Free Web NovelChapter 43: Chapter 43
Kieran’s POV
My Beta handed me the towel after another brutal round of boxing in the training ring. Sweat dripped down my bare chest as I wiped myself off, my muscles still tense from the fight. My wolf, Ronan, growled low in my mind, restless after yesterday’s confrontation with Kyra.
"She’s still refusing to eat," Ronan snarled. "She’s punishing herself—and the pup."
I was pissed about what she’d been doing. I had to send Emily away just because Kyra was mad about her staying here. I understood this was her father’s house, but my mother was once married to her father. Last night, she slapped me with the truth—she couldn’t accept me living in this house. She loathed me so much that she couldn’t even stand living under the same roof. It was understandable, but still...it hurt me.
I clenched my jaw. The omega maid had told me this morning that Kyra skipped breakfast, and now, as I unwrapped the boxing tape from my fists, my Beta delivered worse news.
"She skipped lunch too, Alpha Kieran."
I squeezed my eyes shut and tightened my grip on the damp towel.
"What the hell is she thinking?" I muttered, my voice dangerously low. "She’s carrying a pup, for Moon’s sake."
I understood her anger—I did. But this? This was pure stubbornness, a reckless defiance that could hurt the unborn child. A pregnant she-wolf refusing food wasn’t just an act of rebellion—it was a direct threat to the pup’s survival.
I couldn’t believe she would put her pup’s life on the line just to get what she wanted. I couldn’t believe her.
"Ana tried reasoning with her, reminding her of the pup’s needs. But she’s too stubborn, Alpha Kieran. Why don’t you just leave her alone and let her do whatever she wants? She’s a brat and she’s not important because you already have actual control over her father’s pack. Alpha Darian has—"
I turned on him, my eyes flashing gold—a warning sign of Ronan’s rising fury.
A low growl rumbled in my chest. "You forget who you’re speaking to." My voice was dangerously soft, the kind that made even the most hardened rogues step back. "I don’t need a lecture on how to handle her."
He flinched, his scent spiking with fear. "I—I didn’t mean—" freёwebnoѵel.com
"I didn’t give you permission to speak ill of her. You better shut your mouth or I’ll shut it for you, and you’ll end up in the morgue right after."
"I—I apologize for my rudeness, Alpha Kieran."
"She’s not important?" My lips curled. "She’s the only reason her father’s pack still stands."
"You think just because I took her father’s pack, that makes her disposable?" I stepped forward, and he stumbled back. "Let me remind you—I didn’t just take that pack. I burned its old laws to the ground and rewrote them."
Silence.
"She stays under my protection," I growled. "And if I hear another word against her, I’ll remind you why the rogues still kneel when I walk into a room."
"Leave." The command rolled off my tongue like a death sentence, and he immediately scrambled out of the room without another word.
The moment the door clicked shut, my wolf snarled, his frustration bleeding into my thoughts. "He dares call her a brat?"
I clenched my fists. The underground knew me as the Rogue King—the one who carved his way to power through blood and broken bones. I didn’t earn that title by being soft. And yet, when it came to her, I hesitated.
Ronan paced in my mind, agitated.
"She hates us," he growled. "She’d rather starve than stay under our roof."
I rested my arm on the rope and pressed my knuckles against my lips.
Why do you want to move out, Kyra? Do you really hate me that much? I was trying so hard to make you feel comfortable around me, but you’re making me frustrated and confused.
I clenched my jaw as the memories of how I became entangled with her resurfaced. That memory has haunted me. I couldn’t forget my cruel fate. In the werewolf world, bloodlines meant everything—and mine was tainted by my father, a rogue Alpha who ruled his pack through fear and brutality. Other pups would scent the violence on me, their wolves recoiling before they even knew my name. I’d see their nostrils flare, their eyes widen, and then...they’d run. Every damn time.
"Weaklings," Ronan sneered in my mind. "They never deserved to stand beside us."
I rebelled hard against that fate. When my mother finally ripped us away from that nightmare, we became drifters—no pack, no territory, just two wolves constantly looking over our shoulders. School? Forget it. I was too busy learning how to fight, how to survive in the shadows where rogue wolves like us belonged. I was losing hope.
