Marked By The Alpha

Chapter One – The Night Of The Mark

The forest smelled of iron and ash. My lungs burned as I ran, branches whipping at my arms, mud pulling at my boots with every desperate step. Behind me, the sound of growls split the night—low, guttural, merciless.

They were hunting me.

My name is Ivy, the daughter of nobody important, born at the bottom rung of pack society. For as long as I could remember, I had been the weak one, the forgotten one, the wolf-less girl who couldn’t shift, couldn’t fight, couldn’t even defend herself. The pack said I was cursed. My mother used to whisper that I was “waiting for the right moment.” But she was gone now, and her words felt like ashes on my tongue.

And tonight, under the weight of the full moon, I knew the pack had been right all along.

I wasn’t a wolf. I was prey.

The rogues’ snarls drew closer. My heart thundered in my chest as I stumbled down the slope toward the river. If I could make it across, maybe—just maybe—I could lose them in the current. My body screamed in protest, but I forced my legs to move faster.

Then, without warning, a shadow burst from the trees ahead.

He was massive—bigger than any wolf I had ever seen, his fur dark as obsidian and his eyes glowing like molten gold. Power rolled off him in waves, drowning the air, making my knees weaken. This wasn’t a rogue. This was… something else.

My breath hitched. An Alpha.

The wolf snarled once, and the rogues behind me froze, whimpering. Then, in a blur, he launched himself at them.

I should have run. I should have thrown myself into the river and prayed. But instead, I stood frozen, watching as the dark Alpha tore through my hunters like they were nothing more than twigs. Every movement was brutal grace—snapping jaws, raking claws, glowing eyes that never faltered.

When it was over, silence reigned.

The Alpha turned his head, and his gaze landed on me.

The force of it was like being struck by lightning. My chest tightened, my skin prickled, and my legs refused to obey when I tried to step back. My heart whispered a truth I wasn’t ready to hear.

Mate.

“No,” I breathed, shaking my head as the wolf shifted.

Where the beast had stood, now there was a man. He was tall, broad-shouldered, his chest bare beneath the torn edges of his black trousers. Dark hair fell messily across his forehead, and those same molten-gold eyes locked onto me like a predator sighting prey.

“Found you,” he said, his voice a low growl that curled around my spine.

I swallowed hard, every instinct screaming to flee, but my feet wouldn’t move. He stalked closer, each step measured, deliberate.

“Who—who are you?” My voice cracked.

“Arthur,” he said simply. The name vibrated with power, heavy and commanding. “Alpha of the Black Thorn Pack.”

The Black Thorn Pack. Whispers of them had traveled even into our small territory. Ruthless. Unforgiving. A pack that crushed anything in its path.

My stomach dropped. “Stay away from me,” I whispered.

His lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “You’re mine.”

Before I could react, before I could even breathe, he closed the space between us and pressed his mouth to my neck. My pulse stuttered, panic clashing with something far more dangerous—heat. The next moment, sharp pain flared as his teeth sank into my skin.

I gasped, a cry tearing from my throat. Fire exploded through me, burning in my veins, clawing at every nerve ending. My body arched against him involuntarily as my vision blurred, and then—

A voice. Soft. Fierce. Ancient.

“Finally, you called me.”

My eyes widened. The voice wasn’t Arthur’s. It wasn’t mine either. It echoed from somewhere deeper, somewhere that had always been silent before tonight.

“Who—who are you?” I whispered in my mind, choking back a sob.

“Selra,” the voice answered. “Your wolf. The one they said you would never have. I’ve been waiting, Ivy. Waiting for him to mark you so I could awaken.”

Shock rattled through me, but before I could process it, another wave of fire surged, binding me to the man holding me. The world tilted violently, and when Arthur finally lifted his head, blood stained his lips.

“You belong to me now,” he said.

Tears blurred my vision. I shoved at his chest, my hands trembling with fury and fear. “I didn’t ask for this! I didn’t want this!”

His eyes softened for only a fraction of a second, then hardened again. “It doesn’t matter. The bond is sealed. You’re mine, Ivy. My mate. My Luna.”

“No,” I whispered brokenly. “You’ve made a mistake.”

But the bond pulsed between us, undeniable, unyielding. My skin still burned with the echo of his bite, my wolf—Selra—still humming with new life inside me.

Arthur cupped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “Fate doesn’t make mistakes.”

The sound of twigs snapping behind us made me flinch. Arthur’s head whipped around, a snarl ripping from his throat.

And then, from the shadows, another figure emerged.

This one was different.

He was tall, too, but leaner than Arthur, his dark hair falling neatly around piercing blue eyes that caught the moonlight. His aura wasn’t oppressive like Arthur’s, but it was steady, controlled—a dangerous calm.

“Arthur,” the newcomer said, voice cool. “You never could resist taking what isn’t yours.”

Arthur stiffened, his arm tightening around me possessively. “Michael,” he spat.

Michael’s gaze flicked to me, and in that instant, I felt it—another pull. Not as fiery, not as consuming as Arthur’s, but something gentler, steadier, like the promise of freedom instead of chains.

Confusion twisted in my chest. Two pairs of eyes—one molten gold, one piercing blue. Two wolves. Two paths.

Arthur growled low in his throat. “Stay away from her. She’s mine.”

Michael’s eyes never left mine. “She doesn’t look like she agrees.”

Selra stirred inside me, her voice like velvet and steel. “Two Alphas, Ivy. Two fates. But only one choice.”

My knees buckled, and Arthur’s hold kept me upright. The forest swayed, the bond seared through me, and Michael’s presence pulled at something deep in my soul.

And for the first time in my life, I realized the truth:

I wasn’t cursed.

I was caught between two Alphas.

And the night was only the beginning.