UNKNOWINGLY MARKED THE ALPHA

CHAPTER TWO

MEADOW'S POV.

I rolled my eyes without turning. “Just leave me alone, please.”

I bent down to gather my scattered herbs.

I hadn’t even noticed when they fell out of the basket. I must have landed on them when_what's his name_shoved me back there.

“Hey!” the second man shouted as if he heard my thoughts. “You—what did you do to him?!”

I sighed, finally turning.

“What now?”

And that was when I saw it.

The mark on his neck. It was still fresh, covered in blood, but I recognized it immediately.

A mate mark.

The world stopped, and my heart stopped right with it.

My breath didn’t come properly.

The sick man was staring at me, his eyes so wide they looked ready to pop out of their sockets. One hand slowly rose to touch his neck in disbelief.

“That’s impossible…” he whispered.

The other man snapped his head between us. “Wait... You marked him?!”

I shook my head immediately, my heart pounding.

“I didn’t—” My voice broke slightly, then steadied. “I didn’t mark anyone. I only sucked the poison out of him, you were here, you saw it all."

But even as I said it, I knew how it looked. He had a fresh mark on his neck, a mate mark. And it came from me, from my bite.

I took a slow step back. Then another. Then another.

“I—I don't... I didn’t…” I said again, but I couldn’t even make a proper sentence. “That’s not possible.”

And then fear caught up to me.

So I turned and ran, ignoring their voices as they called after me, their voices fading behind the trees.

I didn’t stop until I reached the river just outside of Hollow Mountain.

My hands were shaking as I dropped to my knees and washed the blood from my mouth again and again until the water turned red.

My wolf was silent at first.

Then she whispered, confused.

"What did we do?"

“I didn’t mean to,” I said out loud, my breath uneven. “It was an accident.”

I paused and swallowed hard past the lump in my throat.

"It will fade in no time. It's not a real mate mark, so it will. It has to."

But even as I said it, something inside me didn’t believe it.

I stayed there a long time, catching my breath before going home.

And that was when everything changed.

Lucian placed the Alpha command on me that night.

Said I had been outside of pack territory too long.

Said I looked like I was planning to leave Hollow Mountain, and he couldn’t have that. He couldn’t risk it.

He didn’t ask.

He decided.

And just like that, I was trapped.

It’s been six months, and I hope the mark is gone by now. It must have been long gone.

"Meadow," Dorothy's voice pulled me back to the present.

“I’ll be fine,” I said quickly.

She sighed. “Be careful out there, Meadow. You know why I worry.”

I did. Most pack members hated omegas and despised outcasts. I was both now.

Fear stirred for a moment, but I hid it.

“I’ll be careful,” I promised, and then stepped out.

******

The forest was quiet. Moonlight brushed the leaves as I walked.

Then a shadow stepped into my path.

I stopped and looked up.

Lucian.

“Why didn’t you report to work this morning?” he asked.

No greeting. No concern. Just expectation.

I held his gaze, saying nothing.

His jaw tightened slightly, like my silence annoyed him more than any answer could.

“Well?” he pressed. "I asked you a question, Meadow. I expect an answer."

A slow breath left my lungs. “I wasn’t feeling well.” I answered truthfully.

His expression didn’t change. Not even a flicker.

“That’s not an excuse,” he said. “The pack house doesn’t run on how you feel, Meadow.”

Of course it didn’t.

Nothing in this pack ever did.

Not for me.

“My father served this pack his entire life,” I said calmly, “and still died in your dungeon.”

Something cold flickered in his eyes, but it wasn’t guilt.

“Alfred was a good beta, yes. No one's denying that fact. But if he hadn’t betrayed the pack, he wouldn’t have ended up there in the first place,” Lucian replied evenly.

My hands curled into fists.

“He didn’t betray anyone,” I said. “You know that.”

Lucian didn’t respond.

Because he didn’t care.

Or maybe because it was easier not to.

Instead, he stepped closer.

“This attitude of yours,” he said, his voice calm, almost patient, “it’s unnecessary, Meadow”

I let out a short, humorless laugh. “Unnecessary?”

“Yes.” His gaze settled on me, steady and assessing. “Things didn’t have to be like this between us, Meadow.”

I stilled.

There it was.

I looked at him slowly. “Don’t.”

“You made your choice,” he continued, as if I hadn’t spoken. “This whole thing wasn't exactly my fault, and you know it. Not to mention, I gave you an alternative.”

