Claimed By Alpha

1.

I didn’t expect anything different from that night.

I was just supposed to work, keep my head down, and leave without being noticed like I always did. That was the rule I had learned early in life—don’t stand out, don’t react, don’t give anyone a reason to look at you twice. Especially not in a place like this.

The hall was louder than usual. Too many voices, too much confidence in the air. I kept my eyes low as I walked in with the tray, focusing on my steps instead of the people around me. Nothing here was mine. Not the space, not the moment, not even the air I was breathing.

Then the tray slipped.

I don’t even remember exactly how it happened. One second it was steady in my hands, the next it wasn’t. The sound of it hitting the floor cut through the room sharply, and I remember freezing for a second too long before I bent down. A few people turned, but no one reacted like it mattered. For them, it didn’t.

But something in me had already changed.

It wasn’t the noise. It was the feeling in my chest right before it happened. Like my body had reacted to something I hadn’t seen yet. I remember standing back up slowly, holding the edge of the tray, and that’s when I looked up.

That was when I saw him.

Kael Draven.

Alpha King.

He wasn’t doing anything that made him stand out. He was just standing there like he belonged at the center of everything without trying. People around him didn’t just look at him—they adjusted around him, like the space itself made room without being asked.

And then his eyes landed on me.

Not briefly. Not by accident.

They stayed.

It was the first time I felt like someone was actually seeing me in a way I didn’t know how to handle. Not the usual glance people give when they’re judging what they already decided about you. This was different. Heavy in a way I couldn’t explain.

My chest tightened.

Not from fear exactly. Something else I didn’t recognize.

My wolf—silent for years—moved.

Just slightly.

Like it had been waiting for this moment without telling me.

And then I understood it before I wanted to.

Mate.

The word didn’t feel like it belonged to me. It felt like it was forced into my thoughts by something bigger than me. My fingers loosened slightly around the tray without me meaning to.

Around me, the room shifted.

I heard whispers start before I fully processed what was happening.

“Mates?”

“No way…”

“An omega…?”

I took a step back without thinking, but my eyes stayed on him.

Kael didn’t move toward me right away. He just looked at me like he was trying to confirm something he didn’t like the answer to. That expression stayed for a second too long before he finally started walking.

Each step felt louder than it should have.

I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, so I stayed still.

When he stopped in front of me, I realized how close he actually was. Close enough that I could feel his presence in a way that made it hard to focus on anything else. My wolf reacted again, stronger this time, like it was trying to push me toward him.

I hated that.

I hated that I didn’t know how to control it.

There was a pause before he spoke. Not the kind that feels thoughtful. The kind that feels like someone deciding something they already made up their mind about.

Then he said it.

“Reject her.”

For a second, I thought I misunderstood.

My brain didn’t fully process it, so I just blinked and looked at him.

“What?”

His expression didn’t change.

“I said reject her.”

That’s when I realized he wasn’t talking to me like I was part of the moment. He was speaking like I was something that needed to be removed from it.

Behind me, I heard people shifting. Whispering faster now. The word “mate” was being repeated again and again like everyone else understood what I was only just starting to realize.

My chest felt tight in a way I didn’t have a name for yet.

Kael’s jaw tightened slightly, like even this situation was something he was forcing himself to tolerate.

And then he said it properly, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“I, Kael Draven, reject Selene Everhart as my mate.”

It didn’t feel like sound.

It felt like something inside me stopped existing all at once.

I didn’t fall. I didn’t cry. I didn’t even move for a second because I wasn’t sure what my body was supposed to do with what I was feeling.

It wasn’t dramatic pain like I expected from stories.

It was emptiness.

Like something I didn’t even fully understand had been cut away from me.

My fingers trembled slightly, but I forced them to stay still.

Someone behind me said I should respond.

I don’t know why I even could.

“Noted,” I said.

My voice wasn’t strong. It wasn’t anything. It was just the only thing I could get out before I lost control of it.

For the first time, Kael’s expression shifted slightly. Not enough for anyone else to notice, but I saw it.

And then I turned away before I could think about it too much.

I walked out of the hall.

⸻

Outside, the air hit me colder than I expected.

I kept walking anyway.

No one stopped me. No one called after me. That silence was worse than anything else inside the hall because it made everything feel final in a way I couldn’t argue with.

I didn’t stop until I reached the edge of the forest.

That’s when my body finally slowed down.

My legs felt unsteady, but I stayed standing. I didn’t want to collapse there. Not yet.

My hands were shaking slightly when I looked down at them, like they didn’t belong to me for a second. I pressed them against my coat to steady them.

A small laugh slipped out without warning.

It didn’t sound happy.

“So that’s it,” I whispered to myself. “That’s how it ends.”

My wolf was silent now.

Too silent.

Behind me, the pack still existed like nothing had changed. Lights, voices, life continuing in a place I was no longer part of in the same way.

I looked forward into the forest and stayed still.

I didn’t know what came next.

But I knew something very clearly now.

I wasn’t the same person who walked into that hall.

And I didn’t know what I was going to become after this.