The Alpha I meant to kill is my mate.

Chapter3

“She is my mate.”

Everything, the firelight, the music, the laughter faded into a distant hum. My knees threatened to buckle. My hands gripped the edge of my cloak so tightly I thought my fingers might snap. Mate… my mate?

And then the other thought hit like a cold blade The Alpha I was meant to kill… is claiming me. Me.

My chest tightened, my pulse pounding in my ears. I had been trained to obey, to endure, to disappear. A shadow among wolves. And now… the very man I was meant to assassinate was claiming me as his Luna.

A ripple of whispers ran through the Crimson Fang Pack.

“She… she’s the one?”

“Impossible.”

“Could she be a spy?”

I swallowed, the taste of fear bitter in my mouth. A spy? Me? I’m a slave. Nameless. Worthless. How could he…

Dominick stepped forward, and the murmurs faltered. Every wolf instinctively gave him space, leaning back, unsure. His presence folded over the clearing like a tangible force.

“She is mine,” he said, low and unyielding. “From the moment she stepped into my territory, I knew, I could smell her and the closer she got, the more the smell intoxicated me. She will be my Luna. No one will harm her.”

Luna. The word should have been impossible. And yet the firelight catching his face, the controlled strength in his stance, it made my heart constrict. I pressed my palms to my chest, trying to anchor myself to reality. I’m a slave. I don’t even know my own name. How… How can I possibly be his Luna?

The elders whispered, leaning close to one another, trying to decipher what had just happened. Some younger pack members craned their necks, murmuring. A few even pointed at me, suspicion in their eyes.

Dominick’s gaze never wavered. “No. She is not a threat. She is mine. She will stand beside me.

And she will be my Luna.”,he defended me like he had known me for years, what would he do if he found out the reason I was here.

I couldn’t breathe. My legs trembled beneath me. My mind was spinning.

Then a voice shouted out, slicing through the tension:

“No! Alpha Dominick! You can’t take her as your mate!”

Gasps erupted. Wolves froze mid-step. Heads snapped toward the speaker. The murmurs grew louder, layered with disbelief and shock.

My heart stopped. That voice… I knew it.

And then I saw her

My sister.

Even from across the clearing, the details struck me instantly, the storm-gray eyes that mirrored our mother’s, the tilt of her head as she squared her shoulders, the faint curve of her lips I had known since childhood. My breath caught. It’s her. It has to be… my sister.

She placed her hands protectively over her stomach, and in that instant, my world fractured again. She was pregnant. Pregnant with his child. Pregnant… and standing here. In front of me.

Dominick didn’t flinch. His hand rested lightly on my shoulder, grounding me, anchoring me through the chaos. His gaze softened for a fraction of a second, reading my shock and disbelief as if he could see straight into my soul.

“She is mine,” he repeated, voice carrying through the stunned silence. “ She is my Luna. This ends now.”

I pressed my palms against my face, trying to stop my knees from giving way. My sister… pregnant… here… and he… claims me? The absurdity and impossibility of it pressed into me like stones in my chest.

The pack murmured again, some whispering suspicions, others awe. A few elders exchanged uneasy glances. But Dominick’s presence silenced most of them. His authority was absolute.

My sister stepped closer, her gaze locking on me, voice trembling but resolute

“You can’t! Alpha Dominick! She can’t be your mate! I… I’m carrying your child! Your heir”

The clearing erupted again. Wolves gasped, whispers spiraled, some stepped back, others leaned forward, eyes wide. My stomach lurched.

My sister… was here.

Dominick’s hand remained on my shoulder, firm, steadying me. His eyes held mine, and for the first time I felt a strange mix of fear, awe, and something I couldn’t name. The man I had been sent to kill was protecting me. Claiming me. Insisting I was his.

I wanted to speak. I wanted to protest. To scream that I was nothing, a slave, unworthy. But no words came. My voice faltered, my thoughts scattered.

“You are mine,” Dominick whispered, softer now, just for me. “From the moment you entered my territory, I knew. You will stand beside me. You will survive. You will see who you are.”

I shook my head, overwhelmed. My heart was racing, my pulse deafening in my ears. My legs still threatened to collapse beneath me. But his hand, warm and commanding, anchored me in the storm of whispers, gasps, and disbelief.

My sister’s voice rang out again, trembling.

“You… you can’t! How could you take her as your mate when I'm the one having your child..?

I stared at her, the recognition still raw and impossible. She was Ciara,my family, and at the same time, she was now a part of this impossible claim.

Dominick leaned just a fraction closer, his voice low but edged with that quiet, irresistible authority:

“I chose her. And in case you forgot, Ciara, I never chose you. You may carry my child, but you will never bear my mark. She is mine. No one can take her from me.”

The murmurs faded, replaced by a tense hush. I felt a shiver run down my spine. My eyes stayed locked on him, my mind struggling to comprehend that the Alpha I had feared, the one I had been told to kill, the one who could have destroyed me a dozen times over… had chosen me.

I was his Luna.

Ciara’s eyes filled with tears, hard and angry. Did she even recognize me?

And for the first time in my life, I felt the world shift beneath me, not into chains, not into shadows, but into something new. Terrifying. Powerful. And wholly, I felt the drawn to Dominick too in way I could not explain

I had no idea what to do next. Could he still claim me if he learned I had been sent to end his life? “The weight of that question pressed into me as the firelight flickered across the clearing, and everything I had known shattered”.