MATED TO THE BEAST ALPHA BROTHERS
Chapter 47: KERES-A heartbroken daughter.

Chapter 47: KERES-A heartbroken daughter.

"And so, Haelyn of Silvercrest Pack, you stand accused."

The Wolf King’s voice echoed through the grand hall, heavy with authority, sending a hush over the gathered assembly.

Haelyn stood at the center of it all, her head bowed slightly, her hands folded in front of her. She looked innocent. Small. Nothing like the force that had terrified the council mere weeks ago.

And yet,

The Wolf King knew better.

His golden eyes burned into her as he continued.

"The council has presented their claims." He gestured toward the robed elders sitting in their designated seats. "They say you are a threat to the balance of our kind. That your existence alone brings destruction. That you are cursed with power no wolf should wield."

Haelyn remained silent.

"You are accused of disrupting the natural order, defying the council’s authority, and harboring an entity of unknown origins within your body."

The room buzzed with tension.

Arthur smirked, satisfied.

Cerius’ jaw clenched, his fists tight by his sides.

Archer, the Alpha King, stood motionless, his eyes burning with restrained fury.

The council elders nodded amongst themselves, already confident in their verdict.

Haelyn merely lifted her gaze to the Wolf King, her expression unreadable.

"And so," the Wolf King continued, his tone firm, "I pass my judgment."

The room held its breath.

"You will undergo the Ritual of Wolf Stripping."

Gasps.

The council members nodded in approval. Arthur leaned back, pleased.

Archer stepped forward instinctively. "You can’t be serious....."

"Silence." The Wolf King’s gaze pinned him down.

Archer clenched his teeth, his breathing ragged.

Cerius’ face was stone, but the flicker of concern in his eyes betrayed his thoughts.

The Ritual of Wolf Stripping.

The most brutal sentence a wolf could receive.

A process where one’s wolf was burned away, stripped from their soul, leaving them either dead—or worse, nothing but a broken shell of a being.

No one had survived it.

"If you endure, you will be free to go," the Wolf King finished. "If not... your soul will burn away to nothing."

The council was satisfied.

Arthur looked smug.

But Archer? Cerius? Seraphis?

They were terrified.

Haelyn was led to the center of the ceremonial chamber. The markings on the floor glowed a fiery red as the ritualists chanted.

The Wolf King stood above, watching.

But just as the energy began to rise....

The air shifted.

The innocence in Haelyn’s eyes vanished.

Something darker slithered in.

The Wolf King narrowed his gaze.

"KERES."

A slow, eerie smile curved Haelyn’s lips.

The room gasped.

The energy meant to burn her....she absorbed it. Swallowed it.

The flames coiled around her body like a lover’s embrace, flickering in and out of her skin as she laughed....mocking, amused.

The Wolf King’s face darkened.

"KERES!!!" He thundered, fury shaking the room.

Then.....

A sound.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

The chamber grew cold.

Haelyn’s body began to change.

Her golden curls darkened, stretching into deep, crimson-red strands that clung to her skin like they were wet.

Her form elongated, shifting, morphing.

Her eyes....no longer Haelyn’s...flashed a searing, molten gold.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Water pooled beneath her feet. Her clothes were soaked, as if she had just emerged from the depths of a forgotten sea.

The energy around her pulsed, thick with rage.

The room stood frozen.

Even Arthur looked pale now.

The Wolf King clenched his jaw.

Then...

"Hello, Father."

A voice.

Not Haelyn’s.

Silky. Cold. Writhing with controlled fury.

A daughter’s voice.

"It’s nice to see you again."

The hall erupted into chaos.

*YEARS AGO*

"You mustn’t run too far, little one."

A deep, rich voice carried through the lush garden, filled with warmth and laughter.

The little girl spun around, her crimson curls bouncing as she grinned up at the man who had spoken.

"But Father," she giggled, stormy gray eyes shimmering with joy, "the flowers like to play hide and seek too!"

The man—tall, regal, yet entirely at ease—laughed, shaking his head.

"And do the flowers ever win?"

"Not when you help me find them!" She threw her arms around his leg, clinging tightly as if he were her whole world.

"Come here, you little troublemaker."

He scooped her up effortlessly, spinning her through the air as she shrieked with laughter, tiny hands clutching onto him.

A soft, melodic laugh joined theirs.

Her mother.

She stepped into the garden, long auburn hair cascading down her back, her emerald eyes twinkling with affection.

"If you keep spoiling her, she’ll be impossible to handle," she teased.

The man smirked. "She’s my daughter. She deserves everything."

The little girl giggled again, nestling into his arms, safe.

Loved.

Cherished.

But then....

The scene twisted.

The young woman was on the floor, her once joyful eyes now filled with terror.

Her fingers dug into the hem of her father’s robes, her body trembling violently.

"Please," she sobbed, voice raw. "Please, don’t do this. Don’t give me to him!"

Her father didn’t move.

His expression was unreadable, his hands clasped behind his back as if he were standing before a faceless crowd and not his desperate, pleading daughter.

"It has been decided."

"No! I am not some bargaining piece!" Her grip tightened.

"Stand, Keres."

She shook her head, refusing to let go.

Her father exhaled sharply.

"You are no longer a child."

"Then let me choose my own fate!"

"This is your fate."

The room was cold.

Her mother was nowhere to be seen.

Only her father.

And the crushing weight of betrayal.

"You promised me," Keres whispered.

Her father finally looked at her. "And you promised me you would be strong."

Tears streamed down her face.

"Strength is not obedience."

"You are a fool if you believe that."

Her heart clenched.

"You are giving me to a man who does not love me."

"Love was never part of this, Keres. You were meant to be his Luna, not his weakness."

Her nails scraped against the floor.

"Then why does he love another?"

Her father’s jaw tightened.

"Enough."

She shook her head.

"He loves another woman, Father. And yet you still send me to him."

"Because it is necessary."

Her vision blurred.

"For whom?"

Her father turned away.

Her voice cracked.

"For you? For your power? Or for his obsession?"

His silence shattered her.

The guards moved.

They pried her fingers from his robes.

And dragged her away.

The water wasn’t water.

It was ink.

Thick. Black.

Suffocating.

It clawed up her skin, wrapping around her limbs, pulling her under as she gasped.

She thrashed.

Kicked.

Clawed.

But the darkness was endless.

And above....

Standing on the edge of the abyss....

Zareth.

His silver eyes were cold.

Unfeeling.

She reached for him.

"Please..."

No warmth met her.

No salvation.

Only the unrelenting emptiness in his gaze.

The very man her father had given her to.

The Alpha she was supposed to be bound to.

The man who loved another, yet held her fate in his hands.

"Don’t do this," she pleaded.

His grip on her wrist tightened.

And then....

He let go.

She plunged into the black abyss.

The liquid rushed into her lungs, choking her screams, drowning the last remnants of who she was.

She would not die.

But she would never be the same.

As the darkness swallowed her whole, the last thing she saw....

Was his face.

Empty.

Uncaring.

And her final thought....

"This is the man my father chose for me?"

Then, all went silent.