A staircase curved toward the upper chambers like a frozen river. The space was too wide, too sterile. She felt smaller than ever.

Waiting at the far end of the room was Kael Draven.

She knew who he was before he moved. The air shifted around him-like prey instinctively recognizing the predator in a room. Tall, dark, and dressed in black. The Alpha of the North.

His hair was raven black, his eyes a frost-bitten silver, and a thin scar curved from his temple to his jaw. It didn't mar his face-it made him look carved by war.

"You're late," he said calmly.

Her heart stuttered. She lowered her gaze, nodding. "I'm sorry, Alpha."

Silence.

Then the soft sound of footsteps.

She braced herself as he approached, expecting the weight of authority to crash down on her like it always had under Alpha Roen's rule. But Kael stopped just in front of her, a strange expression flickering across his face.

"Don't call me that," he said. "Not unless you mean it."

Eva blinked up at him. "What should I call you?"

He stepped back and handed her a small silver key.

"Your choice."

She stared at it. "What is this?"

"Key to the mansion. Every room. Every drawer. You're not a prisoner here."

Her fingers curled around the key, unsure whether it was a test or a trap. "Why?"

Kael didn't smile, but something shifted in his expression. Not cruelty. Not coldness. Curiosity.

"You were sent here to spy on me, weren't you?"

The air vanished from her lungs.

"I-"

"Don't lie," he said softly. "Just do me one favor. If you're going to spy... make it interesting."

He walked past her, his scent brushing against her-earth, snow, firewood-and vanished up the stairs, leaving her trembling in the center of the great hall.

---

She didn't sleep that night.

She wandered the halls of the glass mansion in silence, afraid to touch anything. Portraits of past Alphas lined the walls-fierce men with eyes like Kael's. She paused at one of them. It bore the same scar. His father.

But something was different about Kael. She couldn't explain it yet.

At midnight, a shrill alarm shattered the stillness.

Red lights flashed down the hall. The guard from earlier burst in.

"Vault breach!" he yelled.

Eva jumped, her heart slamming against her ribs. Before she could ask, he grabbed her arm.

"Where were you an hour ago?" he snapped.

"In my room! I didn't-"

He sniffed her. "No scent trail. Why can't I trace you?"

She couldn't explain it-her scent always faded faster than others. Roen had said it was a weakness.

The other guards arrived. One opened a communicator.

"Alpha, we need you."

Kael appeared, still shirtless, eyes sharp as frost. "Report."

"Someone broke into the eastern wing. The vault. Nothing's missing... but the lock was forced."

Kael's gaze shifted to Eva. She froze.

"Bring her," he said.

---

They didn't bind her. They didn't chain her.

That scared her more.

The vault was hidden behind a panel in the wall-a biometric lock now melted at the edges. Kael examined the damage, then turned to her.

"Three days," he said.

Eva frowned. "What?"

"You have three days to prove you didn't do this. Or I send you back."

Her throat closed. Back to Roen? She'd rather die.

"Kael," she whispered. "I didn't-"

"I believe you," he interrupted.

She stared at him, stunned.

"But no one else will. Prove it to them. And to me."

She watched as he turned away, steel in every step.

Not a monster.

But not a savior either.

Just a man who had nothing left to lose-and no time for weakness.

---

By dawn, Eva started searching.

Room by room, drawer by drawer, guided by instinct more than logic.

She had no plan-only fear, and the quiet burn of something else. Determination.

In the west wing, behind an unused library, she found it.

A hidden door.

Inside, a room filled with files and names.

Hundreds of names.

Rogues. Omegas. Exiles. Not targets... but refugees.

"Safe," she whispered, tracing the papers.

He'd been saving wolves. From all packs. Even hers.

Her heart ached.

Why?

Why hide this?

That evening, Kael found her in the hidden room.

He didn't yell. Didn't ask how she found it.

Instead, he poured her a glass of water and sat across from her, silent.

"You... help them," she said finally.

He nodded once. "No one else will."

"Why?"

"They're forgotten. Just like you were."

She looked at him then, really looked-and for the first time, saw the pain in his eyes wasn't just anger. It was history.

"I was told you were cruel," she whispered.

"I am," he said. "To those who deserve it."

And in that moment, something cracked inside her.

Not trust. Not yet.

But maybe... maybe the beginning of it.

---