Then came Alpha Darian. The Nightfall Pack Alpha took us in like strays, giving us shelter in his territory.
My mother married him, and he brought us to his home—this house. This house became my safe zone. Alpha Darian even supported my studies, and I met his daughter.
Kyra Monroe—the Alpha’s precious daughter, a little she-wolf who hadn’t even had her first shift yet. All big green eyes and golden curls, flinching every time I entered a room. I could smell her fear, that delicate orange blossom scent turning sharp with anxiety.
"Pathetic," Ronan had scoffed back then. "The Alpha’s heir shouldn’t tremble like a newborn pup."
A spoiled, crybaby little girl. She was afraid of me. Even after she reached high school, she was still uneasy and uncomfortable when I was around. It only changed slightly when I approached her first and talked to her.
She was in sixth grade, turning twelve. I brought her dinner one night and found her drowning in schoolwork, her scent thick with frustration. She had matured, but was still a bit grumpy.
"You know the answer to this?" Her voice was small, hesitant.
Her head snapped up when I took the notebook from her desk. Her wolf might not have awakened yet, but I saw the instinctive challenge in her gaze—a true Alpha’s daughter.
"She’s stronger than she looks," Ronan admitted grudgingly in my mind.
When I told her I could help her, her face brightened.
I sat on her bed and grabbed her notebook. "Eat your dinner. I’ll do this."
For the first time, she smiled. That night, right after I said I’d do her homework, she smiled at me.
Moon help me, something in my chest tightened. Ronan went utterly still in my mind, as if recognizing something neither of us wanted to name.
"I want her to be mine," he’d whispered, shocking us both. That’s when I realized she was starting to change my life.
I had been starting to accept my new life in the Nightfall Pack, adjusting to this second chance fate had given me. But one cruel day ruined my life again. My mother was murdered. Alpha Monroe, for all his power, couldn’t protect her—or wouldn’t.
"HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?" My roar echoed through the house, my claws extending involuntarily as Ronan fought for control. We’d escaped one miserable life only to be dragged into another nightmare. When Kyra was abducted that same night, Alpha Darian revealed the truth—my biological father, the rogue Alpha who sired me, was behind it all.
The combat training from my childhood became the only weapon I could use to help Kyra. When Alpha Darian led his warriors to rescue her, I shadowed them like the rogue-blooded outcast I was. I thought I’d been clever, slipping into his car unnoticed. Foolish pup. He’d known all along. He knew that I followed them and he used the evilness my biological father carved in my soul to fight my father.
I infiltrated my father’s rogue organization, overthrew him, and claimed his filthy territory— all for Alpha Monroe’s vengeance.
I was a fool. I let Alpha Darian use me, only to find out that he was the one who killed my mother. He planned everything just so he could use me against my biological father. I didn’t know the history between them, and I didn’t want to know either. All I know is that I need to avenge my mother’s death.
Ronan paced angrily in my mind. The old wolf played us both. But the pup...she’s innocent in this.
I crushed the thought.
Kyra is Alpha Darian’s only treasure. She is the only person who can shake him and ruin him. He loves her, even when she hates him. If I couldn’t make him suffer directly, I’d make his daughter’s life hell. I would use her against him. I would punish him by hurting his dear child. I would make her life miserable and inflict pain on her. That way, I could get even with him.
After showering, I mind-linked my Beta. I sat on the single couch, puffing a cigarette and playing with my Rubik’s cube. Kyra’s attitude was still bothering me. She was risking her pup, but I wouldn’t give her everything she wanted.
"Alpha Kieran?"
"Report." My voice came out rougher than intended, laced with Ronan’s growl.
"Still refusing meals, Alpha."
I shook my head slowly and angrily dropped the Rubik’s cube on the table. Still so fucking stubborn.
Kyra, are you torturing yourself or torturing me? How do you always know exactly how to make me yield?
"Tsk! Tell her to find a condo not too far from here. She’s not allowed to leave the city."
Ronan snarled in approval. "She won’t escape us."
And she wouldn’t. Because, whether she liked it or not, Kyra Monroe was mine to protect—even if she hated me for it.
