Bound by the Alpha’s Shadow

The Warning

Aria’s POV:

My hands would not stop shaking as I stared at the photo on my phone. Simone. My best friend since we were kids. The one person who always had my back. She was tied to a chair in some dark, filthy room, her natural hair wild around her face and her eyes wide with terror. The message underneath was clear.

“Come alone or she dies. Midnight. The old warehouse district.”

I felt like I was going to be sick.

Lucian was still buried deep inside me, his knot locking us together on the couch while his mother and Renata watched from across the room. Victoria had that cold satisfied smile on her face. Renata looked far too pleased for someone who was supposed to be just his assistant.

“What’s wrong?” Lucian growled low in my ear. He must have felt me tense around his c**k.

I showed him the phone quickly, angling it so only he could see. His entire body went rigid. The knot pulsed inside me as fresh anger rolled through him. He pulled out slowly, careful not to hurt me, and helped me stand on shaky legs. His c*m ran down my thighs but I did not care. All I could think about was Simone.

“Get out,” Lucian snapped at Victoria and Renata. “Both of you.”

Victoria raised an eyebrow. “Trouble already? How surprising.”

Renata said nothing but her green eyes flicked to me with clear satisfaction before they both left. The elevator doors closed and Lucian turned to me, his gray eyes now glowing with that unnatural golden edge.

“Tell me everything,” he demanded.

I did. The messages. The setup. My fear that this was all connected to him. Lucian listened without interrupting, his jaw tight. When I finished he pulled me into his arms and kissed me hard, like he was afraid I would disappear.

“No one touches what’s mine,” he said against my mouth. “Not your friend. Not you. I’ll handle this.”

“We have to go now,” I begged. “They said come alone but I can’t do this without you.”

He looked at me for a long moment, then nodded. “We go together. But you stay behind me. Understand?”

We dressed quickly. Lucian put me in one of his black shirts and a pair of leggings from the new clothes Renata had brought. He armed himself with a gun and a knife that looked way too sharp. Then he made a few quick calls, voice low and dangerous.

The drive to the warehouse district was tense. Lucian’s hand stayed on my thigh the entire time, squeezing hard like he needed to feel me there. My mind raced with worst case scenarios. What if they hurt Simone? What if this was another trap?

Halfway there he pulled the car over into a dark side street. “I need you focused,” he said roughly. “And I need to remind you who you belong to before we walk into this.”

He dragged me onto his lap in the driver’s seat. My leggings came down just enough and he freed his c**k. I sank down onto him in one smooth motion, moaning at the stretch. He was already so hard. He gripped my hips and f****d up into me fast and deep, the car rocking with every thrust.

“f**k, Aria. Ride me.”

I did. I rode him desperately, my hands braced on his shoulders as I bounced on his thick c**k. The angle hit everything perfectly. He sucked hard on my neck, leaving fresh marks while one hand rubbed my c**t. I came fast and hard, clenching around him as pleasure ripped through me. He followed right after, knot swelling and locking us together as he pumped me full again.

We stayed like that for a few minutes, breathing hard, his face buried in my neck. “You are mine,” he whispered. “No matter what happens tonight.”

When the knot went down we fixed our clothes and continued to the warehouse. Lucian’s men were already waiting nearby but he made them stay back. We walked in together. The place was dark and smelled like rust and decay. In the center of the room Simone sat tied to a chair, looking scared but unharmed.

“Aria!” she cried when she saw me.

I started toward her but Lucian held me back. “Wait.”

Three men stepped out of the shadows. They looked rough, the kind of guys who worked for rival families. One of them smirked at Lucian. “Vale. You brought the b***h with you. Bold.”

Lucian pushed me behind him. “Let the girl go. This is between us.”

The leader laughed. “This is about the girl. Word is you’ve gone soft over some debt p***y. We wanted to see for ourselves.”

Things moved fast after that. Lucian attacked like the beast he was hiding. He took down the first man with a single punch. The second pulled a gun but Lucian was faster, disarming him and breaking his arm with a sickening crack. I ran to Simone and started untying her while the fight exploded around us.

We almost made it out.

But as we reached the door, more men poured in. Too many. Lucian shifted partially right there in front of everyone. His eyes glowed bright gold, claws extended, and he roared as he tore through them. Simone screamed. I stood frozen, watching the man I had signed my body to become something truly terrifying and beautiful.

We fought our way out. Lucian got us to the car and we sped away with Simone in the back seat. She was crying and asking a thousand questions. I tried to calm her while Lucian drove like a madman back to the penthouse.

Once we were safe inside, Lucian pulled me into the bedroom and f****d me again. This time it was rougher, almost desperate. He bent me over the bed and took me from behind, slamming into me so hard the headboard banged against the wall.

“You could have been hurt tonight,” he growled, pounding deeper. “Never do that again.”

I came screaming, soaking his c**k. He knotted me right after, filling me until I felt bloated with his c*m. We stayed locked together on the bed while Simone waited in the living room.

But the real shock came an hour later when we finally joined her.

Simone looked at Lucian with wide eyes. “You’re one of them. The wolves. My family has been hiding from your kind for years.”

Lucian froze. “What did you just say?”

Before she could explain, the elevator opened again. Renata stepped out holding a folder.

“Mr. Vale,” she said smoothly. “There’s something you need to see about Aria’s bloodline.”

She handed him the folder. Lucian opened it and his face went dark.

He looked at me, eyes glowing. “You are not fully human, Aria. You carry wolf blood too. And according to this, your mother was promised to my father years ago before she ran away.”

The room spun.

I was not just a debt payment.

I was part of some old arrangement. A blood pact.

And before I could process any of it, Victoria’s voice came from the elevator.

“Welcome to the real family business, dear. Now the full moon is in two days. Let’s see if you survive your first shift.”

She smiled like she already knew I would not.