CLAIMED BY THE RUTHLESS ALPHA

Saraphine & Darius POV ( My buried guilt)

Three minutes and twenty seconds. That was all it took. An eternity of agony.

Darius watched in silence. When the worst of the tremors eased, I felt the cold spray of the shower hit my bare skin. I dragged myself up the wall and twisted the faucet, not caring that the water was icy.

He moved like lightning, wrenching the dial off. “You couldn’t wait two seconds for it to warm up?”

I said nothing, chest heaving, water dripping from my lashes as I stared at him defiantly.

He yanked the thin blue sheet off my bed and shoved it toward me. “Here.”

I didn’t take it immediately. When I finally did, wrapping it around my naked body, our eyes clashed. His burned with frustration and something darker, hunger.

I leaned against the wall, determined not to show weakness. Darius crossed his arms, muscles flexing, and studied me like I was a puzzle he intended to solve by force.

“Your wolf is submissive,” he stated, voice low and dangerous.

I shrugged, ignoring the way my body still trembled. “So?”

His emerald eyes narrowed. “Yet you meet my gaze. You act like you’re anything but. How?”

“Flounce about?” I echoed sarcastically when he accused me of it earlier. Irritation flared in the air between us.

Darius stepped closer, towering over me. “Why did you run from the pack run?”

“I felt like it.”

His growl rattled the small space. “It terrified you. What did you think would happen?”

I met his stare head-on. “You’ve met this pack. Would you run with them if you were me?”

He didn’t answer immediately. The silence stretched, thick with tension.

“That doesn’t explain how you’ve hidden it for eight years,” he pressed. “Or how you forced a shift that fast.”

“Nothing to do with you.”

“Tell me.”

“No.”

The rapid exchange ended when he realized brute force wouldn’t work. I was too guarded. Instead, he leaned against the opposite wall, studying me with calculated patience.

“You knew something bad was coming,” he said. “Something that made you willing to endure that kind of pain. How, if you’ve avoided every run since you were sixteen?”

My lips pressed into a thin line.

He roared my name suddenly. “Seraphine Stone!”

I jumped, cracking the back of my head against the tile. Pain bloomed, but I rubbed it angrily, glaring.

“Eden told me what they did to her,” I whispered finally. “They treated her like a toy. Ping-pong. Forcing her to the front, biting, pushing her into the stream… hours of it.”

Darius went deathly still. Cold fury rolled off him in waves.

“You sent her back here,” I accused, voice shaking with rage. “You’re worse than the others.”

His brows drew together. “I……”

“Get out,” I whispered, colder than the shower water had been.

He stalked closer, fists clenched, but stopped short of touching me. “Tell me where she is, Seraphine.”

“No.”

He spun on his heel and left, the broken cabin door hanging crookedly behind him. Moments later, the shower started again as I tried to wash away the fear, the pain, and the unwanted pull I felt toward the ruthless alpha who now held my life in his hands………

After that incident, i Darius, I stormed back to the farmhouse, Seraphine’s words echoing like knives. “You sent her back here”. The guilt I had buried for years clawed its way to the surface. Eden. Melody. Failures that haunted every waking moment.

The room I had claimed felt too small, the walls closing in. I stood at the window, naked still, staring into the darkness as wolves howled in the distance. Bowen had taken charge of the run. I could only imagine what fresh hell they were inflicting on someone tonight.

My phone rang. I ignored it twice before answering on the third.

“What?” I snarled.

Dom’s calm voice came through. “Now isn’t a good time, I take it.”

“Someone better be dying.”

He sighed. “You’re alone in enemy territory. It’s only a matter of time before they test you again.”

“They already have. They’re dead.”

We spoke briefly about pack matters back home, potential Lunas like Rose, Chloe, Yelena. I rejected them all. None of them were Melody. None stirred anything in me except irritation.

I ended the call and dropped onto the hard bed, staring at the ceiling. Memories flooded in unbidden.

Melody’s soft laugh under our tree. Her worry about my father’s plans. The way she had protected Eden, even at great cost to herself. The guilt that I had left my sister behind crushed me.

Sleep eventually claimed me, restless and light.

Hours later, the farmhouse door creaked open. Cool air drifted in. My instincts screamed. I rolled just as a clawed hand punched through the pillow where my neck had been.

In one fluid motion, I gripped the attacker’s head and twisted hard. Bone snapped. The body dropped lifelessly.

Another nameless wolf sent by Bowen, no doubt.

I dragged the corpse outside, tossing it into the night. “Keep coming,” I muttered. “I’ll kill every last one of you.”

Back in bed, I couldn’t stop thinking of Seraphine. Her silver eyes. Her defiance. The way her scent called to me even now.

She was hiding Eden. She was hiding everything.

And despite the rage, despite the mission… I wanted to break down every wall she had built. But why? Is it because of the fact that i am an Alpha or because of her stubbornness.

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