The Alpha’s Claiming Bite

The forest swallowed sounds whole. Lena Carter knew this, yet she still cursed under her breath when her boot snapped a twig. The noise echoed like gunshot in the silent pines. She froze, her pulse hammering against her throat as she scanned the shadows. Just the wind. Just -A low growl rumbled through the trees. Not the wind. Never the wind, she said. Her flashlight trembled in her grip as she swung it toward the sound. The beam caught golden eyes-high up, too high-glowing from the branches of an oak. "Oh God." The wolf dropped. It landed in a crouch, muscles coiled beneath a pelt so black it swallowed the light. Lena stumbled back, her heel catching a root. The wolf's muzzle wrinkled, revealing fangs longer than her fingerRun. She spun, but a second wolf emerged from the bush- then a third. They circled her, saliva dripping onto the fallen leaves. Then he appeared.Taller, broader, human. At least, he looked human until the moonlight hit his eyes. Gold, burning. "You're

Lena dreamed of fire again.Not the clean kind, not the kind that warmed hearths. This was wildfire—uncontrollable, devouring. It burned through her veins, dragging her down into shadows where golden eyes gleamed and a mouth full of sharp teeth traced her throat.She woke with a gasp, sheets tangled around her limbs, sweat slicking her skin. The cabin’s shutters had been thrown wide, letting in pale dawn light. Her lungs heaved as though she’d been running, and her pulse throbbed in the same rhythm as the bite that wasn’t there.Her hand flew to her neck. Smooth skin. But it wasn’t gone. It pulsed beneath her palm, a phantom brand, as if her body itself remembered his teeth.Mine.“No.” Her voice cracked in the empty room. She shoved the furs aside, planting her bare feet on the floor. The boards were cold, but even that bite of chill couldn’t cut through the fever that lingered under her skin.Every sound was sharper. The pop of the wood in the hearth. The distant caw of a crow. Even

The forest bit at her skin.Frost clung to Lena’s lashes, her breath spilling out in ragged white clouds as she stumbled through knee-deep snow. Her body ached from the trial, every bruise screaming, but Kade didn’t care.He was behind her, his presence heavy as iron, his voice sharp enough to cut the cold. “Again.”Her legs burned. She shoved forward, boots slipping on ice. A fallen branch snagged her cloak, dragging her back. She cursed, ripping free, chest heaving.Kade’s shadow fell over her. “Too slow.”She spun on him, fury sparking through exhaustion. “I’m human, remember? I don’t run like you.”Golden eyes narrowed. “Then stop running like prey.”The words struck harder than a slap. She bit them back, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing how they sank. But he already knew. His mouth curved, sharp and cruel.“Again.”Lena shoved past him, snow stinging her face. She hated him. She hated the fire curling low in her belly when his voice cracked through the air, hated t

The forest didn’t wake with birdsong that morning. It woke with howls.From the cabin, Lena heard them echo through the trees—long, low calls that rolled like thunder across the pines. The sound raised every hair on her arms, her bond-mark throbbing in time with the chorus. It wasn’t music. It was war-drum.When Kade opened the door, the world outside was sharp with cold, dawn light spilling blue over the snow. Wolves already filled the clearing—shifting, snarling, sharpening blades and teeth alike. Their breath steamed in the air, their voices low with anticipation.Lena pulled her borrowed cloak tighter, trying to look smaller. They hadn’t forgotten what Kade had said last night. Mate. The word still lingered in the air, poisonous for some, sacred for others.Now, as eyes flicked toward her, Lena saw only division. A few wolves dipped their heads in acknowledgment. More sneered. One spat on the ground.She forced herself not to flinch.Kade’s hand landed at the small of her back, a c

The blood had barely dried when the message reached every corner of Blackwood Keep. Ronan’s shadow emissary hadn’t spoken a single word—hadn’t needed to. The corpse left at the borders said everything. It had been a scout from their own ranks, ripped open and carved with a single word burned into the flesh: MINE.The pack was restless. The air inside the keep throbbed with unease, growls echoing through the stone halls like a low thunder that never broke. The scent of iron clung to every breath, seeping into the marrow of the walls, into the marrow of me.I walked behind Kade through the long corridor that led to the war chamber. His stride was a storm, heavy, lethal, every movement filled with a coiled violence that made the wolves who passed us press themselves against the stone, heads bowed, ears flattened. Even in silence, his fury was enough to choke the air.They looked at him, then at me. Their eyes didn’t linger on my face but dropped to the place where his bite burned in my s