Claimed by Alpha Xorax and his sons

Asher’s POV

“What the bloody hell are you doing out here?”

Kael’s voice cut through the cold the second he saw me.

The iron supply crates were cutting straight through my worn leather gloves, biting deep into my palms. Damn it. I didn’t answer him right away. I just grunted under the weight, staggered through the slush, and dumped the rusted box onto the frozen ground outside their war tent. Metal crashed against ice with a loud, ugly rattle.

It was freezing. All around us the Neno Army camp was loud and restless… weapons clattering, soldiers shouting, the thick smell of wet fur, roasted meat, and cheap liquor hanging in the night air.

The war against the Northern wolves was coming. The army would march at dawn to hold the border, and everyone was wound tight, looking for something to hit.

Unfortunately for me, I was the easiest target in sight.

“Since when did they let wolfless Omegas come out to these fucking fields?” Torin stepped forward. His boots crushed the bloody snow as he looked down at me.

I wiped my bleeding palms against my tunic and tried to steady my breathing. The cold air burned in my lungs like glass. “Father sent me,” I said, keeping my voice as flat as I could. “He ordered the provisions brought straight to the front ranks.”

I had earned that position. I knew the supply routes better than most of the officers, knew exactly how much food and ammunition each division needed, and could spot a shortage before the soldiers ever noticed it. Father hadn’t put me in charge because he pitied me. He had done it because I was good at it.

“Father sent you?” Jax scoffed. He leaned against the wooden beam of the tent with a mean grin and spat a thick glob of phlegm into the slush near my boot. “This field is for real wolves, Asher. For soldiers who actually have a beast under their skin. Not for wolfless daddy’s boys who get tucked into bed while the rest of us bleed to keep this pack alive.”

I closed my eyes for half a second and forced a slow breath down. I had heard it all a thousand times. Wolfless. Useless. Weak. Ever since King Alpha Xorax of the West tore my wolf spirit out of me as a baby, leaving me empty. My brothers had treated me like a stain on the bloodline.

They weren’t all cruel for the same reason. Torin enjoyed having someone weaker to torment. Jax hated that Father trusted my judgment. Kael’s hatred was quieter and more personal, sharpened by every time Father defended me. Vane usually followed whoever held the most power. And Brant… Brant watched. He rarely said much, but whenever he did, I had learned to listen.

“I’m just doing what I was told,” I muttered, turning to walk back toward the supply wagons. “Eat the damn rations or starve. I don’t care either way.”

“Listen to this little bitch,” Torin barked. He stepped into my path and shoved his chest hard against mine. “Walking around here like he owns the place just because Father lets him sit at the high table.”

“Father put me in charge of the provisions because he trusts me more than his own soldiers,” I snapped. I knew the moment the words left my mouth that I’d pushed too far. But I was tired of swallowing every insult they threw at me. 

The air went still.

SMACK.

Kael’s hand shot out and cracked across my face with the force of a wooden plank. The impact lifted me off my feet and sent me crashing sideways into the frozen mud. My head bounced against the hard ground. The world spun into a blur of white and red. The sharp taste of copper filled my mouth as my lip split open.

“You talk too much, you little shit,” Kael hissed, stepping over me. His shadow blocked out the torchlight. “Father isn’t out here right now to hide your pathetic ass behind his cloak.”

I scrambled backward in the mud, gasping, trying to push myself up on hands that wouldn’t stop shaking from the cold and the shock.

Jax’s boot caught me square in the ribs. The air left my lungs in a painful rush and I collapsed onto my stomach, coughing blood into the snow.

“You need to learn to shut your bloody mouth,” Jax sneered. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back until my neck screamed. “Look at you. Pathetic. You can’t even heal a scratch on your own. You’re a disgrace to the bloodline.”

“Let go of me, you crazy bastard!” I choked, clawing at his wrist.

“Or what?” Torin laughed and kicked my arm out from under me so I slammed flat into the slush again. “You gonna run crying to daddy? Tell him your big bad Alpha brothers were mean to you?”

I gritted my teeth. Blood dripped from my chin onto the white snow. If I stayed here they would break every bone in my body just to pass the time before the morning war bell. I needed to get up. I needed to scream for the camp guards, for anyone who still feared Alpha Akoon’s anger enough to step in.

I opened my mouth and forced every bit of air I had left into one word.

“FATH…”

Before the rest of the name could leave my throat, two heavy figures stepped out of the shadows behind the supply tent.

Vane and Brant. The fourth and fifth brothers.

Vane moved fast for a man his size. Before I could scramble away, his large hand clamped around my jaw like a vise, crushing my cheeks inward until my teeth cut into the inside of my mouth. My breath caught in my throat.

“No one is coming to save you, you weak peasant,” Vane whispered against my ear. His breath stank of cheap ale. He squeezed harder, forcing my mouth shut until I couldn’t even make a sound.

Brant stepped forward and looked down at me with a cold, empty expression. He tossed a heavy leather pouch from one hand to the other. The distinct clink of gold coins cut through the quiet night air. He glanced past me toward Kael, a twisted smile pulling at his mouth.

“The old man is gonna be gone at the regional summit for at least three days,” Brant said quietly. 

Something about Brant’s words made my stomach twist. He wasn’t surprised Father would be gone. He had known. And somehow, that frightened me more than the knife I could already see glinting beneath Kael’s coat.

 “What the fuck do we do with this useless peasant now?” 

I thrashed against Vane’s grip, but without a wolf my strength meant nothing against an Alpha’s pure muscle. I was at their mercy.

Kael looked down at me. His eyes were dark, unreadable, and completely empty of anything that looked like brotherhood. He spat onto my bloodstained cheek. His voice dropped to a low growl that froze the blood in my veins.

“Kill him.”