Marked By The Alpha

"I hope you like the surprise I planned for tonight." Derek's text glowed on my phone screen as I walked through the packhouse hallways. My heart hammered with nervous excitement. Tonight was Mating Day—our first one together—and we'd finally agreed to complete our bond as chosen mates. I wore a long coat over the special lingerie I'd bought just for this occasion. My hands trembled slightly as I reached his bedroom door. I pushed it open without knocking. We'd agreed I would come at exactly nine o'clock. The sight before me froze my blood. Derek was naked on his bed. But he wasn't alone. A woman straddled him, her auburn hair cascading down her bare back as she moved against him. She faced the door—faced me—and when she saw me standing there, a cruel smile spread across her face. My stepsister. Lena. "Oh, Derek, yes," Lena moaned loudly, making direct eye contact with me. She dipped her head down to his neck, dragging her teeth across his skin. Derek grunted beneath her, his hands gripping her hips. Then he noticed me and went completely still. "Maya," he breathed. His face flushed, but his hands stayed exactly where they were. I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. The room seemed to tilt around me. "We're fated mates," Derek said, the words hitting me like physical blows. "Lena and I. We discovered it tonight when the moon rose." Fated mates. On Mating Days, werewolves over nineteen could smell and recognize their fated mates. The bond was instant, undeniable, overwhelming. Once fated mates found each other, nothing could keep them apart. The attraction was written into their very souls by the Moon Goddess herself. The only way to resist a fated mate was to mark a chosen mate first. That's what Derek and I were supposed to do tonight. But we were too late. My wolf had always been dormant. Silent. While everyone else shifted and ran and talked to their wolves, mine stayed sleeping in the back of my mind. I felt her there, but she never responded. Never showed herself. Everyone said I was lying. That I was just a pathetic human pretending to be a wolf. Lena's friends had made my life miserable for years. "Wolfless freak," they called me. "Human trash." But Derek had been different. Derek had protected me, loved me, made me believe I was worth something despite my dormant wolf. Now he was in bed with the girl who'd tormented me since we were children. "You chose Lena?" My voice cracked. "Knowing everything she's done to me?" Derek's expression shifted—regret flickered across his handsome features. He opened his mouth to speak, but Lena moved first. She wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him close, smirking at me over his shoulder. "Fated mates make each other stronger, Maya. Derek needs a real wolf, not whatever you are." "Was I nothing to you?" A sob tore from my throat before I could stop it. "Maya—" Derek started to sit up, reaching one hand toward me. Lena caught his hand with hers, interlacing their fingers. Her eyes gleamed with triumph. "Derek, Mating Day is the perfect time to create strong Alpha heirs with your fated mate." She arched her naked body against him. Derek swallowed hard. He looked back at her, then at me. When his eyes met mine again, they'd changed. The warm green I'd loved had gone cold and distant. "Leave us, human." His wolf spoke through him, voice rough and dismissive. "Now." The word "human" struck me like a slap. After everything we'd been through, after all his promises, I was nothing but a human to him now. Tears streamed down my face as I stumbled backward. I couldn't let them see me break down completely. I wouldn't give Lena that satisfaction. I ran. Down the hallway, through the packhouse, out into the night. My feet carried me automatically toward the one place I'd always found peace—the hidden pond deep in the old forest. Branches whipped at my coat as I crashed through the undergrowth. My sobs echoed in the darkness. Everything hurt. My chest, my throat, my heart. How could the Moon Goddess be so cruel? To give my boyfriend to my worst enemy? To leave me with nothing? I burst through the final line of trees and collapsed at the pond's edge. The water shimmered under the full moon, peaceful and calm. The opposite of everything inside me. I pulled my knees to my chest and let myself cry. Really cry. The kind of crying that came from somewhere deep and broken. Slowly, the sounds of the night filtered through my grief. Wind in the trees. Leaves rustling. Water lapping at the shore. Then I heard something else. Something that made my blood run cold. The distant howl of wolves. My head snapped up. Of course. Tonight was the Full Mating Moon. Rogues—unmated wolves without packs—would be more aggressive than usual, driven by instinct and desperation. This pond was hidden, but it wasn't safe. I needed to get back to pack territory. I wiped my face on my sleeve and started to stand. Then I smelled it. Something delicious. Intoxicating. Like pine and winter snow and something wild I couldn't name. Heat rushed through my body from the base of my spine to my fingertips. My skin felt too tight. My breath came faster. Every nerve ending suddenly felt alive and hungry. What was happening to me? I breathed deeper, trying to understand. The scent grew stronger, pulling at something primal inside me. My body craved it with an intensity that terrified me. This felt like... like the mating heat I'd heard others describe. But how? My wolf was dormant. I shouldn't be able to feel this. Danger prickled at the edge of my awareness. I needed to leave. Now. I shook my head, trying to clear the fog, and forced myself to move. But the scent kept getting stronger, as if whoever it belonged to was running straight toward me. "Well, well. Look what we found, boys." A rough voice came from the trees. "A female in heat." I spun around. A lean man stepped into the clearing, his face covered in several days of stubble. He wore torn denim and leather. A knife hung from his belt. More men emerged from the darkness behind him. Five. Six. Seven rogues, all of them staring at me with hungry eyes. "Looking for company, little wolf?" The first man grinned, showing too many teeth. "Because we'd be happy to help with that heat you're feeling." "No." My voice shook. "Stay away from me." "Why leave?" Another man inhaled deeply, deliberately. "You smell ready for a mate. We've got plenty of volunteers right here." They spread out, cutting off my escape routes. Panic clawed up my throat. "I said get away!" I tried to growl, but it came out weak and desperate. "Feisty one," someone laughed. "I like that." The first man lunged forward. His fingers caught the hem of my coat, yanking me backward. I screamed, twisting against his grip. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" The voice cracked through the clearing like thunder. That intoxicating scent I'd been following suddenly surrounded me, overwhelming everything else. One of the rogues scoffed without turning. "Back off. Find your own girl." "Wait, he's not—" another stammered. They all turned.