All Chapters of Claimed by the Alpha, Desired by His Blood: Chapter 1 - Chapter 6

The silver tray trembled in my hands as I climbed the stairs to Alpha Zane’s chambers. Bananas. Water. Fresh towels. The usual post-sex amenities he demanded whenever he entertained his women—which was often enough that I’d memorized the routine by heart. My heart shouldn’t have clenched anymore. After eight years of serving in this pack house, I should have been numb to it. But some foolish part of me—the girl who’d watched him save my dying pack when I was fourteen, who’d built him into a god in her mind—still ached every time I delivered this particular tray. Pathetic, I told myself, the word as familiar as my own name. I knocked once, then another time. No answer. Standard procedure when the Alpha was… occupied… was to leave the tray outside. But Head Servant Geraldine’s voice echoed in my skull: “He wants it brought in immediately. Don’t make me repeat myself, fat thing.” I pushed the door open. The scent hit me first, sex and sweat and the cloying fragrance of what

I had three days to decide my fate. Three days to either sign the contract and become Alpha Zane’s breeding vessel, or refuse and face whatever “consequences” he’d promised. The choice should have been easy. Sign, survive, escape later. But every time I picked up the pen, my hand trembled so violently I couldn’t form the letters of my name. Because signing meant surrendering the last shred of dignity I had left. It meant admitting that all those years of worship, of foolish daydreams where he’d see me and soften, where he’d realize I was more than just a piece of furniture occupying space—all of it had been a lie I’d told myself to survive. The contract sat on the small table in my quarters, mocking me with its neat language: The Luna will bear the Alpha one male heir. Upon the child’s second birthday, the Luna will relinquish all parental rights and titles. The Luna will receive a settlement of 50,000 silver marks and safe passage to any territory of her choosing. F

The great hall had been transformed. White flowers draped every surface—lilies and roses that filled the air with a cloying sweetness that made my stomach turn. Candles flickered in ornate holders, casting dancing shadows across the faces of the pack members who’d gathered to witness this farce. A wedding. A celebration. Except no one was celebrating. The wolves watched with neutral expressions as I walked down the aisle, my hand gripping the arm of Beta Ezra since I had no family to give me away. The white dress they’d forced me into was beautiful—silk and lace but it felt like a burial shroud. At the end of the aisle stood Alpha Zane. He looked devastating in his formal Alpha attire: black suit that emphasized his broad shoulders, his dark hair swept back to reveal those cold, perfect features. He could have been a groom from a fairytale. Except fairytale grooms didn’t look at their brides with thinly veiled contempt. His eyes swept over me once as I approached, find