The Alpha's Rejected Mate Was His Doom

The first scream came just as Liora Blackwell was about to die. Not from her throat but from the stranger standing before her. Liora froze beneath the enormous chandelier of Blackwell mansion, her fingers tightening around the silver tray she had been carrying. Crystal glasses trembled against one another as the sound tore through the ballroom. Every conversation stopped. Then the doors exploded inward. "DOWN!" someone roared. The guests barely had time to turn before a black wolf leaped through the shattered entrance, its enormous body crashing into a table laden with food. Glass shattered. Women screamed. Men stumbled over overturned chairs as more wolves poured into the hall. Blood. The smell reached Liora before she understood what was happening. Her tray slipped from her hands. A glass shattered at her feet. For one terrible second, nobody moved. Then chaos swallowed the ballroom. "Protect the Alpha!" "Get the women upstairs!" "Close the eastern gates!" Liora stood rooted to the floor, watching a man transform before her eyes. His bones shifted beneath his skin, his clothes tearing as a massive grey wolf emerged where a man had stood moments earlier. She had seen transformations before. Every child in a werewolf pack had. Except her. At twenty-two, Liora Blackwell had never transformed. She had never heard a wolf whisper inside her mind. She had never experienced the strange pull toward the moon that other wolves described with such reverence. She was wolfless. And in a world where a wolf determined a person's worth, that made her less than nothing. "Liora!" She turned. Her stepmother, Selene, stood near the staircase, her elegant blue dress untouched by the chaos. Her expression held more irritation than fear. "What are you standing there for? Get out of the way!" Liora opened her mouth but before she could answer, something slammed into her from the side. She hit the marble floor hard. Pain shot through her shoulder. A dark figure stepped over her. It was a man, tall and broad, with black hair and eyes that glowed an unnatural amber. Blood stained the sleeve of his shirt. He looked down at her. For one brief moment, something flickered across his face. Recognition. Then it vanished. "Move," he ordered. Liora scrambled backward. The stranger turned toward the fighting but a wounded wolf suddenly lunged at him from behind. "Behind you!" she shouted. He spun. Too late. The wolf struck him, sending both of them crashing into a pillar. Liora stared in horror. She should run. Everyone else was running. But the stranger had just saved a child from being trampled moments earlier. She had seen it. Even in the middle of the attack, he had placed himself between the little girl and a charging wolf. She couldn't simply leave him. Liora grabbed a fallen iron candlestick and rushed forward. "Hey!” The wounded wolf turned toward her. Its lips peeled back, revealing a row of sharp teeth. For the first time in her life, Liora wished she had a wolf. Just once. Just long enough to protect herself. The creature lunged. She raised the candlestick. And the world stopped. Not literally. But something inside her did. The noise of the ballroom faded. The screams, the crashing furniture, the furious growls all disappeared beneath a sound she had never heard before. A heartbeat. Deep. Ancient. It seemed to come from somewhere beneath her ribs. Then a second heartbeat answered it. The wolf in front of her abruptly stopped. Its golden eyes widened. A low whine escaped its throat. Liora stared at it. "What...?" The creature lowered its head. Not in preparation to attack. In submission. A wave of heat rushed through Liora's veins. She gasped and dropped the candlestick. Pain flashed across her palm. A thin line of blood appeared where the metal had cut her skin. One drop fell onto the marble. The moment it touched the floor, the air changed. Every wolf in the ballroom went silent. Even the wounded creatures stopped moving. Across the room, the stranger slowly lifted his head. His amber eyes locked onto Liora. And for the first time, she saw genuine fear on his face. "Impossible," he whispered. The wolf before her pressed its belly against the floor. Liora stumbled backward. She didn't understand what she had done. She hadn't spoken a command. She hadn't shifted. She hadn't even touched the creature. Yet every instinct inside her screamed that something had changed. Something that could never be undone. A deafening crash shattered the silence. A massive black wolf landed in the center of the ballroom, its paws cracking the marble beneath them. The other wolves immediately lowered their heads. Even the stranger who had been fighting moments earlier bowed. Liora recognized the black wolf. Everyone did. There was only one creature in the northern territories whose presence could silence an entire room of Alphas and warriors. Kael Draven. The Alpha of the Shadowfang Pack. The most feared Alpha in the region. His wolf was enormous, with midnight-black fur and eyes that burned like molten gold. Old scars crossed his muzzle and a thin silver mark ran along his left shoulder. He turned his head. His gaze found Liora. She couldn't breathe. The Alpha stared at the blood on the marble, then at her injured palm. His entire body went rigid. A low growl vibrated through the room. Not at the attacking wolves. At her. Liora took a step backward. The black wolf advanced. One step. Then another. Every person in the ballroom pressed themselves against the walls, desperate to avoid drawing his attention. Liora had heard stories about Kael Draven since childhood. They said he had crushed three rival packs before his thirtieth birthday. They said he had executed traitors without blinking. They said even his allies feared