The Broken Mother Became the Alpha’s Mate

Chapter 9 Alpha’s Favoritism

Sophia’s POV

I don’t know how long I stayed curled up on the ground.

Twenty million.

Where was I supposed to get twenty million?

But I must get.

Otherwise Olivia would sleep forever in that black, lightless sea.

I had to get the money.

I dragged myself upright.

Then, as I lifted my head blankly, the massive 3D holographic screen above the city-center plaza suddenly lit up in dazzling color.

It was the crest of Throne Pack—the most feared symbol of wealth and wolf power on the entire continent.

There were only a few bold lines on the screen, paired with a low female voice rolling across the plaza:

“Special Recruitment from Throne Pack: Alpha’s Breeder.”

“Carry an heir for Alpha Alistane. Background irrelevant. Only the strongest body and greatest endurance required. Upon successful pregnancy, compensation: twenty million dollars, plus permanent protection from Throne Pack.”

“Application deadline: tonight at midnight.”

Twenty million...

My eyes locked on that suffocating number.

In the werewolf world, breeder was a word every she-wolf despised. It meant losing your dignity, your status, everything—becoming a soulless incubator who spread her legs for a strange Alpha’s mark and seed.

Under any other circumstances, I wouldn’t have spared that ad a second glance.

But now?

Looking at that number, my cracked lips twisted into a smile uglier than crying.

I wiped the mud and tears off my face with trembling hands.

Inside me, my wolf was roaring.

It was the kind of madness that would tear through every rule in the world to save a pup.

Then I turned and staggered toward recruitment tower in the city center.

......

Half an hour later, I arrived the enterance.

The elevator doors opened, and a wave of suffocating perfume and deliberately released hormones hit me head-on.

The huge, luxurious hall was packed with hundreds of dressed-up she-wolves. Some wore body-hugging couture gowns. Some were drenched in expensive arousal perfume.

Their skin was flawless.

Their hair was perfect.

Every single one of them had polished herself into the ideal vessel to be chosen.

And me?

I wore an old trench coat smeared with rainwater, dirt, and street dust. My hair hung wet and messy against my pale face.

I wasn’t dressed for this.

I wasn’t even clean.

I shrank into the farthest corner of the hall, arms wrapped around myself, trying to disappear.

Then—

“What the hell?”

A loud, disgusted voice cut through the murmurs.

A blonde Omega in a tight red dress with a plunging neckline came strutting over in heels, several girls trailing behind her like vultures eager for a show.

She looked me up and down without hiding her contempt and pinched her nose.

“Is security broken? How did street trash get into this hall?”

“Hmmm,” another she-wolf with short hair chimed in, sneering. “Look at her. She still smells like the streets. Hey, homeless girl, charity meals are in the alley behind the building. Did you walk through the wrong door?”

People around us turned.

Then laughter broke out.

Loud. Cruel. Unrestrained.

Shame burned across my face so hard it felt like fire.

Then, slowly, the shame vanished.

All that remained was anger.

I was not going to be humiliated by another painted-up Omega obsessed with winning a man.

I lifted my head and stared at her.

“I’m not in the wrong place. I’m here to apply to be the breeder.”

“YOU?” The blonde Omega looked like she had just heard the funniest joke in the world. Then she turned to the crowd and laughed. “Girls, did you hear that? We’re competing with her? What a joke.”

The crowd laughed even harder.

The blonde turned back toward me, eager to see me collapse in humiliation.

Instead, I opened my Gamma aura all the way.

Her face went white instantly.

Under the rank pressure, her whole body shook. She fought it with everything she had—

Then dropped to her knees in front of me with a thud.

“You b***h! How dare you humiliate my friend in public!” the short-haired she-wolf shrieked, rushing forward to slap me.

Right then—

“What’s going on here?”

Two huge security guards came marching over from the end of the corridor.

“Causing catfights on Alpha Alistane’s territory? You want to die?”

The hall fell silent immediately.

I drew my aura back.

One guard came toward me with open hostility.

Then he saw my face.

And stopped dead.

“Sophia?” he said in disbelief. “How are you here?”

My mind went blank.

Humiliation almost drowned me alive.

How could I run into Daniel—my old schoolmate—like this?

Back in the academy, I had said more than once that I would spend the rest of my life with my fated mate and no one else.

How was I supposed to explain applying to become a breeder?

Daniel seemed completely unaware of my embarrassment.

Then he asked the one question that shoved me straight into hell.

“Aren’t you already married?”

“Married?!” the woman in red shrieked.

“Oh my God!” the blonde Omega gasped, horror replacing mockery in her eyes. “A mated she-wolf, still living with another wolf, actually came here hoping to carry Alpha Alistane’s child? You are even more shameless than I thought!”

Whispers spread through the hall like wildfire.

Everyone was pointing.

Everyone was staring.

I stood in the middle of it, breathing fast and shallow.

A wave of self-disgust swallowed me whole.

They were right.

I really was insane.

I was a married she-wolf still carrying another male’s mark, not even dressed decently, standing here in this humiliating state.

How desperate had I become?

How blinded by my need to save Olivia was I, that I had actually thought Alpha Alistane might choose me?

I couldn’t save Olivia.

I couldn’t do anything.

The tears finally broke loose.

My wolf let out a broken cry inside me.

I stood there numbly, waiting to be dragged out by security.

Then suddenly, without warning, the entire hall dropped to freezing.

In less than a second, the noise died into absolute silence.

A top-tier Alpha pressure slammed through the room like a tidal wave.

Pure.

Overwhelming.

Absolute.

The knees of every she-wolf in the hall went weak. Even Mia inside me instinctively bent toward submission.

I lifted my head with difficulty.

At the far end of the hall, the black-and-gold double doors slowly opened.

Alistane stepped out.

My breathing stopped.

He wore a gray suit tailored perfectly over his tall, powerful body. The top two buttons of his shirt were open, revealing a hard strip of wheat-colored chest that radiated impossible strength and confidence.

But the most dangerous part of him was his eyes.

Those dark-gold eyes—

Deep, violent, burning like live amber.

Sharp breaths echoed through the hall. The women who had just mocked me were now standing there as if their souls had been ripped out of them.

“Alpha Alistane...” The woman in red was shaking as she twisted herself into the most seductive pose she could manage.

He didn’t look at her once.

“The breeder has already been chosen,” he said flatly.

His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried across the entire hall.

The blonde Omega looked like she had lost the most important thing in her life. The whole room went taut with tension.

Who?

Who had been chosen?

Every eye turned to Alistane, desperate to catch the smallest sign that the breeder might be them.

I stared in a daze.

By then I already understood how absurd it had been for me to come here at all.

There was no point staying.

I turned to leave.

Then Alistane suddenly changed direction and walked straight toward me in the corner.

I froze.

A second later, he was standing in front of me.

The entire hall stared in disbelief.

My mind went white. My heart hammered against my ribs.

What was he doing?

Right—there was an exit near me. He must be leaving, wasn’t he?

But Alistane only looked straight into my eyes, leaving me nowhere to run.

Then he bent slightly, and something unreadable flashed in those dark-gold pupils.

“I want you,” he said. “To be my breeder.”