CLAIMED BY THE RUTHLESS ALPHA

Saraphine POV

Darius stepped back, but the heat of his body lingered like a brand against my skin. I rubbed my wrist where his fingers had been, not because it hurt, though it did…..but because the pressure had sent unwelcome sparks racing up my arm. My wolf whined low in my chest, torn between terror and that traitorous pull toward the strongest male she’d ever scented. I shoved her deeper.

“Beta duties start now,” he said, voice low and edged with dark amusement. “Farmhouse kitchen. Breakfast. Don’t make me come find you again.”

He turned and left without waiting for an answer, ducking through the low doorway of my cabin. The moment the door clicked shut, I sagged against the wall, heart hammering. Two days. Forty-eight hours before he pulled his protection, if that’s what this twisted game even counted as…. and let the pack tear me apart.

I dressed quickly: faded jeans, a long-sleeved black shirt to hide the bruises already blooming from yesterday’s welcoming committee, and my boots. The silver locket went back under the collar, safe against my skin. Touching it steadied me. Mom’s face in the tiny photo, Dad’s proud smile. They hadn’t died so I could crumble now.

Outside, the compound felt different. Eyes followed me from every shadow between the identical weathered cabins. Tera leaned against a porch post with two of her friends, arms crossed, lips curled in a sneer. Jax stood farther back near the tree line, auburn hair catching the weak morning light, watching with that calculating stare that always made my stomach twist. He didn’t smile. He didn’t need to. The message was clear: You’re exposed now.

I kept my chin up and my pace steady, the same mask I’d worn for eight years. Inside, my wolf trembled.

The farmhouse smelled of stale blood and old wood. Someone probably under Darius’s orders had dragged the bodies away, but the metallic tang still clung to the air. I moved to the kitchen, a cramped space with chipped counters and a stove that looked older than me. Eggs. Bacon. Toast. Coffee, black. Simple enough. My hands moved on autopilot while my mind raced.

Leo usually lounged near the old laundry building around mid-morning, nursing a hangover and looking for easy targets. If I could get him alone after breakfast… One well-placed knife, a story about him attacking me first. Jax would be harder. He never let his guard down.

The scent of fresh coffee hit me just as heavy footsteps approached. Darius filled the doorway, now wearing a black thermal that stretched across his broad chest. His emerald eyes swept over the counter, then over me.

“Faster than I expected,” he murmured.

“I said I don’t follow orders. I never said I was stupid.” I slid a plate across the scarred table toward him. “Eat. Then leave me alone.”

He didn’t sit. Instead he came around the counter, invading my space until I had to tilt my head back to meet his gaze. “You’re trembling, little wolf.”

“Stop calling me that.”

His hand rose, knuckles brushing my jaw so lightly I almost thought I imagined it. “Your heart’s racing. I can hear it. Smell the fear mixed with something sweeter.” His voice dropped. “You hate that you want me close.”

Heat flooded my cheeks. “I want you dead. There’s a difference.”

A low chuckle rumbled from his chest. He picked up the coffee mug, took a slow sip, never breaking eye contact. “Keep lying to me. It only makes me more curious.”

I turned away to crack more eggs, needing the mundane task to anchor me. His presence behind me was like standing too close to a wildfire dangerous, consuming, impossible to ignore. Every nerve ending screamed awareness. My submissive instincts wanted to bare my throat and beg for safety. The survivor in me wanted to drive a kitchen knife between his ribs for what his family had done to Eden.

“Tell me about Melody,” he said suddenly.

My hands stilled on the carton. “I already did.”

“You lied.” He set the mug down with deliberate calm. “I can taste it on every word. What really happened the night she died?”

I faced him again, silver eyes clashing with green. “She was kind. Too kind for this place. They broke her in two weeks. If you cared so much, why wasn’t her fated mate here protecting her?”

Something raw and painful flickered across his face guilt, grief, rage. For a second the ruthless alpha looked human. Then the mask slammed back into place.

“You helped her,” he said quietly. It wasn’t a question.

My pulse spiked. I forced a shrug. “Doesn’t matter now. She’s dead. Your sister’s dead too, according to everyone else. Move on, Alpha.”

He moved so fast I barely registered it. One moment we were glaring at each other; the next my back was against the refrigerator, his forearm braced beside my head, caging me without quite touching. The heat rolling off him made my clothes feel too tight.

