the alphas hidden mate

Seleras pov I had never believed in monsters. Not really. I believed in fear— the kind that makes your lungs burn and your legs shake and your heart feel like it might tear its way out of your chest. I believed in running, in survival, in doing whatever it took to stay alive. Something was following me. I could feel it. I didn’t know how I got here. All I knew— deep in my bones, sharp and screaming— was that I had to get to safety or this beast would kill me. The air shifted, heavy and wrong, as if the forest itself was watching. My skin prickled. My instincts screamed. I ran harder, lungs burning, vision blurring with tears and moonlight. I ran. Branches whipped at my skin as I fled deeper into the woods, my lungs burning, my legs trembling beneath me. The forest swallowed me whole, shadows stretching and shifting as if they were alive. I didn’t know who was chasing me. I didn’t know why. Only that they were there. Behind me, something growled— low, distorted, wrong. Not human. Not animal. The sound slithered through the trees and wrapped around my spine, sending terror crashing through me in waves. I didn’t dare look back. I just ran. My feet slipped on damp earth, roots clawing at my ankles as if the forest itself wanted to pull me under. My chest ached, each breath scraping like broken glass. My heart thundered so loudly I was sure it would give me away. How long had I been running? Minutes? Hours? Time dissolved into panic and pain. My thoughts fragmented, breaking apart under the weight of fear. I called out for help once— just once— but my voice vanished into the trees, swallowed by the night without mercy. No one answered. The moon above was wrong. Too red. Too close. It watched me like an unblinking eye, bathing the forest in blood‑colored light. Every instinct screamed that tonight was cursed, that something ancient had been awakened— and that I was caught in its path. I stumbled, barely catching myself before falling. My legs were giving out. My vision blurred. I couldn’t go on much longer. And that was when hope finally died. The growls multiplied. Ugly, twisted shapes burst through the undergrowth— creatures with warped limbs and glowing eyes, their forms wrong in a way that made my stomach churn. They weren’t wolves. They weren’t men. They were something else. Something that should not exist. I screamed and turned, desperation lending me one last burst of strength— but my body betrayed me. My foot caught on a root, and I went down hard, the impact knocking the breath from my lungs. This is it, a voice whispered inside me. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for claws, for teeth, for pain. But it never came. Instead— Came a low snarl. Wet. Hungry. The sound came from behind me. I turned just as the creature lunged from the trees. It wasn’t human. Not anymore. Its eyes were wild, body twisted, moving too fast, too wrong. I opened my mouth to scream— And the world shattered. It slammed into the ground between us with earth shaking force. The air exploded outward. Stone cracked. Trees groaned. There stood a massive figure stood between us, impossibly tall, broad, terrifying. He moved faster than my eyes could follow. One brutal motion. A flash of claws A thunderous roar tore through the forest, so powerful it rattled my bones. The sound wasn’t feral— it was commanding. Dominant. The kind of roar that demanded the world itself make way. I opened my eyes. And froze. A dark beast burst from the trees, massive and terrifying, its body a blur of muscle and shadow. It was huge— gigantic— moving with lethal grace as it collided with the creatures chasing me. Its eyes burned silver, glowing like moonlight sharpened into steel. Blood sprayed across the forest floor. The creature collapsed, lifeless, before it even finished falling. It crushed them. Killed them. Bones snapped. Bodies flew. The ugly creatures didn’t stand a chance. I should have been terrified. I should have screamed. But I wasn’t scared. Not of it. The thing turned toward me, its massive form slowing as it approached. Each step made the ground tremble. Those silver eyes locked onto mine— and instead of fear, something strange bloomed in my chest. Silence swallowed the clearing. I couldn’t breathe. The thing— no, the man— turned slowly toward me. Am I hallucinating? How can he be a beast, Moonlight spilled over him, silver and cold, illuminating glowing eyes, blood-soaked hands, scars carved deep into bronze skin. He looked like something pulled straight out of myth. He stopped a few feet away, towering over me, breath steaming in the cold night air. I could feel its presence pressing against me, powerful and overwhelming— yet not threatening. I should have screamed. Instead, the words slipped out of me, thin and shaking. “You’re bleeding.” He looked down at his hands like he hadn’t even noticed. Not to me. “Run,” he said. His voice wasn’t human either— too deep, too rough, vibrating through my bones. “Now.” I couldn’t move. Heat. Power. Fear. Strength. His presence flooded my senses like a storm crashing through my veins. I knew him— somehow, impossibly, I knew him. I became so tired, exhausted from running to save my life .. At last some one saved me. He saved me. Why does it feel like I know you? I asked. My vision swam. The world tilted. And then— Everything went black. Maybe I fainted. Or maybe my body simply couldn’t hold everything it had been through. The fear. The chase. The beast. The moon. My name is Selera ashwyn of Ashmore Court. I am an orphan. And this— This is how my story begins.