The Alpha's Forbidden Heiress

Chapter one

Maria

The dream came again.

I was running barefoot, my lungs burning, the air was thick with fog. Shadows moved all around me, huge silhouettes that looked like wolves with glowing eyes.

Their howls rang in my ears and I felt them inside me, echoing in my chest like a second heartbeat. Then came the red fangs, not of wolves, but vampires.

One pair of eyes were fixed on me, both terrifying and magnetic. I stopped running. My body wanted to step forward.

And then came the claws, mine, not theirs slashing through the mist.

I jolted awake, gasping, my body covered in sweat. The silk sheets that tangled around me felt suffocating, so I shoved them away and pressed a hand to my chest. My heart thumped too fast.

Another dream. The third this week.

I sat on the edge of my bed, trying to calm down, and gazed out at the window. The estate stretched before me, rolling green fields dotted with wildflowers, the dark shadow of the forest at the edge, and mountains in the distance. It was beautiful, peaceful, and isolating.

I’d grown up here, in my family’s countryside estate outside the city, shielded from the world. Sometimes I loved the silence. Sometimes it felt like a prison.

“Mariaaa!” A smile appeared on my face. That shriek was unmistakable.

I turned as two of my friends burst into my room, giggling, their arms full of magazines and fabric samples. Ana and Isabella were dressed in scanty clothes, both glowing with the kind of excitement I couldn’t feel.

“The bride-to-be is awake at last, we've been in your living room looking at wedding dresses, waiting for you to wake up.” Ana teased, dropping onto my bed and scattering magazines everywhere.

“Tell us, what kind of dream did you have this time? Was Rafael in it? Did he sweep you off your feet again?” Ana asked, raising her eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes at her, now she was being dramatic.

Isabella clasped her hands to her chest dramatically. “Or was it about your fairytale castle wedding?”

I forced a laugh, feeling a knot in my chest . “Neither. Just a strange one.”

They didn’t need to know the details. Wolves. Blood. Claws. Fangs.

Certainly not bridal material.

Ana pouted. “You’re impossible. Do you know how many girls in town would die to marry Rafael Delacruz? Handsome, rich, heir to the most influential family in the clan….”

I cut her off gently, “I know. Everyone keeps telling me how lucky I am.”

But my voice was flat. My friends exchanged a glance, but before they could pry, the door creaked open.

My mother stepped inside, with a graceful aura, dressed in a pale silk dress that brought out the streaks of silver in her hair. She smiled at me, but there was a shadow in her eyes.

“There’s my beautiful daughter.” She came forward and cupped my face, studying me the way she had since I was a child as if she were memorizing me, afraid she might lose me one day. “Your engagement dinner is tomorrow, María. Everything has been arranged perfectly.”

I swallowed. “Yes, mamá.”

Ana jumped in, eager to brag on my behalf. “Señora, you should have seen the magazines we brought. Maria will be the most stunning bride Spain has ever seen.”

My mother gave them a small smile, but her gaze was still on me.

“You are already stunning. You don’t need gowns or diamonds to prove it. Rafael is fortunate to have you.”

Her words should have filled me with warmth. Instead, cold shivers crept up the spine. Fortunate? Perhaps. But was I?

“Mamá,” I said carefully, “could I go into town with Ana and Isabella today? Just for a little while. I… I need a distraction.”

My mother hesitated. For a second, her smile faltered, and I caught something flickering in her expression. Was it fear? But then it vanished.

“Of course,” she said softly, removing an invisible strand of hair from my cheek.

“Go. But don’t be late. Tomorrow is important.”

She kissed my forehead and left, her perfume lingering.

Ana and Luisa squealed. “Shopping spree!”

I forced a smile as I grabbed my handbag. Anything was better than sitting in this estate waiting to become Rafael’s bride.

Lucien

I stood at the floor to ceiling windows in my office overlooking the city, my gaze locked on the blood-red moon rising above Madrid. The beast inside me stirred, restless. Uneasy. It had been that way for weeks now, a feeling I couldn’t shake, no matter how hard I tried.

My jaw clenched. My father had made it clear, my betrothal to Princess Camila of the Asturian Pack was non-negotiable. A political union meant to strengthen our bloodlines. A duty I had been born into, one I could not escape.