disappointing him. Now he was standing directly in front of her. And she had no wolf to protect her. The black wolf lowered his head until his golden eyes were level with hers. Liora trembled. Then, without warning, he transformed. Dark smoke curled around his body. Bones shifted, fur disappeared, and a tall, broad-shouldered man stood before her. Kael Draven was even more intimidating in human form. His black shirt clung to his muscular frame, and a fresh cut marked his jaw. His face was dreadfully handsome but there was nothing gentle about his expression. He looked at her as though she were a problem he intended to solve. "What is your name?" he demanded. Liora swallowed. "Liora Blackwell." His expression changed. Only slightly. But she saw it. "You are Marcus Blackwell's daughter?" "Yes." "And you have no wolf?" The question struck harder than it should have. "No," she whispered. Kael looked at the blood on the floor again. For several seconds, he said nothing. Then he reached for her injured hand. Liora flinched. His fingers closed around her wrist before she could retreat. The instant his skin touched hers, a violent pulse surged between them. Kael released her as though he had been burned. His eyes widened. Liora felt it too. A strange, invisible thread seemed to stretch between them, pulling at something deep within her chest. Her breath caught. The Alpha's jaw tightened. "No," he muttered. He stepped away. "No. This is impossible." Liora stared at him, confused and frightened. "What is happening to me?" Kael didn't answer. Instead, he turned toward the crowd. "Who is responsible for this attack?" Nobody spoke. His voice dropped into something terrifying. "I asked a question." A wounded man dragged himself forward. "Alpha, they came from the eastern border. They knew our patrol routes. Someone must have told them where to strike." Kael's expression hardened. "Lock down the estate. Nobody leaves until I say otherwise." Warriors immediately obeyed. Then his gaze returned to Liora. "You." She stiffened. "Me?" "You are coming with me." Her heart began to pound. "I don't understand." "You don't need to understand. You need to obey." Something inside her recoiled at the command. For twenty-two years, she had obeyed people who treated her like dirt. She had bowed her head, swallowed insults, and accepted punishments for things she hadn't done. But there was something about this man that made her want to resist. Perhaps it was his arrogance. Perhaps it was the fear in his eyes when he looked at her blood. Or perhaps, for the first time in her life, she sensed that she possessed something he wanted. "I won't go anywhere until you tell me why," she said. The room went deathly quiet. Several warriors stared at her as though she had just signed her own death warrant. Kael slowly turned his head. "Do you understand who you're speaking to?" "Yes." "Then you should understand that I don't repeat myself." "And I don't follow strangers without an explanation." A dangerous silence settled between them. Then Kael smiled. It wasn't a warm smile. It was the kind of smile that warned people to start running. "You have no wolf, no rank and apparently no sense of self-preservation." He stepped closer. "Yet every wolf in this room bowed to you without a single command." Liora's stomach twisted. "I didn't do anything." "That's precisely what concerns me." Before she could respond, another warrior hurried into the ballroom and knelt before Kael. "Alpha, we've discovered something." Kael didn't look away from Liora. "Speak." The warrior hesitated. "There was a symbol burned into the eastern gate. An ancient one. The elders have identified it." "And?" The warrior swallowed. "They say it belongs to a bloodline believed to have been wiped out centuries ago." Kael's fingers curled into fists. "What bloodline?" The warrior looked at Liora. Then he bowed his head. "The Moon Sovereign bloodline." A murmur swept through the room. Liora didn't recognize the name but she recognized the fear that followed it. Kael did. She could see it in his face. For the first time since entering the ballroom, the ruthless Alpha looked genuinely unsettled. He turned back to her. "Who are your parents?" "My father is Alpha Marcus Blackwell. My mother died when I was a child." "What was her name?" Liora frowned. "Elara." Kael went completely still. The name seemed to strike him like a physical blow. He stared at her for a long moment, then looked toward the shattered entrance. When he spoke again, his voice was cold enough to freeze the blood in her veins. "Prepare a carriage." One of his warriors bowed. "Where are we going, Alpha?" Kael's eyes never left Liora. "Shadowfang." Liora's heart sank. "But I can't leave my pack." "You can and you will." "Why?" He leaned toward her, lowering his voice so that only she could hear. "Because if I am right about who you are, every Alpha in this territory will come hunting for you." He paused. "And the moment they discover what your blood can do, they won't stop until they own you." Liora's injured palm began to burn again. Deep inside her, that second heartbeat returned. Stronger this time. And somewhere far beyond the walls of Blackwell Manor, a wolf howled. One howl. Then another. Until the entire forest answered. Kael looked toward the open doors. His face had gone pale. Liora followed his gaze, unable to understand why the sound made tears sting her eyes. Then a voice whispered inside her mind. A voice that wasn't human. At last, my daughter. Liora gasped. Kael grabbed her shoulders. "What did you hear?" She stared at him. "Nothing." But she knew that wasn't true. Because for the first time in twenty-two years, she wasn't alone inside her own mind. And whatever had awakened in her blood had been waiting a very long time