To Tame The Monster Alpha

Aliyana’s POVI couldn’t breathe.The Alpha’s words landed like a physical blow, knocking the air out of my lungs.“You will marry me,” he said.Me?My throat constricted as if invisible fingers were closing around it. My lungs wouldn’t obey. I dragged in shallow, shaky breaths that made me lightheaded. When I said I’d do anything to shield my sister from her fate, I hadn’t meant inheriting it. I hadn’t meant standing here, trembling before a man like him.I turned desperately to my father, my eyes stinging. He looked as stunned as I was, paralyzed, jaw slack, no words forming.I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again. Nothing came out the first time. The second time I forced words through the tightness strangling my chest.“I— I’m sorry, what do you mean?” My voice cracked. It was barely a whisper, yet somehow too loud in the heavy silence.Alpha Nolan smiled like I’d amused him. He spread his arms, his black eyes never wavering from mine. “Looks like my bride is standing right

Nolan’s POVAliyana Hastings thought she hated me. That much was obvious in the fire that burned in her eyes when she told me she would kill me. I had heard those words more times than I could count, but never from lips so soft, never with a voice that trembled as though she almost believed herself capable.Wanting to kill a man and having the strength to do it were two very different things. Aliyana didn’t yet understand that.She thought I was a monster. She was not wrong.I’ve been called worse since I was a boy. Some names carved themselves into your bones until you no longer knew where the insult ended and you began. Monster was one of those names. I embraced it. Monsters survived. Saints bled out in the gutter.My mother was a bit like her sister. I watched her kindness rot inside her body while my father grew fat on blood and fear. I swore I’d never be like her. I swore I’d never be weak.And so, I became what the world needed me to be. The nightmare they whispered about when t

Aliyana’s POVThe echo of their laughter still clung to me like smoke. No matter how many steps I put between myself and that courtyard, I could still hear the whispers. She’s not the one. She’s the wrong girl. Not beautiful enough. Not Luna enough.The fortress corridors swallowed me whole as I followed a pair of guards deeper inside. The air smelled of stone and iron, cold and sharp, like the bite of a blade. I hated how every step sounded like chains. Even though my wrists were free, I wasn’t free. The guards stopped at a tall set of double doors. One pushed them open, revealing a room so grand it almost mocked me. High arched ceilings carved with wolves and moons, velvet curtains heavy enough to drown a person, a bed so large it looked like it could swallow me alive.“This will be your chamber,” one guard announced without emotion. “The bride of Fangred deserves no less.”The words twisted inside me. Bride of Fangred. Not queen. Not partner. Bride. A title that felt like a colla

Aliyana’s POVThe vow still echoed in my chest the next morning. They will not break me.But vows were easier made in the dark. Harder to keep when daylight came with whispers and sharp stares that sliced like blades.Maren helped lace my gown, her fingers careful, her silence comforting. I could feel her eyes on me, curious, maybe even concerned, but she didn’t speak. I was grateful. Words were fragile things. Too many of them, and I might shatter.When she finally left, I stood before the mirror, staring at a stranger. My reflection wore silk the color of ashes, her hair braided back tight. But her eyes—my eyes—looked bruised with sleepless nights. I barely recognized myself.“Luke,” I whispered, and the name hurt like fresh glass in my throat. His smile haunted me, his voice, his promise that nothing could take me from him.But something had.And now I was trapped here, in a fortress that swallowed hope whole.The knock came just before midday. Sharp, demanding.When the doors open

Aliyana POVThe sun shone bright, lightening up the room. It was windy, the weather looked good but there was nothing good about this day. I was still stuck in this cage, everyday felt like a year had passed.It was harder being here, I had to keep muttering to myself every second of the day. “Don’t break, do it for Luke. Do it for yourself”That was the only thing that kept me going and it was getting harder everyday.Every time I prayed to the moon goddess, begging her to show me mercy or do some miracle that’ll help me escape the claws of Nolan but it never worked and I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands.A sharp knock was placed at the door, forcing me to get on my feets. I braised myself up, head held high, ready for whoever was going to walk through that door. There was no way I was letting them read me or see through my frustration. The doors opened and Maren walked in, her hair perfectly slicked to the back and packed tightly, dress straightened and clean with wha