I Claimed His Alpha Throne

My Alpha, Kaelen, the wolf sworn by the moon to be my eternal mate, had always loathed weakness. Yet everything changed the moment he brought the human, Elara, into our territory—a fragile, wide-eyed refugee with nothing but a tragic story. Suddenly, my Alpha became obsessed with her vulnerability. He personally escorted her through the pack lands, assigned his elite guard to her quarters, and even shared his meals with her at the high table. Every night, he’d return to our den long after the moon had set, his scent tainted with her cloying perfume of fear and wildflowers, yet his face would glow with a grim satisfaction, as if protecting her fragility was the only purpose his soul now recognized. I became a ghost in my own home. Three hours ago, shadow beasts breached the northern ward. I was on patrol. They swarmed me, their claws tearing at my flesh, their dark magic searing my insides. I felt a sharp, gut-wrenching cramp, and hot blood—too much blood—soaked my leggings. Our unborn pup, the first pure-blooded heir in a century, was slipping away. I sent out a mate-bond distress call, a soul-deep cry that should have ripped through his heart. I sent it three times. He did not answer. Instead, a chilling, absolute barrier slammed down between us, cold and final. He had deliberately severed our bond to silence me. I had had enough. Tonight, at the Sanctum of the First Moon, every pack elder was gathered. I dragged my bloodied body to the ceremonial circle, my vision swimming. “I demand to sever the blood pact.” They all froze. “Are you insane?” My foster parents’ voices rose in a shocked hiss. Kaelen seized my wrist, his grip like iron, disbelief twisting his handsome face into a mask of fury. “Lyra, you want to sever our fated bond just because I was occupied and didn’t answer your call? Are you truly jealous of a helpless human I am duty-bound to protect?” I didn’t meet his eyes. Instead, I stared at the faint, shimmering mark of a protection ward behind his ear—a ward that smelled of his magic, and Elara’s scent. “Since you cherish her helplessness so much,” I said, my voice eerily calm, “I’ll make it easy for you. Go be her protector. Exclusively.” ... “Lyra, what in the hells are you talking about?” Kaelen’s silver eyes blazed with a righteous fury, as if he were the one who had been wronged. “Elara is a guest under our protection! Her entire village was slaughtered. She is overwhelmed with trauma. Is it wrong for me to show her the pack’s strength? I personally am teaching her our ways, learning how to integrate a human into our world, preparing for the day our children will have to lead both species. You can question anything else, but you cannot question my devotion to you and this pack!” I did not respond. Instead, I pulled a shard of obsidian—the ritual tool for severing—from a hidden sheath on my thigh and placed it on the altar between us. “Here is the severing stone. Let’s finish this.” The chamber fell silent. Every elder stared at me in shock. In their eyes, Kaelen and I were the last mates in the world who would ever break. When we were eighteen, a rogue Alpha tried to claim me. The next morning, that Alpha’s head was mounted on a spike at our border, a personal message from Kaelen. When we mated, Kaelen called down a meteor shower to illuminate our ceremony. In front of the entire pack, he licked the bonding mark on my neck and declared, “Lyra is mine. Any who touch her will be erased from this world.” For ten years, no matter how brutal the territorial wars he fought during the day, he always came home at night. He would shed his armor and pull me into his arms as if I were the only peace left in his violent life. They said I was his only anchor. No one believed I would be the one to cut the chain. Kaelen’s expression went blank. He clearly had not expected me to have the severing stone ready. My foster mother snatched the stone away, her face pale. “Lyra, what are you trying to do? Ten years as mates, and you want to throw it away over a petty grievance? Elara’s life is hard enough. She’s a lone survivor. It’s basic decency for the Alpha to ensure her safety!” Other elders chimed in. “Luna, we understand you were frightened when the shadow beasts broke through, but you’re fine, aren’t you? The Alpha has already apologized for being in the middle of a sacred ritual. Isn’t this a bit extreme?” “Humans are the future of our alliance. It’s right to value them. Don’t be petty.” “Besides, Alpha Kaelen risks his life every day for this pack. You live safely under his protection. Even if he neglects you sometimes, can’t you be more understanding?” The voices piled on, accusing me of being unreasonable. I pulled my lips into a thin, bloodless smile. I looked past them, to the empty vial of Starlight Serum lying near the altar—the last of the pack’s most potent healing elixir. There was a single drop left, clinging to the inside, smelling of Elara. It had been used to heal a scratch on her arm. My foster father stormed over, his face contorted with fury, and slapped me hard across the cheek. My ears rang. He pointed at my nose and shouted, “Lyra, you think you’re too good for this now? Kaelen is the most powerful Alpha in this region. You want to throw away a mate like him? Who the hell do you think you are? “If he hadn’t been protecting you all these years, you would’ve died a hundred times over! You can’t be so ungrateful!” My foster mother quickly pulled him back and grabbed my hand, tears welling in her eyes. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Why can’t we talk this through? We’ve all seen how Kaelen dotes on you. If you’ve found someone else… I’ll be the first to say no.” I slowly lifted my head. I tasted blood in my mouth. Kaelen walked over right at that moment. He wiped the blood from my lip while positioning himself between me and my foster father’s glare. In everyone else’s eyes, he was the flawless Alpha. Only I knew better. “Lyra, are you… actually taking another mate?” His voice dropped low, filled with suppressed pain and sorrow. “We grew up together. I know you might feel bored. Maybe you want some excitement. But I don’t care. As long as you come back to me, I’ll pretend this never happened.” In just a few sentences, he had turned me into the unfaithful one. Every pair of eyes in the room bore into me. My foster father was so furious he nearly shifted. “So that’s it! You want to sever the bond because you’ve got someone else! You shameful disgrace! Apologize to your Alpha right now, and if you mention this again, you’re no daughter of mine!” Everyone around me urged me to reconsider. Even Kaelen begged me desperately. I looked down at his hand gripping my wrist. He was not wearing his side of our bonding bracelet. I shoved him away. My voice came out soft. “I want to sever the bond. I don’t love you anymore.” When he left me bleeding out on the battlefield, when my three soul-cries went unanswered, when he was busy using the last of our pack’s sacred medicine on a human’s paper cut… my heart had already died. Kaelen froze, his face drained of color. It was as if he hadn’t heard me correctly. “You… What did you just say?”