The Alpha's Broken Pet

Vanessa

They killed my father. Stole our pack. And turned me into their slave.

Now, I knelt on the same marble floors I once walked as a princess, scrubbing until my knuckles burned. The sharp sting of soap filled my nose, and cold water splashed across my cheeks.

“You’re wasting soap, rat.”

Laughter followed. Sue and Theresa, the two maids who only grew bold when the head maid wasn’t watching, hovered behind me with their usual smirks.

One bent low beside me. “Aww, Princess Vanessa. Are those tears I see?”

I didn’t answer.

“You think scrubbing harder will cleanse your filthy bloodline?” the other sneered.

She kicked the bucket. Soapy water spilled across the marble, soaking my skirt and knees.

“Please stop,” I said quietly. “I don't want trouble.”

“Too late. Trouble clings to you like fleas. If I were Alpha, I’d toss you into the dungeon and let the wild wolves chew your bones.”

I stayed silent. It was safer that way.

Let them believe I was broken. That I’d given up.

They thought I was weak.

They didn’t know I had a plan. One that required silence and swallowing every scream.

I was waiting for the right time to strike.

“Long live Alpha Alec!”

Cheers echoed through the halls as they crowned their new Alpha.

Alec Blackthorn.

The man who inherited a throne built on my father’s grave.

He’d been gone for six years. Trained with the Northern packs. Rumors claimed he was ruthless and strong enough to rip out a rogue’s throat with his bare teeth.

And now he was back.

To finish what his father started.

“Vanessa!” The head maid stormed in, balancing a tray of wine glasses. “Of all days to make a mess, why today?”

I pointed at Sue and Theresa. “They did it.”

She sighed, waved them off, then turned to me. “Get the Alpha’s chamber ready. And scrub hard.”

Of course, it had to be his room.

I didn’t argue. My hands throbbed from the chemicals, but pain was an old friend.

I climbed to the top floor. The west wing was silent. His chamber, untouched since his departure, was already spotless. I cleaned anyway, humming an old lullaby my mother used to sing.

Five minutes later, heavy boots echoed behind me.

I didn’t look up.

Then I smelled it.

Pine. Cedar. Earth.

My wolf stirred.

“Did you smell that?” Ellie whispered inside me.

I didn’t mean to inhale, but I did.

And froze.

My wolf arched beneath my skin. The brush slipped from my hand.

Heat flushed through me.

I knew this feeling.

I’d studied it in secret, reading every forbidden werewolf biology book I could find.

The mating bond.

I looked up.

A shadow loomed in the doorway.

“Stand up,” a voice said.

Alec Blackthorn.

The boy who watched my father die, now the man fate had tied me to.

His voice scraped over my skin like winter wind.

His face was sharper now. Coldly beautiful.

I remembered him at seventeen, standing beside his father, watching as my father’s head hit the floor.

And now, he was my mate.

“Who are you?”

He stepped closer, scenting the air near my throat. My wolf whimpered. I backed away.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said softly. “I won’t hurt you.”

My heart thundered.

“What rank are you?” he asked, eyes narrowing. “You wear Omega clothes, but your aura—”

His gaze locked on mine.

“What’s your name?”

No point lying. Everyone here knew.

“Vanessa,” I said. “Vanessa Hunter.”

He recoiled like I’d struck him.

“Hunter?” His voice rasped. “Valen Hunter’s daughter?”

“Yes, Alpha.”

His expression darkened. Desire evaporated, replaced by rage.

“How dare you?” he snapped. “Who let you into my house? Why are you alive?”

His house. That’s what he called it now? The palace built on my father’s blood?

I stayed calm. Rage could destroy years of careful planning.

“How long have you been here?” he demanded.

“Since I was born,” I said quietly.

“Don’t play games with me. Answer the damn question.”

“I’ve been a servant since the day my father was murdered.”

He turned away like my words physically hurt him.

Ellie howled inside me, aching for the bond.

“He’s ours. Claim him.”

His wolf pushed forward too. His hand brushed my cheek, fingers curling into my braid.

“If you’d died with your father,” he whispered, “this cursed bond wouldn’t exist.”

His chest rose and fell. He could barely contain his fury.

Then his eyes dropped to my lips.

He leaned in.

I hated that part of me that waited for it.

Footsteps echoed.

He pulled back like he’d been burned.

“Get out,” he growled.

I didn’t bow.

I walked out and nearly collided with a servant in the hallway.

At the bottom of the stairs stood a woman.

Pregnant and glowing.

Alec’s fiancée.

She looked like everything I wasn’t allowed to be.

I pushed through the doors and ran outside.

The cold slapped me. The bond strangled me.

I didn’t ask for this.

But fate didn’t care.

It screamed for my mate.

My enemy.

And in the darkest part of me, I wanted to bury a blade in his chest.

But could I?

Could I really kill the one the moon chose for me?