CLAIMED BY THE ALPHA KING

The knife was at my throat before I even heard him coming. "Scream and you're dead, rogue." I didn't scream. I'd learned a long time ago that screaming never saved anyone. My wolf surged forward, desperate to shift, but I forced her down. Three against one in a dark alley wasn't odds I could win, even with claws. Especially not when the wolf pressing cold steel against my jugular smelled like Crescent Moon Pack—one of the most vicious territories in the Pacific Northwest. "Please," I managed, keeping my voice steady even though my heart was trying to punch its way out of my chest. "I'm just passing through. I'll be gone by morning." The one holding the knife—a beta, judging by his scent—laughed. It wasn't a nice sound. "Oh, you'll be gone, alright. Boss wants all rogues eliminated. Alpha's orders." Goddess above. This was it. This was how I died—in an alley behind a gas station in Portland, five years after I'd sworn I'd never let another wolf dictate my fate. The irony was almost funny. Almost. "Wait." A second voice, younger, uncertain. "Shouldn't we at least check if she's—" "She's rogue," the beta snarled. "That's all we need to know." The knife pressed harder. I felt the sting as it broke skin, felt the warm trickle of blood sliding down my neck. My wolf howled inside my head, furious and terrified in equal measure. Not like this, I thought desperately. Please, not like this. And then— The air changed. It happened so fast I almost missed it. One second the beta's blade was about to open my throat, and the next he was flying backward like he'd been hit by a freight train. He slammed into the brick wall fifteen feet away with a sickening crunch and didn't get up. The other two wolves barely had time to react. A figure moved through the darkness like liquid shadow—tall, impossibly fast, absolutely lethal. I caught a glimpse of silver eyes that seemed to glow in the dim light, of a face carved from angles and violence, and then one of the remaining wolves was on the ground, unconscious. The third tried to run. He didn't make it three steps. The stranger caught him by the throat, lifted him off his feet with one hand, and slammed him against the wall hard enough to crack the brick. "Who sent you?" His voice was deep, controlled, and absolutely terrifying in its calmness. The wolf gurgled something incomprehensible. "Wrong answer." The stranger's grip tightened. "I'll ask once more. Who. Sent. You." "C-Crescent Moon," the wolf gasped. "Alpha Reeves. He wants—all rogues—eliminated before the Summit—" "Noted." The stranger dropped him. The wolf crumpled to the ground and stayed there, whimpering. Then those silver eyes turned to me. And my entire world tilted sideways. The mate bond hit me like a physical force—a rush of heat and recognition and belonging so intense it nearly drove me to my knees. My wolf, who'd been snarling and snapping and ready to die fighting, went utterly still. Then she started to purr. She never purred. "No," I whispered, stumbling backward. "No, no, no—" He took a step toward me, and I saw him clearly for the first time. Tall—easily six-three or six-four. Broad shoulders wrapped in an expensive black coat. Dark hair that was just long enough to curl slightly at the edges. A face that belonged on a movie screen or a magazine cover, all sharp angles and masculine beauty, except for the eyes. Those silver eyes that were currently locked on me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered. "You're hurt." His voice was different now—softer, but somehow more dangerous. Like a blade wrapped in velvet. "I'm fine." I pressed my hand to my neck, felt the blood still trickling down. "I'm—I have to go—" "You're not going anywhere." It wasn't a suggestion. It wasn't even really a command. It was just... a statement of fact, delivered with the kind of absolute authority that made it clear he was used to being obeyed. My wolf whimpered. Actually whimpered, like she was already rolling over and showing her belly. Traitor. "Watch me," I said, and turned to run. I made it exactly two steps before he was in front of me, moving faster than any wolf I'd ever seen. His hand closed around my wrist—not painful, but absolutely inescapable—and the moment his skin touched mine, the bond flared so hot I gasped. He felt it too. I watched his eyes widen, watched his pupils dilate until they'd nearly swallowed the silver, watched his nostrils flare as he scented me. "Impossible," he breathed. "Let me go." "You're my—" "Don't." I yanked at my wrist, even though I knew it was useless. Even though every cell in my body was screaming at me to move closer, not away. "Don't say it. Please." Something flickered in those devastating eyes. Understanding. And beneath it, a possessiveness so fierce it should have terrified me. It did terrify me. It also made my wolf purr louder. "You're bleeding." He lifted his free hand toward my neck, and I flinched. He froze. "I'm not going to hurt you." "Everyone hurts me eventually." The words slipped out before I could stop them, and I watched something shift in his expression—something that looked almost like pain. "Not me," he said quietly. "Never me." "You don't even know me." "I know enough." His thumb moved across my wrist, a gentle stroke that sent heat racing up my arm. "I know you're mine. I know you've been hurt. I know you're terrified right now. And I know—" His jaw clenched. "—that whoever made you this afraid of the mate bond is going to have a very, very bad day when I find them." Oh, goddess. He thought someone had abused me. He thought— "It's not like that," I said quickly. "I was just—it was—" How did I explain that my own mate had rejected me without falling apart? "It doesn't matter. I don't do this anymore. The whole fated mate thing. I'm out." "Out." "Out. Retired. Off the market. I'm a rogue, okay? I don't have a pack, I don't want a pack, and I definitely don't want—" I gestured between us. "Whatever this is." "This," he said, and his voice dropped to something that was almost a growl, "is a mate bond. The rarest gift the Moon Goddess can give. And you don't want