The Alpha's Claim
The Alpha turns me around before I even realize what's happening, and his strong hand sweeps me off my feet.
I yelp, reflexively hooking my arms around his neck.
"Put me down!"
He doesn't.
Instead, he tilts his head, eyes catching the moonlight like silver fire. "And let you run?"
He moves onward and I realized then what he plans on doing to me.
The door swung open and I was thrown into the floor, the stranger, pushing his feet on my shoulder.
"Father!" I choke out. "Father, please!"
My gaze found my father who now stands at the far end, pale as ash. He must be so disappointed with me.
"She tried to run," the Alpha Lord says, voice slicing the air. "And now she stands before you as mine."
"My lord…" my father starts, but his voice breaks. "That's just...I'm sure there's a misunderstanding! Naomi! What have you done?!"
"I do not want to be wed to this monster!" I scream, losing nothing now. "Father please! He...He tried to grope me."
The elders gasp. I'm walking on fire now, but I have no choice.
"Oh, little Silverthorne…if I have to touch you, you'll not be whining but moaning my name."
"He's a monster! A beast!"
"A monster?" His jaw tightens, eyes flashing cold. "Perhaps. But you are mine. And so is this house but if you refuses to marry a monster…"
My father moves forward a step, hands raised. "My lord—!"
"Kill every man and woman," the Alpha Lord says, cold as a blade, "leave the children and—"
What is he doing?
I watch in wide-eyed as the horror unravels in front of me. The alpha Lords men draw their swords and my pack squeals at panic.
"Stop!" I shout, not wanting for this to happen. "Stop! Stop it!"
The Alpha Lord signals his men to stop. I shiver despite myself.
Then I felt the tip of his sword tilted under my chin, lifting my face until I'm forced to meet the storm in his eyes.
He drops to one knee before me, the blade still poised against my skin.
"And what," he says softly, dangerously, "can you possibly offer me, little Silverthorne?"
My father stands frozen, the elders like statues, the hall gone silent but for my own heartbeat.
I press my shaking palms to the marble, trying to rise.
When I was young, I dreamed about this exact moment—the mate bond, the claiming, the look of devotion in a man's eyes.
It was my dream to meet the one fate chose for me…but not this abomination, this wretched shadow of a man, crawling at my feet as if I could ever belong to him.
"Kill them."
"What?"
A spark of panic ignites in my chest—sharp, blinding—especially when the Alpha Lord rises to his full height, nodding to his men.
"Don't leave anyone alive."
"No… no!"
I sink to my knees, clutching his thigh. Goddess! How can this man be so cruel?
My pack, my people. How can I do this to them?
I lift my chin, eyes blazing with nothing but hatred and tears now.
"I…" I swallow hard. "I, Naomi of Silverthorne,…" My words wavers as I force myself not to vomit…
"…accept you," I force out.
"Accept me," he answers, and the mate bond answers too. A hot, vicious throb low in my belly that steals my breath.
I swallow. "The Alpha Lord… as my mate."
"As your mate," he says, eyes burning silver. Another bead of blood slips from the cut at my throat, tracing fire down between my breasts.
"My life," I whisper.
"My life," he takes it.
"My will."
"My will."
"My blood…"
He watches the crimson trail disappear beneath ruined silk and smiles like a wolf who's already tasted me.
"All that I am," he finishes for me, voice dropping to a lover's hush, "I bind to you tonight."
I try to say it and can't. My hips rock forward without permission, chasing heat I don't want. A helpless sound escapes me.
The sword presses just enough to sting again.
"Finish it, little moon," he whispers against my ear. "Or they all die."
I break.
"All that I am… I bind to you… tonight."
The bond slams home.
It's wildfire in my veins, molten gold behind my eyes, a pulse between my thighs so sudden and brutal I nearly come right there on my knees in front of everyone. My spine arches; my breath catches on a moan I can't swallow.
He feels it. His pupils blow wide, black swallowing the silver.
…"All that I am… I bind to you… this night."
The bond answers with a roar of fire.
It tears through me, vicious and absolute, and then the true punishment begins.
Heat—real, mated heat—ignites in my core like a torch dropped into oil.
It floods me in one brutal wave: breasts aching, thighs slick, every pulse between my legs a scream for something only he can give.
The scent of my sudden need floods the hall; I hear gasps, chairs scraping, my father's choked sound of horror.
I sway on my knees, trembling, drenched in sweat and shame and want so sharp it feels like dying.
The Alpha Lord rises to his full height, moonlight carving him into something monstrous and beautiful.
He looks down at me—writhing, burning, already half lost—and his smile is slow, cruel, perfect.
"This is your punishment, Silverthorne," he says. "Because you dared run from me, your alpha, your mate…
I will not mark you tonight."
My broken whimper echoes off the stone.
"I will not sink my teeth into that pretty throat. I will not give you the bite that ends this heat."
He leans down, grips my chin, forces my tear-streaked, fever-flushed face up to his.
"You will burn for me, little moon. You will beg on your knees, on your back, soaked and shaking, until you learn what it truly means to be mine."
His thumb brushes my lower lip, smearing blood and my own desperate breath.
"And only when I decide you have suffered enough…I will decide if you deserve my mercy."