All Chapters of THE ALPHA’S BRUTAL CLAIM: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

LYRAThe first thing I noticed was his smell — pine, cold night air, and something metal and wild in the back of my throat. It was the smell of my defeat. It was his."Behold, little wolf. Shadowfen will be your new home. It's nothing like the ruins of the place you lost."He bent forward and whispered very softly, just to me, against my ear. I did not look at him. I maintained my stare on the dark fortress before us. "A prison is a prison no matter what you call it. And I am not your 'little wolf.'"He emitted a harsh, humorless laugh and spurred his big horse closer until his leg brushed mine. Heat scorched me, painful and unwelcome. "Oh, but you are. You just don't know it yet. You carry the scent of my victory on you now. And it intoxicates."His eyes were heavy, crawling over me like a rough caress. I flinched, my skin warming where his gaze lingered. "You're a monster.""I am an Alpha. And you are my prize. Learn the difference. It will make your life here much easier."The cour

LYRAHis promise was a poison running through my blood. “Each rebellious throb you provide. I will relish. Each and every one of them. Until you break.” The words coiled around my pain, a fatal whisper that drove me to pace inside the golden cage. Break? He thought I would break? He'd taken my father, my home, my future. He would not take my soul. He would not relish anything but my dagger in his chest. I swore it on my father's grave.I was standing at the bar window, the moonlit courtyard tease. Freedom burned my soul. He would be looking forward to tears. He would be looking forward to cowering. He would not expect me to fight back so soon."Every pulse of my heart…" I breathed into silence, my voice raw. "You want them? Come and take them, you beast son of a bitch. But I promise you, the last one will be yours."Early the next morning, there was a creak on the door. It was the same servant-maid who entered, head lowered, full of that same unspoken fear I was learning to know. This

KAELSilence is a weapon, and it's cutting sharper than any knife right now. This room's fire crackles, but loudest of all is her… the sound of her anger, the heat of her skin under my hand, the taste of her hatred and something more, something that's just… her. It's ringing in my head, tugging at me when I can least afford it. Not with Roric standing there, smelling of impatience and old leather.He slams a red marker on the map. “The scouts are back. Silvermane’s testing our borders. They’re getting bold.”I don’t look at the marker. I’m stuck on the memory of her jawline… the sharp angle of it, how it felt like fine steel under my thumb. “Expected. Silvermane’s just the claws. Not the brain.”“It’s Isolde’s doing,” Roric grunts, his voice like grinding stones. “She’s using them to see if you’re distracted. If we’re weak from Ravengarde.”Distracted. The word strikes me like a blow because it's true. She's in my mind when I close my eyes… silver eyes flashing on a face streaked with

KAELThe door shuts behind her and the atmosphere in my chambers shifts. It grows thicker, charged. I feel her before I even turn… a pull in my blood, a wild, angry strength that is just… Lyra. She's standing there, and I can feel her silver eyes on my back, tracing the scars there, each one a story, a failure, a lesson. I let her look. I let the silence between us grow, a test, the first of many tonight. She's the one who breaks it, of course she is… her voice flat and firm, a shield she thinks can protect her."You wanted to see me?"I turn slowly, making sure she gets a good view of everything that I am, the firelight traveling over old scars and spare muscle. I want her to see the man, not the Alpha… real flesh and blood. In my hand, I hold the dagger, the obsidian wolf carved into the hilt, the steel catching what little light there is. It's a part of my will, my history. I hold it out to her, hilt forward… an offer, an appeal, a confession maybe, a death wish maybe. I don't know

LYRAThe quiet down here is another sort of heavy. It isn't like the silence in my room. It is alive… thick, cold, and pressing in on all sides. He stands beside the black water, a towering shadow in the flickering light of the torches, not moving, not speaking. My heart is racing too fast, too loudly in the resonating darkness.The guard's voice is rough and deep. "Alpha. I've brought her."He bows and leaves, his footsteps echoing up the spiral staircase. And then it's us. We're alone. Just we two. Just the drip-drip-drip of water, the hiss of flame, and the air between us that is almost palpable… charged and waiting. I must talk. Or else I'll scream."You called for me, Alpha?" I say, weighting the title with as much cold contempt as I can muster. It's a thin shield against the raw, unsettling power of this place… and of him.He doesn’t turn. His eyes stay on the pool like it holds every answer. “I did.” His voice is low, a vibration that moves through the stone floor and into my b