it." "Nope." "Because someone hurt you." "Because I learned my lesson." "Who?" He stepped closer, and goddess help me, I let him. "Give me a name." "So you can what, kill them? That's not how this works." "That's exactly how this works." He was close enough now that I could feel the heat radiating off him, could smell cedar and smoke and something uniquely him that made my wolf keen with longing. "You're mine. Someone hurt what's mine. I eliminate the threat. Simple." "You're insane." "I'm Alpha." Oh. Oh. The power rolling off him suddenly made sense. The way he'd moved—faster than any normal wolf. The absolute authority in his voice. The three pack wolves who'd tried to kill me, now unconscious in the alley behind him. This wasn't just an Alpha. This was an Alpha. Capital A. The kind that ruled entire territories. "Who are you?" I whispered. Those silver eyes captured mine, held them, refused to let go. "Darius Stone," he said. "Alpha King of the Northwestern Territory." His hand slid from my wrist to my waist, pulling me close enough that I could feel his heartbeat thundering against his ribs. "And you, little rogue, are my mate." The world spun. Darius Stone. THE Darius Stone. The most powerful Alpha in North America. The wolf every pack either feared or respected or both. The king I'd spent five years carefully avoiding. And he was my— No. No, no, no— "I can't," I breathed. "I can't do this. I'm sorry, but I can't—" "Yes, you can." "You don't understand—" "Then help me understand." His other hand came up to cup my face, so gentle it made my chest ache. "Tell me what happened. Tell me why you're running. Tell me—" "I, Sera Blackwood, reject you as my mate." The words hung in the air between us, sharp and final. Darius went completely still. His hand stayed on my face, but every muscle in his body had gone rigid. "What did you just say?" "I'm rejecting the bond." I forced the words out even though they felt like swallowing glass. "I don't accept you as my mate. I'm sorry, but—" "No." "It's my right—" "No." His grip tightened—not painful, never painful, but absolutely immovable. "You don't get to reject me." "That's not how it works. I have the right to—" "You have the right to make your own choices," he interrupted, and his voice was steel wrapped in silk. "But you don't get to make this one in a panic, in an alley, five seconds after we've met. You don't get to throw away the most important bond either of us will ever have because you're scared." "I'm not scared." "You're terrified." He leaned closer, until his forehead nearly touched mine. "I can feel it through the bond. You're absolutely terrified. And I want to know why. I need to know why. So you're going to tell me." "And if I refuse?" Something that might have been a smile ghosted across his lips. "Then I'll wait. I'm very patient when I want to be. But you should know—" His thumb traced my jawline, sending shivers down my spine. "—I've been looking for you for ten years. I've searched every pack, every territory, every corner of this goddess-forsaken country. And now that I've found you, now that I have you right here in front of me—" He paused. Our eyes met. And the intensity in his gaze nearly stopped my heart. "—I'm never letting you go." Before I could respond, before I could think, before I could do anything except stand there drowning in silver eyes and the overwhelming certainty that my life had just changed forever— A phone rang. Darius's jaw clenched. He pulled his phone from his pocket with his free hand, glanced at the screen, and swore under his breath. "I have to take this." "Then take it. I'll just—" "You'll stay right here." His hand on my waist tightened fractionally. "Don't even think about running." "I'm not—" "Liar." But there was no heat in it. Just certainty. He lifted the phone. "What." I couldn't hear the voice on the other end, but I saw Darius's expression darken. "When?" A pause. "How many?" Another pause, longer this time. "f**k. I'm on my way." He lowered the phone and looked at me, and something in his eyes made my stomach drop. "How do you feel about taking a trip?" "A trip. Are you kidding me right now?" "There's been an attack on one of my allied packs. Multiple casualties. I need to get there now." His thumb traced another devastating pattern on my hip. "You're coming with me." "The hell I am." "Sera." The way he said my name—like a prayer and a command all at once—did something to my insides. "Those wolves who just tried to kill you? They weren't random. Crescent Moon is targeting rogues because the Alpha Summit is in three days. You're not safe out here alone." "I've been alone for five years. I'll be fine." "That was before every wolf in the Northwest knew you were my mate." I opened my mouth. Closed it. Because he was right. The three pack wolves had smelled the bond between us before they'd even regained consciousness. Word would spread. Fast. "I can handle myself," I said, but my voice had lost some of its certainty. "I'm sure you can." He released me—finally, blessedly—and stepped back. The sudden absence of his heat made me shiver. "But you're my mate, which makes you a target. Every wolf who wants to challenge my authority, every Alpha who thinks they can use you as leverage, every enemy I've ever made—they all just became your problem." His eyes held mine. "So you have two choices. Come with me to my territory where I can protect you. Or run, and spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, knowing they're coming." "That's not a choice." "No," he agreed. "It's not. But I'm trying to let you feel like you still have one." The honesty of it nearly broke me. "One night," I heard myself say. "I'll come with you for one night. Then I'm gone." Something that might have been satisfaction flickered in his eyes. "We'll see." "I mean it—" "I heard you." He shrugged out of his coat and draped it around my shoulders before I could protest. It smelled like him—cedar and smoke and power—and my wolf practically swooned. "Now come on. We have a long drive ahead of us." "Where exactly are we going?" Darius's smile was all teeth and danger and dark promise. "Home."