Claimed by the Alpha king

Chapter 1

Aria's POV

My feet slammed against the hard earth as I ran from the place that had once been my sanctuary. My chest burned, my heart pounding so violently it felt like it might tear free. The wind howled past my ears, drowning out everything except the ache twisting deep inside me. The last hour replayed relentlessly in my mind, every word a fresh wound.

“Aria, you will not mate outside this pack, and that is final!”

My father’s voice had thundered through the hall, cracking the heavy silence like a whip. Rage burned in his eyes hot, unforgiving. It mirrored my own. He had no right to decide my future, no right to chain my life to his expectations. I was not a child. I was my own person.

“Please, my daughter,” my mother had pleaded, her voice trembling as tears streamed down her face. “Remember who you are-you are the Luna heir. Do you want our enemies mocking us? Please, Aria, think carefully. There are many honorable men within the pack. I beg you…”

Her sobs had sliced through me, leaving my heart raw and bleeding.

I wanted gods, I wanted to give them what they asked. I wanted to silence the bond pulsing beneath my skin, to crush my own heart if it meant easing theirs. But what they demanded was impossible. I couldn’t deny it. I couldn’t abandon him.

I could never walk away from my mate.

“No, Mum,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I can’t choose a stranger when my mate is alive when he exists. He was chosen for me by the Moon Goddess herself. Doesn’t that mean something? Doesn’t she have a reason for binding our souls together?”

“Oh please cut the crap! You are well aware that no one is allowed to mate outside of the pack, especially with the kind of position you hold. No pack is to be trusted except your own; that's the rule every pack follows, and you are well aware of it. If you follow your so-called mate to his pack, what will become of our pack, you ungrateful child… why can't you think?” My father lashed out, making my anger flare up again.

“So what about me, Dad? I love Darius and he loves me too. We burst up with mates and I can't see myself, for anybody else. No matter what you say, I won't change my mind. I'm getting mated to Alpha Darius, and no one finalises. I countered with an equally sharp tone, inciting a threat from my father.

I saw his eyes flash red, but I kept my head up with a determined gaze.

“Aria, can you hear the words coming out of your daughter's mouth? She dares to defile me for the Alpha of Emerald pack. You better tell her that if she ever steps foot out of this pack to see him then she should not bother to return. She will be banished from this pack and stripped off her position as the Luna heir, she will also be disowned from the family and we will have nothing to do with her henceforth” He declared with a roar, his words gave me chills and my heart dropped. I knew he meant every word.

My mother's weeping increased, her face was wet with tears and she kept trying to plead with me.

I shook my head and hardened my heart. I was too deep in love with Alpha Darius to leave him. Ever since I met him and discovered he was my mate, our bond only got stronger and encompassed. He completed me and I didn't think I would be able to live without him. He couldn't live without me either, that was how strong our love was.

I had seen this coming from the first time I met Nero. Our love was a forbidden one that everyone would frown against, but I had prepared my heart for the worst too. This was the worst.

“I’m really going to leave, dad, are you really going to banish and disown your own daughter because she wants to be with her mate?” I asked.

He scowled and said “Try me”

My father was a very strong willed and stubborn man, he knew that I had inherited that gene from him, I was like him… I never backed down from a fight.

And so I stood up, with thinly pursed lips, I sent a goodbye look to my mother and began to step back. In the hall, only her wails could be heard, it was like she was mourning a loss which was true in some way. I was leaving them for good.

I stopped when I reached the entrance, my eyes roamed the hall that I grew up in all my life, I unconsciously sniffed in the air too. I would miss the place and everyone in it so much, I kept repeating in my head that it was worth it to stop myself from changing my mind.

I turned and immediately my legs stepped out the door. I heard my father say, “You are officially dead to us” . His words pierced my heart but I didn't look back. I concealed the hurt, shifted and took off straight out of the pack. It was still very early, the sun was still cuddling up in the corner and everyone was still on their beds, they would probably hear later this morning that they no longer had an heir.

This brought me back to my current situation. I was eager and anxious to arrive at Emerald pack and see my mate, I needed him to hold me and comfort me for the great decision I just made.

I finally made it after an hour of running, it was brighter now and the sun was up. I couldn't follow the main entrance as that would cause some commotion, instead I followed a secret passage Darius had shown me and I have gone through quite a few times. I noticed that some people were beautifully dressed and hurrying up to the alpha's mansion. I frowned in confusion, was there a party going on?

I bit my tongue to stop myself from asking anyone to avoid drawing attention to myself. I decided to go see what the commotion was all about myself so I just the crowd and avoided any checkpoints.

I successfully got the mansion and it was even costlier than outside, my curiosity was piqued. What occasion could gather such a crowd? I maneuvered my way through them and after a few struggles, I broke out of the crowd and the sight that was before me had me staggering weakly on my feet.

In front of me was Alpha Darius, my supposed mate dressed in wedding material and beside him was another woman that was definitely not me!