The problem was, I, Lucien had never been the kind of man to accept fate so easily.

The heavy scent of aged leather and whiskey filled my office, mingling with the faint traces of pine from the forest just beyond the city’s edge.

The forest was calling to me and I didn't know why. The growing feeling of dread filled my stomach and My hands curled into fists at my sides, my nails threatening to pierce the skin.

The urge to shift, to shed my human form and give in to the primal instincts clawing at my insides, was stronger than usual.

Something was wrong.

I could feel it in my bones.

A knock sounded at the door before it opened, and my Beta, Diego, stepped inside. “The elders are waiting, Your Highness. Your father expects you at the council meeting.”

I exhaled slowly, pushing down the primal urge threatening to consume me. “Then we shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

But the unease in my chest only grew.

Something was coming. Something I couldn’t yet name.

And it would all begin with the sound of screeching tires and shattering glass.

Maria

The city was noisy, colorful, crowded, the complete opposite of home. My friends ran pulled me into shops, shoving dresses and jewelry into my hands. I pretended to care, but my chest still felt heavy.

When we finally headed back, Ana drove us in her father’s car. Music blared, laughter filled the space as we sang along.

“Careful!” I cried.

Ana slammed the brakes, but not fast enough.

Our car slammed into the sleek black SUV pulling out from a side street. The crunch of metal made me flinch.

“Oh my God!” Ana panicked, turning off the ignition. “That wasn’t my fault! He cut me off!”

The SUV door opened. And out stepped the most striking man I’d ever seen.

Tall with broad shoulders and dressed in black tailored clothes. His presence was magnetic, commanding, and dangerous. His dark hair fell slightly over his forehead, his jaw sharp enough to cut glass, his eyes.

God, his eyes, icy gray, burning with irritation as they fixed on me.

I froze.

Something inside me lurched forward, as if an invisible string was pulling me towards him.

Goosebumps broke out on my arm and my pulse quickened. The air itself felt unbelievably tense

He strode toward us, voice low and lethal. “Who the hell was driving?”

Ana jumped out, hands raised. “It was an accident! You came out of nowhere!”

“Nowhere?” His gaze flicked over her dismissively before landing on me again. It was as if he felt what I felt.

His voice dropped lower, almost in a whisper. “You.”

I swallowed hard. “We barely touched your car. There’s no need to overreact.”

He smirked, though his eyes stayed cold. “Overreact? Do you even know what you just hit?”.

Ana gasped. Luisa mouthed, “Maria!”

But the man’s smirk deepened. For a second, his expression changed and something flickered in his eyes, not anger, not amusement… recognition.

My heart skipped. Why did it feel like I knew him?

He leaned in slightly, invading my space, his scent filling my nose. It was woodsy, earthy, with a dangerous edge. His voice was a low growl. “Careful, princess. You don’t know who you’re speaking to.”

I glared back, though my body betrayed me with a shiver. “And you don’t know who you almost ran off the road.”

His lips parted as if he’d reply but then he stopped, staring at me longer than necessary, as though he were trying to solve a puzzle.

The air grew heavy. Too heavy.

Ana tugged my sleeve nervously. “Maria, let’s just go”

I tore my gaze away. “Fine. We’ll pay for the scratch.”

But when I glanced back at him, I swore he looked… conflicted.

Lucien

I watched her walk away, the girl with eyes like storm-lit seas, her defiance burning hotter than her beauty.

My wolf was restless as ever, pacing inside me, claws scratching at the edges of my control.

Mine. Mine. Mine

I clenched my fists. No. Impossible. She was human. Her scent was human. Yet the moment our eyes locked, something primal had surged through me, stronger than anything I’d ever felt, not even with the woman my parents had chosen as my mate.

I turned back toward my SUV, but my chest still ached.

I’d been restless all morning, unable to focus in meetings, the city’s endless noise grinding at his nerves. My parents’ constant reminders about duty, about the alliance with the wolf princess, it all made me feel

caged.

I’d told myself that I just needed air, needed distraction, maybe laughter with my pack brothers. Instead, fate had thrown this girl in front of my car.

That look in her eyes haunted me already.

I exhaled, gripping the steering wheel. The countryside, the forest was calling me home, but now… now I wasn’t sure I could leave without finding her again.