His claim
1074 Words
I didn’t speak as Kael carried me through the trees.
Mostly because I couldn’t.
My heart was still caught somewhere between panic and betrayal, stuck in a loop of “this can’t be happening.”
But it was.
The most feared Alpha in the Northern Territories had just called me his mate.
And now I was in his arms. Bleeding. Barely conscious. And too weak to fight back.
His body radiated heat against mine, every step stirring the pine needles and shadows beneath our feet. I tried to keep track of the path, but everything blurred. Trees, moonlight, the dark scent of his skin and power. Alpha energy pulsed around him like a second skin, heavy and wild.
I hated that part of me felt safe in it.
I hated that the other part… wanted to curl into him and stay there.
This isn’t real. It’s just the mate bond messing with my head.
But it felt real. Too real.
We finally emerged into a clearing, and I blinked in shock.
His pack house wasn’t just a house, it was a fortress.
A towering structure of stone and dark timber rose from the earth like a beast itself. Dozens of wolves moved silently across the grounds, training, talking, shifting. Some stopped to look as we passed. Some bowed their heads.
All of them smelled like him. Like danger.
He didn’t speak as he climbed the steps and pushed the grand doors open with a single hand. Inside, warm firelight danced along the stone walls, casting golden shadows. A massive hearth blazed at the far end, and the scent of meat and ash filled the air.
He carried me up the stairs like I weighed nothing.
“Put me down,” I whispered, my voice hoarse.
“No.”
I clenched my fists. “I can walk.”
“You’ll bleed out.”
“I’d rather bleed than be dragged around like your property.”
He stopped.
His head turned, just slightly, eyes flicking to me like a predator considering his next move.
“You’re not property,” he said lowly. “You’re mine.”
My breath caught. “You keep saying that. You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough.”
“No, you don’t.” I shoved against his chest. “You don’t know what I’ve done, what I am, what they said about me.”
He didn’t flinch. Didn’t even blink.
He only said, “I don’t care what they said. You’re not with them anymore.”
He kicked open a door and strode inside. The room was huge, more like a suite than a bedroom. A bed fit for royalty dominated the center. Thick fur rugs lined the floor, and the air smelled like cedar and spice.
He laid me on the bed with surprising gentleness.
I immediately sat up and swung my legs over the side. Pain shot through my thigh, and I hissed. He caught me before I fell.
“Stubborn little thing,” he muttered, lifting my leg carefully.
“I’m not staying here.”
“You are.”
“This is your room.”
“Yes.” He met my eyes. “Where else would I keep my mate?”
“I’m not your…”
He leaned closer. “The bond says otherwise.”
I looked away. “Bonds lie.”
“No. People lie. Bonds reveal.”
I went still.
He knelt in front of me, inspecting the gash on my thigh with a soldier’s precision. His fingers brushed against my skin, and heat curled in my belly.
I hated that I shivered.
“Who did this to you?” he asked, voice like broken glass.
“It doesn’t matter.”
He looked up sharply. “It does to me.”
I stared at him. At the rage simmering just beneath his skin. At the truth in his voice.
I hadn’t had someone care in a long time.
“They tried to force my first shift,” I said finally. “In front of the whole pack. I couldn’t do it. So they beat me. Called me cursed. Useless.”
His jaw clenched. “And your Alpha let it happen?”
“He was the one who threw me into the pit.”
Kael stood slowly, his hands balled into fists.
“They’ll regret it.”
A chill ran down my spine. “You don’t even know them.”
“I don’t have to.” His voice was pure steel. “No one touches what’s mine.”
There it was again.
Mine.
The word made something dangerous stir inside me.
I swallowed. “You can’t just claim me.”
He took a step closer. “Why not? You feel it too.”
I stood, wobbling slightly. He caught my arm.
“I don’t care what the bond says,” I snapped. “I didn’t come here looking for a mate. I didn’t come here for you.”
“You didn’t have to. The moon brought you anyway.”
I looked away.
“I’m not your responsibility.”
He stepped closer, towering over me now. “You’re not a responsibility, Aria. You’re a choice. My choice.”
I stared up at him, trembling. “Why?”
His hand brushed a strand of hair behind my ear, his touch unexpectedly soft.
“Because I’ve lived in darkness a long time,” he said. “But you… you burn. And I don’t know if it’ll destroy me or save me, but I’m not letting you go.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but a sudden knock on the door broke the silence.
Kael turned sharply. “What?”
A younger male voice answered through the wood. “Alpha. We found the patrol torn to pieces on the western ridge. Claw marks. Deep ones. Whatever did this… it wasn’t human.”
Kael stiffened.
And just like that, the warmth in the room dropped ten degrees.
He glanced back at me. “Rest. Lock the door behind me.”
I stepped forward. “Wait..what’s out there?”
His eyes were like fire. “Something worse than a rogue.”
Then he turned and vanished through the door, leaving me alone in the Alpha’s den, wrapped in his scent, and haunted by the truth I hadn’t dared admit until now:
I wasn’t just running from my past.
Something else was hunting me.
And it had finally caught my scent.
- Writer