“Careful, Seraphine. My patience has limits.”

“So does my tolerance for bullies who think owning a pack means owning people.” My voice came out steadier than I felt. “You want breakfast? It’s getting cold.”

For a long moment he just stared at me, chest rising and falling. Then he stepped back, grabbed the plate, and sat. I let out a shaky breath and busied myself cleaning the counter.

The silence stretched, broken only by the clink of silverware. I felt his gaze on me the entire time.

A sharp knock interrupted us. Dom the shaved-headed beta I’d glimpsed briefly yesterday, stepped inside, expression carefully neutral. “Alpha. We’ve got movement on the eastern border. Looks like a couple of the younger ones testing how far they can push while you’re… occupied.”

Darius’s jaw tightened. “Handle it. I’ll be out shortly.”

Dom’s eyes flicked to me for a fraction of a second, assessing. He nodded and left.

Darius finished eating, stood, and shrugged into a jacket. “You’re coming with me.”

“I have cleaning to do, remember? Your new beta duties.”

“Later.” He gripped my elbow, firm but not bruising, and steered me toward the door. “I want the pack to see you at my side. Let them wonder.”

Wonder, or decide I was a target worth fighting over? Tera’s jealous glare this morning flashed in my mind. Jax’s calculating stare. This was a mistake.

Outside, the air was crisp with early autumn bite. Darius didn’t release my arm as we crossed the compound. Whispers followed us. A few males straightened, posturing. Tera’s group openly sneered.

Near the tree line, two young shifters were circling each other, half-shifted, claws out. Darius’s presence alone made them freeze.

“Enough,” he growled. Power rippled off him, thick and commanding. Both wolves dropped to their knees, heads bowed.

I felt the pull too, my own legs wanting to fold. I locked my knees and stared straight ahead, fighting the instinct with everything I had.

Darius noticed. Of course he did. His thumb brushed the inside of my elbow in a slow, deliberate stroke. A warning. A promise. A twisted caress.

“Interesting,” he murmured for my ears only. “Most submissives would be on the ground by now.”

“I’m not most.”

“No,” he agreed, voice dark velvet. “You’re not.”

He handled the border skirmish with brutal efficiency, two sharp commands and a flash of dominance that sent the troublemakers slinking away. All the while he kept me close, a living declaration that I belonged to him now, at least in the eyes of the pack.

When we returned toward the farmhouse, Jax was waiting on the porch steps, arms loose at his sides but eyes sharp.

“Alpha,” he greeted, dipping his chin just enough to show respect without submission. “Thought you might want a real second-in-command for these matters. Someone who knows the pack’s… history.”

His gaze slid to me, lingering too long on my throat where the locket chain disappeared beneath my shirt. A slow, predatory smile curved his lips.

My blood ran cold. He knew about the locket. Or at least suspected its importance.

Darius’s hand tightened on my arm. “I’ve made my choice. Seraphine is beta until I say otherwise.”

Jax’s smile didn’t falter, but violence flickered in his brown eyes. “Bold move. Hope she lasts longer than the last outsider who tried to rise too fast.”

The threat hung in the air like smoke.

Darius simply pulled me past him into the farmhouse. The moment the door closed, I yanked my arm free.

“You just painted a bigger target on my back.”

“Good,” he said, voice low. “Now you have no choice but to stay close to me if you want to survive the next two days.”

I laughed bitterly. “You really think I’ll break and give you Eden’s location just to save my skin?”

He stepped closer, backing me toward the wall again. This time his hand cupped my chin, tilting my face up. “I think you’re stronger than you look, little wolf. And I think that strength is going to make breaking you all the sweeter when you finally realize I’m the only one who can keep you safe.”

His thumb brushed my lower lip. For one suspended heartbeat, I thought he might kiss me. Part of me. God help me… wanted him to.

Instead he released me and turned toward the stairs. “Clean the house. Dinner at six. And Seraphine?”

I waited.

“Don’t run. I’ll only enjoy hunting you down.”

Then he was gone, leaving me alone with the weight of his scent, the burn of his touch, and the crushing knowledge that the clock was ticking. Two days.

I touched the locket beneath my shirt, steeling myself.

One way or another, Jax and Leo die before then. Even if I have to burn everything down with them.

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