The Alpha’s Forbidden Claim

Chapter 5

Lucien’s POV

She is mine. Every nerve in my body screams it, every instinct roars it. And yet, she wanders through my house like it’s any other place. Like she is a guest. A human guest. I have spent decades commanding my pack, enforcing rules, controlling territory. But Aria Morell, she tests me in ways I have never known.

I pace the top of the staircase, storm-gray eyes sweeping the dimly lit hall. The scent of her. Soft, sweet, clinging to the stone walls fills my nostrils. My chest tightens. The bond is awake. I can feel it in the flare of her pulse, the way the crescent on her wrist burns bright, alive.

She thinks she hides from me. She cannot. The bond calls to me, whispers her every fear, her every heartbeat, every flicker of desire she refuses to acknowledge. I do not forgive ignorance. I will not.

A shadow moves below. Cassian, ever calm, ever composed. The Beta patrols, protective, loyal… but there is something in his gaze when he looks at her. Something soft. Something I recognized from my own brother’s heart before I claimed it.

And then there is Darius. Wild, untamed, reckless. He prowls the halls like a predator, amber eyes glinting, and I know he is drawn to her. He has always been drawn to what he cannot have. I smell it in him, taste it in the air. He wants her in ways that are dangerous, and I will not allow it.

She is mine. And yet, mine is not enough.

I descend the staircase, cloak trailing behind me, every step deliberate. The warmth of the hearth in the main hall does nothing to calm the storm within me. She is here somewhere, teaching that child, Elara, pretending to live a normal life under my roof, in my domain, and it is a provocation I cannot forgive.

I find her in the library, bending over a book with the girl at her side. She smells of rain, of ink, of human fragility and yet, the bond flares like wildfire at my touch, even from across the room. My hands itch to hold her, to claim her, to warn her off without warning.

She glances up, her hazel eyes catching mine. The look she gives me is a mixture of awe, fear, and something else. Something raw and unnameable. Desire. She does not know it yet, but I do. I feel it, taste it, in every inch of my skin.

I step closer. The bond thrums against my chest as if it knows I am near.

“Aria.” My voice is low, controlled, but the growl beneath it betrays me.

She starts, dropping her hand to her wrist, where the crescent burns brighter. The mark pulses under my gaze, a signal to the world that she is bound to me. But it is forbidden. Dangerous. And yet I cannot stay away.

“Yes?” Her voice is quiet, tentative, but there is a tremor in it that I feel in my chest.

I move closer, until I can see the fear in her pupils, the tension in her shoulders, the way her body leans instinctively toward me. “Do you understand what you are?” I ask.

She shakes her head, lips parting. “I… I don’t...”

“You do,” I interrupt, voice hard. “The bond is alive. You feel it every second you are here. It cannot be ignored. And yet, you act as if it does not exist. That is dangerous. You will be punished for ignorance if it continues.”

She swallows hard, eyes wide. “Punished?”

“Yes.” I step closer, the heat of my body radiating toward her. “If the council discovers this bond, it will not end with warnings. You will die, Aria. That is the law. That is reality. And I will not forgive a human’s ignorance.”

Her hand instinctively moves to her wrist. “I...”

I take it from her before she can, holding it gently but possessively. My thumb brushes the glowing crescent, and she shivers under my touch. “Do you feel it?” I ask, voice softer now, almost intimate. “The pull between us?”

“Yes,” she whispers, and the single word carries more weight than she realizes. My body stiffens. The admission, simple and human, ignites something inside me that I cannot contain.

“You are mine,” I say, tone low, commanding, but also laced with need. “The moment you stepped into my domain, the moment the bond awakened, you became mine. And I will protect you. But I will not share you. Not with Darius. Not with Cassian. Not with anyone.”

Her breath catches. I can see the struggle behind her eyes. She wants to defy me, to assert herself, and yet the bond calls her back, stronger than any human thought, any will, any desire.

“Lucien,” she whispers, voice trembling, “I—”

“Do not speak,” I command, cutting her off. “Do not test me.”

Cassian shifts behind her, hand on her shoulder, subtle, protective. “Lucien, she is still human. You cannot—”

I spin, storm in my eyes. “I will do what must be done to keep her alive. That is my responsibility. Not yours.”

Darius leans lazily against the doorway, amber eyes gleaming, smirk curling his lips. “Relax, brother. Let her feel the fire. It suits her.”

The words make my blood boil. Protective instinct flares, possessiveness rises. I do not just want her safe. I want her bound to me in every possible way. Emotionally, physically, spiritually. The bond has awakened, and there is no turning back.

I step toward Darius, all power and menace in my posture. “Stay away from her,” I growl, the threat unmistakable.

Darius only chuckles, retreating slightly, but the fire in his eyes does not dim. “We’ll see, brother,” he says.

I turn back to Aria. She is trembling now, hands clutched in her lap, eyes fixed on me with something raw, something that mirrors my own hunger. Desire. Fear. Confusion. And yet, she does not flee. She is drawn to me, as I am to her.

I take her hand again, carefully, possessively. My grip is firm, protective, unyielding. “You will not speak of this. You will not act on it. But you will feel it. And you will obey me. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she breathes, and the word, fragile and human, makes my chest ache with longing.

The bond pulses violently, responding to the closeness of our bodies, to the unspoken desires crackling between us. My control is tested, my patience pushed to the limit. I want to claim her entirely, and yet I must not. Not yet.

Cassian watches, silent and warning. Darius smirks, testing. And I, Lucien Vale, Alpha of Silvermist, dark and untouchable, feel the full weight of the bond, the pull of her human fragility against my power, and the impossibility of keeping my control.

She is mine. And soon, very soon, I will make sure she knows it in ways she cannot resist.

The thought makes my pulse hammer, my fangs itch to bare, my heart pound with an unfamiliar, human ache I cannot name.

I release her hand reluctantly, stepping back. “Go to your room,” I command. “Stay. Do not leave. And do not test the bond.”

“Yes,” she whispers again.

As she turns to leave, her wrist glowing faintly under the moonlight, I catch the slightest flicker of fear mixed with longing. My chest tightens. My need to protect her, to dominate her, to possess her completely, rises like a storm.

And I know one thing with absolute certainty: I will not fail her.

Not for Darius. Not for Cassian. Not for anyone.

Because she is mine.