EPISODE 3 — Claimed Before All
944 Words
Being rejected was not my curse.
It was my awakening.
The mark on my neck blazed like liquid fire, spreading heat through every vein, every nerve, every shattered piece of my soul.
I gasped, fingers clutching the Beast King’s armor as the bond settled deeper… stronger… heavier than anything I had ever felt.
It wasn’t gentle like the one I had shared with Alpha Kael.
This bond didn’t ask.
It claimed.
My wolf surged forward inside me, no longer weak… no longer trembling.
She pressed against the bond with fierce recognition.
Mate.
King.
Ours.
A low, satisfied growl rumbled in the Beast King’s chest as if he felt her acceptance.
“Good,” he murmured softly. “You feel it too.”
My knees buckled under the force of the connection.
Before I could fall, his arm wrapped firmly around my waist, pulling me against his chest.
The crowd erupted into chaos.
“Impossible!”
“The King marked her!”
“A rejected Omega?!”
Their whispers clashed like thunder around us.
But none dared step forward.
Because the Beast King’s aura had expanded — dark, crushing, territorial.
A warning.
A claim.
A promise of violence if challenged.
“Release her!”
Alpha Kael’s voice tore through the noise.
I stiffened instinctively.
The King did not.
Slowly, he turned his head.
Kael stood a few paces away, fury radiating from him — but beneath it… something broken.
His eyes were locked on the mark burning into my skin.
Disbelief.
Regret.
Jealousy.
“You cannot mark her,” Kael growled. “She is—”
“Was.”
The King’s correction was quiet… lethal.
Kael’s jaw tightened. “She is still under my pack’s authority.”
A dark smile touched the King’s lips.
“You rejected her before witnesses,” he said. “You severed the bond yourself.”
Kael faltered — because he knew it was true.
“You forfeited all claim the moment you cast her aside.”
The King’s arm tightened around me possessively.
“And I claimed what you were too blind to value.”
A ripple of power rolled across the arena.
Wolves dropped to their knees under its weight.
Including Kael.
He fought it — muscles straining — but the King’s dominance crushed him back down.
I felt none of the pressure.
The King’s aura curved around me like a shield.
Protecting.
Guarding.
Keeping me above submission.
The Elders lowered their heads instantly.
“Your Majesty… we did not foresee—”
“You did not think,” the King interrupted coldly.
His gaze swept the arena.
“You allowed your Luna-born mate to be humiliated before the entire pack.”
Shame filled the Elders’ faces.
Because even they could sense it now.
The power radiating from me… amplified by the King’s mark.
I was no longer just an Omega.
The King looked down at me again.
His golden eyes softened slightly as they traced my tear-stained face… the trembling I couldn’t fully control.
“You’re shaking.”
“I… I can’t stop it,” I whispered.
“The bond is stabilizing,” he said. “It will hurt before it strengthens.”
His hand rose, hovering near my cheek before gently wiping away a tear with his thumb.
The simple touch sent warmth spiraling through me.
“You endured their cruelty alone,” he murmured. “You won’t endure anything alone again.”
My chest tightened at the promise.
A strangled sound came from Kael.
“You speak as if she belongs to you already.”
The King didn’t even look at him when he answered.
“She does.”
Final. Absolute.
The word settled over the arena like law.
Kael’s voice dropped, rough with something close to desperation.
“Alara… look at me.”
I hesitated.
Slowly, I did.
The bond that once tied us together was gone.
No warmth.
No pull.
Just emptiness where something used to live.
His expression cracked when he saw it.
“You would leave your pack?” he asked quietly.
Before I could answer, the King spoke:
“She leaves nothing.”
Now he looked at Kael fully.
“You made sure she had nothing to leave behind.”
Kael had no reply.
Because it was the truth.
The King shifted his hold, lifting me fully into his arms.
A gasp tore from the watching wolves.
A King… carrying his mate before an entire pack.
A public declaration stronger than words.
“From this moment forward,” he said, voice carrying across the grounds,
“Alara stands under my protection.”
Power flared with each word.
“Any insult toward her… is an insult toward me.”
Fear spread instantly.
No wolf dared challenge him.
He turned toward the forest.
Panic broke among the Elders.
“You cannot take her, Your Majesty! She is pack-born—”
“She is Queen-bound,” he corrected.
The title echoed like prophecy.
And something inside me stirred at the word.
Queen.
As he stepped toward the trees, I whispered,
“Where… are we going?”
He looked down at me, eyes glowing molten gold beneath the Blood Moon.
“To where you truly belong.”
My breath caught.
“And where is that…?”
A slow, knowing smile touched his lips.
“My kingdom.”
He stepped into the shadows.
Then added quietly—
“Where we will uncover why the Moon bound you to a king… instead of an Alpha.”
My heart skipped.
The forest swallowed us whole as his final words settled into my bones—
“You are far more than an Omega, little one.”
To Be Continued…
- Writer
