Claimed by the Ruthless Alpha

The nightmare always starts the same way. There were screeching tires,the smell of burning rubber,and glass exploding outward like a firework made of pain. And then the silence after, which is always so much worse than the noise. I jolted awake, breathing hard, staring at the ceiling of my bedroom like it could give me answers. It never does. Two years of the same dream and it still hits like the first time, like my body refuses to let me forget what happened on that road. The door opened before I could even swing my legs over the side of the bed. Jeremy walked in without knocking, which he never did anymore, and climbed under my blanket without a word. He pulled me into his chest, one big arm wrapped around my shoulders, and my whole body just exhaled. His heartbeat was steady and familiar under my ear. Within minutes, I was back asleep. That was how most nights went in the Golden Crescent Pack house. In the morning, Aunt Nadia was already at the stove when I came downstairs, looking like she had been awake for hours, because she probably had been. She was the Luna of this pack and the woman who raised me after my parents died. She was warm and sharp and fiercely protective in a way that sometimes suffocated me and sometimes was the only thing holding me together. "You look tired, sweetheart," she said, sliding a plate toward me without turning around. "I'm fine," I said, which was the automatic answer. I sat down at the island and looked at the plate. Eggs, toast, bacon, cut fruit and all my favorites arranged like she was trying to fix me with breakfast. Jeremy appeared in the doorway ten minutes later, hair messy, backpack already on his shoulder, somehow already eating. He leaned against the doorframe and looked at my plate. "Mom, she doesn't need to eat the same amount as me. I'm going to have to roll her to school." "Did you just call me fat?" I reached over and took a swipe at him. He dodged it easily, because he was impossibly fast, and grinned like that was the funniest thing that had happened all week. "I'm just saying. I have Alpha metabolism. You have human metabolism. There's a difference." "There is also a difference between me and someone who needs to be rolled anywhere. I train just as much as you." "So you admit my body is better." "I admit your ego needs no help from me." He laughed, and Aunt Nadia smiled, and for a moment the morning felt normal. That was the thing about life here. You could almost forget what you were, what you were not, all the ways you did not quite fit. Then something would remind you, and the edges of where you belonged would get sharp again. Today was the first day of senior year. Jeremy drove us to school in his matte black muscle car that growled at every stoplight. I had my acceptance letters already. Three universities, one clear choice, and a plan that made perfect sense for a human girl who had spent the last two years learning how to live inside a world that was never meant for her. Jeremy had not said much about it for the last month. He used to argue every time I brought up leaving. Now he just got quiet, and quiet from Jeremy was always louder than words. "Are you still planning to go?" he asked, eyes on the road. "Yes, Jer." "Even though everything is starting now. Alpha training, pack meetings, the alliance visits.. ." "Which are your things," I said, not unkindly. "I am not the future Alpha. I am not a wolf. I have been very clear about what I am and what I am not. College makes sense for me." He was quiet again. His jaw moved once like he was chewing on something he decided not to say. The school parking lot was already filling up when we pulled in, and the group waiting near his spot was exactly what I expected. A handful of girls who had been circling Jeremy since the moment he turned eighteen and it became undeniable that he had not yet found his mate. They watched him get out of the car like he was something to be won. "Your fan club arrived early," I said. "Shut up," he muttered. "I'm just observing." "Observe quieter." I smiled and got out of the car, and immediately had to navigate three girls who stepped into my path without looking at me, bodies angled toward Jeremy like plants toward a light source. I cut through without slowing down, and Jer's arm came around my neck from behind, steering us both forward. Ben, Tommy, and Lucas were waiting near the front entrance. Our future Beta, Delta, and Gamma. All of them tall, wide, effortlessly good looking in the way that seemed to be written into werewolf genetics. They did the brotherlybgreeting thing with Jeremy and then each of them hugged me or kissed the top of my head, which was very deliberate, very public, and very much a statement. After last year, they had all agreed on it. It was a quiet way of saying *she is one of us* without anyone having to say anything at all. "Are you ready for this year?" Tommy asked, slinging his arm around my shoulder. "I survived the last two. How much worse can senior year be?" He and Lucas exchanged a look I did not like. "What?" I said. "Nothing," they said at the same time. Which meant something. It always did. I let it go. I had enough to think about already. The nightmare was still sitting behind my eyes, and the familiar ache of starting another year without my parents was settling into my ribs the way it always did in September. I just had to get through today. Then tomorrow. Then the next day after that. It was a system that had worked for two years. I had no reason to think it would stop working now. The bell rang and we moved inside, and I told myself today was just another day. I was wrong. But I did not know that yet.