My chest tightened, anger rising fast and sharp.

“You offered to make me your mistress,” I said flatly.

Lucian didn’t flinch.

“That was the only way,” he replied. “You know I can’t take an outcast as my mate.”

The words landed exactly how he intended—like something reasonable. Like something I was supposed to accept.

Like I should be grateful.

“I would have taken care of you,” he went on. “You wouldn’t be working yourself to exhaustion in that house to pay off your father's debt to the pack. You wouldn’t be—this.”

“This?” I echoed, my voice turning cold.

He gestured vaguely toward me, as if the word spoke for itself.

I stared at him, something inside me going still.

“I will not be your mistress,” I said.

His gaze sharpened slightly, but he didn’t look angry.

If anything, he looked… mildly inconvenienced.

“You say that,” Lucian murmured, stepping closer again, “but your wolf says something different.”

A faint, knowing look crossed his face as he lowered his voice.

“I can feel it,” he said. “The bond doesn’t lie, Meadow. No matter how much you pretend otherwise.”

His hand lifted—slow_and brushed lightly against my arm.

I jerked back immediately.

“Don’t you dare touch me.”

But he only watched me calmly.

“You want me,” he said quietly. “I see it every time you look at me.”

I nodded. “Yeah, go get your eyes checked.”

“We don’t have to fight this,” he continued, as if I hadn’t spoken. “No one needs to know. You can come to me when you want. I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.”

Each word was softer than the last.

Gentler.

And somehow, that made it worse.

“You think this is kindness?” I asked. "You think you're doing me a favor?"

“I think it’s reality,” Lucian replied. "If only you would stop being so stubborn for a second, then you will see this for what it truly is—an opportunity."

Something inside me snapped.

“You rejected me,” I said, my voice shaking despite how hard I tried to steady it, “and then bound me with an alpha's command to keep me here.”

A flicker of something crossed his face—but it was gone too quickly to read.

“That doesn’t change what you are to me,” he said.

I let out a hollow laugh. “What I am to you?”

“Yes.” His gaze darkened slightly. “Mine.”

The word made my stomach turn.

“I don’t belong to you.”

“You do,” he said simply. “Until the bond breaks completely, you do.”

My eyes burned, but I refused to let anything fall.

“Then hurry up and break it,” I said. “Because I would rather remain an outcast than be anything to you.”

For a moment, silence stretched between us.

Then Lucian exhaled softly, almost like I was the one being difficult.

“You’re making this harder than it needs to be,” he said.

I stared at him and finally saw it clearly.

He really believed that.

Every word.

Every offer.

Every decision he had made.

In his mind, none of this was cruelty.

It was practicality.

“I’m not the one making it hard,” I said coldly.

Something shifted in his expression then—not anger, not quite. More like annoyance.

His gaze dragged over me again, slower this time.

And then he stilled.

“You smell… different,” he said.

I frowned.

He stepped closer, inhaling subtly, his expression sharpening with something darker.

“Your scent,” he murmured. “It’s warm.”

My stomach tightened. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I always smelled like this whenever I had that dream.

His eyes lifted to mine, suspicion settling in fully now.

“Where were you?” he asked.

I said nothing.

His jaw tightened.

“Answer me, Meadow. Were you with someone?” he asked, his voice lower now. “Is that why you didn’t come to work all day?”

Heat flared in my chest—anger, humiliation, all of it tangled together.

“And if I was?” I shot back. “What does it matter to you?”

Something dangerous flickered in his eyes.

“It matters,” he said quietly, “because you’re still bound to me.”

“I’m bound by your command,” I snapped. “Not by choice.”

“That doesn’t change anything.”

“It changes everything.”

His expression hardened.

“I won’t have you walking around my territory carrying another man’s scent, Meadow,” he said. "That is where I draw the line."

“You don’t get to decide that.”

“I do.”

The certainty in his voice made something cold settle in my chest.

“I don’t belong to you,” I said again.

Lucian’s gaze held mine for a long moment.

Then, very calmly he spoke.

“If you smell like this again,” he said, “people will start asking questions.”

A pause.

“And I won’t be the one to stop them.”

The meaning was clear.

It wasn't a warning. It was a promise.

I stepped around him without another word.

This time, he didn’t stop me.

But I could feel his eyes on me as I walked away.

Bastard.