Rejected and Hunted: Claimed by the Forbidden Alpha

CHAPTER 1 “Sign It. Your Debt Is Paid.” Aria’s POV “Sign it.” I looked at him and for a second, and I thought I heard wrong, my fingers tightened on the paper in my hand and the letters blurred, and then cleared again, divorce, rejection, end. I then lifted my head slowly. “What… did you say?” Alpha Kael did not move closer and he did not even look at me well. “I said sign it.” That voice, this was not the man who once called my name like it meant something. My lips parted, but no words came out. Three years, three whole years, that was how long I had been Alpha Kael’s wife. No, not wife, a repayment. I swallowed. “You said…” My voice shook. “You said we would talk before anything like this.” Alpha Kael finally looked at me and his eyes passed over me like I was just there, like I was nothing he needed to hold on to. “There is nothing to talk about,” he said. Nothing? I felt something broke inside my chest. Three years ago, I stood in front of Alpha Kael in the same way, nervous, lost and alone. My father just died and the only thing he left me was a promise, a blood oath. He once saved Alpha Kael’s life, so Alpha Kael must repay him and that repayment was me. Marriage. I remembered that day. “From today, you will stay by my side,” Alpha Kael said, there was no smile and no warmth but Alpha Kael still reached out his hand and I took it, because I had no one else. Because I thought maybe…maybe I would not feel alone again, everyone said I was lucky, an orphan girl becoming Alpha Kael’s Luna. They looked at me with envy, they said I won, but I knew, I knew I was not chosen, I was owed. Still…Somewhere along the way, I forgot. Because Alpha Kael changed, little by little. The first time I fell sick, Alpha Kael sat by my bed and I woke up in the night and saw him there. “Why are you here?” I asked. “You have a fever,” Alpha Kael said. “You have work,” I whispered. “I am here.” That was all he said and he stayed and the next time, I mentioned that I liked a certain food, just once. The next day, it was on the table and I stared at it. “You said you like it,” he said, like it was nothing, even when I did not ask, he protected me, at meeting and at gatherings. When others talked down on me, he shut them up. “She is my Luna,” Alpha Kael said, my Luna. I then held on to those words and I built my heart around them, I started to believe. Maybe this was no longer about a debt. Maybe… Alpha Kael cared…Maybe was learning to love me and then I lowered my eyes now, staring at the paper again. So all of that… What was it? My throat burned. “I don’t understand,” I said. “Did I do something wrong?” “No.” His answer came fast, too fast. “Then why?” He did not answer, but instead, the door opened and everything in my world stopped and Selene walked in and my fingers went weak. No. No, this was not possible. Selene was supposed to be gone, dead, that was what they said but Selene was here, she was alive and walking like she never left. Selene’s hair fell down her back, her face shone and her eyes went straight to Kael and not me. Then Kael stepped forward, not to me but to Selene and my heart dropped. “Welcome back,” He said and that was the voice I knew, that was the voice he used on me before…But now…It was not for me. Selene then smiled at Kael and then she turned to me and her eyes scan me from head to toe, it was like she was checking something and then she smiled again. “You’ve done well taking care of her,” Selene said and her voice was light, like this was a normal talk, like I was not standing here breaking inside. I blinked. “What…?” She then tilted her head. “You heard me.” And her eyes rest on my face. “Thank you for keeping my place warm.” My chest tightened. My place? I then gripped the paper harder. So that was it, that was what I was, not a wife and not a Luna, but just someone who stayed in Selene’s place, a replacement, a mistake. “Now step aside,” Selene said, just like that, like I was nothing, like I should understand. I then turned to Kael. Say something.Please. Say something. But Alpha Kael said nothing, he just watched me, waiting for me to sign and then my hand shook and I looked down. My name was already printed at the bottom and all I had to do was sign. End it. End everything. Tears gathered in my eyes, but I forced them back, I would not cry here, not in front of Selene, not in front of Kael. If I was nothing to them, then I would leave like nothing. I then took the pen, it felt heavy and then my hand moved, slowly and then fast and I signed. My name looked strange on the paper, like it did not belong to me and I dropped the pen. “There,” I said and my voice sounded far away. “It’s done.” No one stopped me and no one called my name. I turned and I walked, one step, two steps and each steps felt like I was walking out of my own life. I then reached the door and my hand touched the handle. Then..A voice, not outside and not behind me but inside me, it was deep and old. “Debt fulfilled.” I froze and my breath stopped. What… was that? “Now they will discard you.” My fingers went stiff on the handle. Discard? What did that mean? My heart started to beat fast, something was wrong, something was very wrong and then I heard it from outside, low voices from guards. “Once she leaves… kill her.” I stopped breathing. Kill… who? My chest rose fast. No. No. And then I stayed still. Maybe I heard wrong. “Make it clean,” another voice said. “Alpha Kael gave the order.” The Alpha? My head turned slowly, back to Alpha Kael. He stood there, same face, same man, the man I thought I knew and my lips trembled. So the marriage… It was not to protect me, it was not kindness, it was not care, it was a cage. Tears filled my eyes now and then I blinked, but they fell anyway. All this time…I was not safe, I was just being kept, until I was no longer needed. My knees was weak and then I held the door to stand. Then… That voice again, it was stronger now, clear and alive. “Run.” My eyes widened and my heart stopped. My wolf. The one that never spoke, the one everyone said was broken, it spoke for the first time. “Run,” it said again. My breath shook. “Your life was the price all along.”