Claimed by five ruthless Alphas

Willow's pov

“You will get your answers,” my mother said, eyes fixed on the road. “Once you finish your studies at Blackfang Academy.”

I scoffed. “You’ve been saying that.” 

So many times that I didn't believe it anymore. 

I stared out the window, fingers curled tight around the strap of my bag.

“This time, I mean it,” she said

 My wolf stirred under my skin, restless, impatient, unfamiliar in a way that still made my chest tighten. 

Three days ago, I’d woken up with heightened senses, a burning ache in my veins, and a truth I hadn’t been allowed to know for eighteen years.

I wasn’t human. I wasn't an orphan either. The woman I had been living with, who I had served for eighteen years, was my mother. 

When she told me I was a princess, I found it hard to believe. 

“You told me I was nothing. Nobody.” I muttered, my chest squeezed in pain as the memory resurfaced. “You told me I had no family! No past. Just… lucky you found me.”

Her grip tightened on the steering wheel. She turned back to look at me, a flash of hurt crossed her face. I would be a fool to believe it. “I never said you were nothing.”

“You didn’t have to.” I crossed my arms around my chest. “You made sure I felt it.”

“Willow! Everything I did was to keep you alive.”

“You gave me food. A roof. Education,” I said. “But don’t pretend you gave me love. Love doesn’t feel like this.”

The silence that stretched between us after was awkward. 

My mother, Queen Maelira, had always been composed. She had the perfect posture. Perfect voice. 

I didn't look anything like her. 

But we shared some physical features, like we had the same silver-white hair with sharp cheekbones, which I didn't notice earlier. 

She raised me with tutors, lessons, and rules, but never warmth. Never affection. Now she wanted me to believe every sacrifice had been for me.

Love is not pain. It is not silence. It is not being shaped into something useful.

“You’re angry,” she said after a moment.

I let out a hollow laugh. “I’m furious.”

She stopped the car and glanced at me  “You are alive because of the choices I made.”

“And I was alone because of them.”

She sighed. Her jaw tightened. “You don’t understand what was at stake.”

“Then explain it,” I snapped. “Explain why you hid the truth. Why you waited until my wolf awakened to tell me I’m your daughter. Why you looked me in the eye and told me to choose between marrying a stranger or disappearing into an academy full of wolves who would tear me apart if they knew who I was.”

Their names were imprinted in my memory. Zandro, Lucien, Nyx, Ronan, Alaric. They were all Alphas. 

“Willow.” She said my name like a warning. 

“I chose the academy,” I continued. “Not because I trust you. But because I want answers. And when I finish Blackfang...” I glared at her now. “...you will tell me everything. Or I will make sure the entire kingdom learns who you really are.”

The car slowed.

For a moment, I thought she might stop entirely.

Then she laughed. It sounded empty. “You have always been stubborn.”

“I learned from the best.”

An unreadable smile touched her lips. “You are stronger than you think.”

I swallowed. “Then stop treating me like I’m fragile.”

The gates of Blackfang Academy rose ahead of us. Power hummed in the air, heavy enough that my wolf pressed closer to the surface, bristling.

This place wasn’t a school. It was a battleground.

“Your name is Amber now,” my mother said as the car rolled to a stop, reciting the rules she had told me countless times. “No one must know you are a princess. You keep your head down.”

“I know,” I grunted. 

“You will not provoke alphas.”

“Mom.”

“You will not draw attention.”

I looked at her. “That won't be hard. I’ve been invisible my entire life.”

She studied me then, like someone measuring a blade she’d forged and locked away too long. “You are not to form bonds.”

That made my chest ache. “You don’t get to tell me what I feel anymore.”

Her eyes hardened. “This is not a request.”

I opened the door before she could say anything else. Cold air rushed in.

My scent…wolf…spilled into the open space like a confession. 

I flinched, instinctively pulling my jacket tighter.

As I stepped out, my mother spoke again. “Complete your studies. Survive Blackfang. And I will give you the truth.”

I paused. “If you lie to me again…”

She met my gaze. “Then you will burn the world down.”

I shut the door and walked away before she could see my hands shaking.

The moment I crossed the gates, I felt it, hundreds of wolves layered over one another, dominance pressing from every direction. 

Alphas. Betas. Heirs. Pack leaders in the making. 

I lowered my gaze.

Staying invisible. That was the goal.

My admission papers were clutched against my chest, the name Amber was stamped cleanly across the top. 

No one here knew who I was. No one here could use me.

At least, that was the plan.

I moved through the crowd carefully, aware of my steps, my breathing, my scent. 

My wolf paced inside me, agitated by the proximity of so many others. 

“Watch where you’re going.” The voice came out of nowhere.

I raised my head late.

I slammed into a solid chest, the impact knocking the breath from my lungs.

The books on my hands scattered across the stone path.

“I...sorry,” I said automatically, bending to grab them.

My breath seized the moment my eyes met his. Alpha Zandro. 

A pressure so sharp it stole the air from my chest.

Heat flared beneath my skin. My wolf surged forward.

Zandro froze, his body going rigid like he’d hit an invisible wall.

The air snapped.

I looked up.

He was tall…broad shoulders stretching his black uniform, dark hair falling into storm-grey eyes that were now locked on mine. 

Blazing with anger.

His wolf pushed forward aggressively, raw power pressing against mine like a challenge. 

My instincts screamed at me to submit.

I didn’t.

His eyes darkened.

“What,” he said slowly, voice low and dangerous, “are you?”

My heart pounded. I should have apologized. I should have looked away. But I didn’t.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I said, breathless but steady.