Rejected, But Claimed By The Alpha King

Chapter 7: BLOOD ON THE THRONE

The first week as Luna taught me one thing: crowns draw knives.

I woke up to Darius already dressed. Black pants. Black shirt. No crown, no rings. He never wore them. He didn’t need to. The scar on his throat and the gold in his eyes did the talking.

“Morning,” he said without looking up from the maps spread across the table. Blackwood Territory borders. Trade routes. Wolf packs that paid tribute. “Sleep well?”

I touched the claiming mark on my shoulder. Still silver. Still warm. “Woke up 4 times. Wolf kept thinking someone was in the room.”

Darius’s head snapped up. Gold eyes sharp. “Was someone in the room?”

“No. Just… used to sleeping with one eye open.” Twenty years of mud and rejection teaches you that.

He crossed the room in two strides. Knelt by the bed. His hands came up and cupped my face. Thumb brushed under my eye where no mud stained anymore. “You’re not in the omega quarters now. You’re in the Alpha King’s bed. No one touches you here. No one even breathes wrong near you.”

“Unless they want to die,” I finished. He’d said it yesterday after the council.

“Unless they want to die,” he agreed. Then kissed my forehead. “Come. Time to teach you how to rule.”

---

The throne room was worse than the council chamber. Bigger. Colder. More eyes.

Darius sat on the black stone throne. No cushion. No comfort. Just power. He pulled me down to sit on the armrest beside him. Not below him. Beside him. Message clear.

“Petitions first,” Rafe announced. “Then trade disputes. Then pack justice.”

One by one, wolves knelt before the throne. Asking for land. Asking for mercy. Asking for Darius to settle fights.

I watched. Learned. Tried not to look as scared as I felt.

Then a she-wolf stepped forward. Young. Pretty. Red hair like Selena’s. She didn’t bow deep enough.

“Alpha King,” she purred. Voice dripping honey. “I come to offer myself as your second mate. For the good of the pack. Luna is new. Untested. You need a Luna with lineage. With experience.”

The room went silent.

Darius didn’t move. But the temperature dropped 10 degrees. “You’re offering yourself,” he said. Flat. No question.

“Any Alpha needs two Lunas,” she pressed. Stepped closer. “One for duty. One for—”

Darius stood. Alpha power hit the room like a wall. The she-wolf dropped to her knees, whining.

“I have one mate,” he said. Each word a blade. “One Luna. One heart. One bond. If you want to be second anything, be second in line to leave my territory. Guards.”

Two wolves dragged her out screaming. Darius didn’t watch her go. He sat back down and pulled me closer. Arm around my waist.

“Lesson one,” he murmured only for me. “Alphas test you. Alphas test me. They’ll offer women, gold, land. You don’t flinch. You don’t get jealous. You remember who I chose.”

My wolf wanted to growl at the red-haired girl. But I nodded. “I remember. You chose trash and made her Luna.”

“Don’t say that word,” Darius said. Voice rough. “Ever again.”

Before I could answer, Rafe burst in. No announcement. No bow. Face pale.

“Alpha. Intruder in the Luna gardens. Silver dagger. Moonflower poison.”

My blood froze. Moonflower poison killed wolves in minutes. No antidote.

Darius was already moving. He grabbed my hand and shifted mid-stride. Black wolf, massive. I shifted too. White wolf, silver eyes. We ran.

The gardens were a maze of black roses and silver fountains. Meant for peace. Not war.

A figure in black waited by the fountain. Masked. Dagger in hand. Liquid shimmered on the blade. Silver.

Darius lunged. The figure dodged. Threw the dagger.

At me.

Time slowed. I saw the silver arc through air. Saw Darius roaring as he tried to intercept. Saw my own death in that blade.

My wolf moved without thought.

I didn’t dodge. I caught it.

Teeth snapped down on the dagger mid-air. Silver burned my tongue. Poison seeped into my gums. But I crushed the blade until it snapped. Then I dropped the pieces and lunged.

The figure turned to run. Darius caught him. One swipe. Claws through chest. Blood on black fur.

Silence. Then the figure went limp. Mask fell off.

Selena.

Not Selena. A girl who looked like Selena. Younger. Sister maybe. Eyes wide and dead.

Darius shifted back. Hands shaking as he grabbed my jaw. “Aria. Spit. Now.”

I spat silver foam to the ground. My tongue felt numb. The claiming mark burned cold.

“No antidote for moonflower,” Rafe said. Voice hollow. “She’ll die in minutes.”

Darius looked at me. Gold eyes wild. “No. She won’t.”

He cut his own wrist with his claws. Dark blood welled. He pressed it to my lips. “Drink. My blood. Alpha King’s blood burns poison.”

I drank. It tasted like storm and iron and him. Heat flooded me. The cold in my veins burned away. The claiming mark on my shoulder blazed silver and then settled.

Darius pulled back. Swayed. Alpha blood cost him.

“You’d die for me,” I whispered. Tongue still numb but voice worked.

“I already told you,” he said. Forehead to mine. “I waited twenty years for you. I’m not letting poison take you in week one.”

Guards surrounded us. The fake Selena’s body was hauled away.

Darius stood. Turned to the pack gathered at the garden edges. Blood on his hands. Blood on his lips. Mine.

“Someone tried to kill the Luna,” he said. Voice carried to every corner of Blackwood. “This is my answer: touch her, and I end your bloodline. Threaten her, and I burn your pack. Look at her wrong, and I’ll forget I’m the Alpha King and remember I’m a monster.”

No one spoke. No one breathed.

Then he looked at me. Lifted me in his arms. Blood dripping from his wrist.

“Lesson two,” he murmured as we walked back. “Lunas get attacked. Alphas get blamed. But mates? Mates bleed for each other.”

In the suite, he laid me on the bed. Checked my pulse. My eyes. My mark.

“Alive,” he breathed. Like he didn’t believe it. “You’re alive.”

I touched his face. “You bled for me.”

“You caught a poison dagger for me,” he countered. “We’re even.”

We weren’t. We’d never be even. Because he’d saved me when no one else would. And I’d never let anyone hurt him again.

Night fell. He didn’t leave the bed. Slept with his arm around me, one hand always on my wrist like he was checking I was still breathing.

In the dark, my wolf curled tighter around his. _Mine,_ she whispered through the bond. _Always._

The crown was heavy. The throne was cold. But his arms were warm.

And for the first time, being Luna didn’t feel like waiting to die.

It felt like someone would kill the world before they let me fall.

---