ENEMY'S CLAIM:CLAIMED BY THE RUTHLESS ALPHA

TAMARA.

I knew something was wrong the moment I walked into the council chamber that morning. The elders were already seated around the long table, but none of them looked at ease. Their faces were serious, their hands folded in front of them, and the usual quiet conversations that filled the room before a council meeting were missing. No one had told me why I had been summoned. That alone was enough to make me suspicious.

I had barely taken my place in front of the council when my thoughts returned to what I had been told that morning. Alpha Atlas of Shadow Crescent was coming to Moonlight Pack. I had never met him, but I knew his name well. Everyone did. Shadow Crescent and Moonlight Pack had not seen eye to eye for years. Our packs had fought on opposite sides during the war, and although the fighting had ended, the hatred left behind had never completely disappeared.

So why was Alpha Atlas coming here now? And why had I been called into the council chamber before his arrival?

I looked around the room, searching the faces of the elders for an answer. They gave me none. Then Darius cleared his throat.

My eyes settled on him. He sat at the head of the table, the seat belonging to the Alpha. It still felt strange seeing him there. That seat had belonged to Valentine. My mate. The man whose death had left a hole in this pack that no one had been able to fill.

Darius had been Valentine's Beta. His most trusted second. After Valentine disappeared six months ago during a war and was presumed dead, Darius had taken the Alpha position. I had accepted it because there had been no one else. I had trusted him because Valentine had trusted him.

Now Darius looked at me with an expression I could not understand.

“Tamara,” he said, “there is something we need to discuss.”

I waited.

He hesitated for only a moment before dropping the bomb on me.

“You are going to become Alpha Atlas's mate.”

For several seconds, I simply stared at him. I wondered if I had misunderstood.

“What did you say?”

Darius held my gaze. “You heard me.”

“No.” I shook my head slowly. “I heard the words. I am asking whether you actually meant them.”

A heavy silence settled over the room.

Darius's jaw tightened. “You will mate Atlas, Tamara.”

I looked from him to the elders. Not one of them met my eyes.

That was when I understood. This was not a proposal. It was not even a discussion. The decision had already been made.

My hands slowly curled into fists at my sides.

“You are selling me to the enemy?”

Darius's expression hardened. “That is not what this is.”

“Then tell me what it is.”

“It is an alliance, Tamara.”

I frowned. “With my body?”

His eyes narrowed. “With your marriage.”

“And what's the difference?”

One of the elders shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

Darius leaned forward. “You know the condition our pack is in.”

I almost laughed, but there was nothing funny about this.

“Yes, I know.”

I knew about the empty storehouses. I knew some families had begun reducing their meals because there was not enough food to go around. I knew several smaller packs had stopped trading with us because they no longer trusted Moonlight Pack to protect its borders. I knew our warriors were exhausted. I knew we had lost too many during the war, to the point that smaller packs and even rogues now preyed on us. And I knew that the attacks along our borders had become more frequent.

But none of that explained why I had to become the enemy's mate.

“If this is an alliance,” I said carefully, “why does Alpha Atlas need me? There are other women in this pack. Women from powerful families. Women who could give him a political connection without tying him to Valentine's widow.”

This didn't make sense. Atlas and Valentine hated each other.

Darius looked away for a moment. When he finally answered, his voice was quieter.

“Because you are the one thing Alpha Atlas asked for, Tamara.”

The words settled heavily between us.

My stomach dropped.

“He asked for me?”

Darius said nothing.

I stared at him. “He specifically asked for me?”

“Yes,” Elder Bennet answered for him.

A cold feeling spread through me. So this had never been about peace. Atlas had not looked at Moonlight Pack and decided to help us out of goodwill. He had seen our weakness and attached a price to his assistance.

And the price was me.

“Why?” I asked.

Darius's face changed. “I don't know.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I am telling you what I know, Tamara.” His voice rose slightly.

I looked him in the eye. “No. You are telling me what you are willing to admit.”

His expression hardened. “Enough.”

I stepped closer to the table. “No, Darius. It's not enough. Valentine trusted you. When he went to war, he trusted you to protect this pack and the people he left behind. When he never came home, you took his place as the next Alpha because he had no heir. I stood beside you because I believed you were carrying out the responsibility he left in your hands.”

My voice shook, but I refused to let it break.

“And now you are handing me, his widow, to his archenemy?”

Darius stood. “You think I don't understand what this means?”

“Then don't do it.”

His face tightened with frustration. “You think I have a choice?”

“You are the Alpha.”

“I am the Alpha of a dying pack!” Darius slammed his palm on the table.

I jumped a little at the sound. The room went still.

Darius's voice had risen. “Do you know what I have been dealing with since Valentine died? We are running out of everything. Our warriors are exhausted. Three neighboring packs have stopped trading with us. We have lost territory along the eastern border, and every time we try to push the attackers back, we lose more men.”

He placed both hands against the table.

“Atlas controls the northern trade route. His pack has access to the things we need for this pack to keep going. His warriors are strong enough to protect the border while ours recover. Without his support, we may not survive another attack from those rogues.”

I listened without speaking.

“This is not a huge thing I'm asking of you, Tamara.” Darius looked directly at me. “I am asking you to save your people.”

Something inside me went quiet.

I looked at the elders again. They were still avoiding my eyes.

Before Darius could say anything else, the massive doors of the council chamber opened.

Every head turned.

A man walked through, and I knew him immediately.

Alpha Atlas.

He was taller than I had expected, dressed entirely in black, with a presence that seemed to change the room simply because he had entered it. His eyes moved across the council before settling on Darius. Then they found me.

He stopped.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

I had heard stories about him for years, even before I mated with Valentine. They called him the devil of Shadow Crescent. However, I knew him as the enemy. The man whose warriors had died by the hundreds during the war. The man who had never forgiven Moonlight Pack for what had happened.

Yet the man standing before me did not look at me with the rage I had expected.

His gaze moved slowly over my face. There was something unsettling in it. Recognition. Interest. And something that looked suspiciously like possession.

He began walking toward me.

Every instinct in me told me to step away. I didn't. I refused to give him that satisfaction.

He stopped directly in front of me. His eyes remained on mine.

Then the corner of his mouth lifted.

“Valentine's widow is this beautiful?” he murmured. “You don't say.”

“And here I thought the rumors were exaggerating.”

Anger rose in my chest, but I forced myself to remain still.

“I will not mate you,” I said simply.

His smile deepened.

“I would rather die than mate a devil like you,” I said, my voice shaking despite my effort to steady it.

Atlas studied me for a long moment. Then he gave a quiet, cold chuckle.

He did not argue. He did not threaten me. He didn't need to. Something in his expression told me he had already decided how this would end.

He turned toward Darius.

“The agreement stands.”

My heart sank.

Atlas looked back at me.

“She leaves with me tonight.”

And in that moment, I realized that the council had not summoned me to discuss my future. They had summoned me to tell me what had already been decided for me.