Alle Kapitel von Beneath the Alpha’s Mark: Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 10

The Blackridge Pack did not believe in mercy.It believed in strength, hierarchy, and bloodlines that determined whether you were destined to rule—or to kneel.I learned early where I belonged.At the bottom.My name was Lira.An omega.And in Blackridge, that meant I was less than nothing.“Move faster!”The shout cracked through the early morning air as I knelt beside the riverbank, scrubbing the heavy stone bowls used by the warriors after training. Cold water soaked through my sleeves, numbing my fingers until I could barely feel them.Beta Kael stood behind me, arms crossed, impatience carved into every line of his face.“You’re slow today,” he added, like it was my fault my body hadn’t learned how to be invisible fast enough.“I’m almost done,” I said quietly.A mistake.His boot slammed into the bucket beside me.Water exploded outward, soaking my clothes completely.Laughter erupted from the warriors nearby.I didn’t react.That was the rule I had learned to survive by—never r

They didn’t take me back to the courtyard.They took me to a cell.Not a dungeon—at least not officially. But it might as well have been.Stone walls. Iron door. A single narrow window high above that let in a thin strip of daylight that never stayed long enough to matter.I stood in the center of the room, arms folded tightly around myself.Waiting.For what, I didn’t know.The silence pressed against my ears until it felt like it had weight.Then the door opened.I didn’t turn immediately.I already knew who it was.The air changed before footsteps even followed.Alpha Kael Draven entered without announcement, without escort, without hesitation.Just him.The door closed behind him.Click.The sound felt final.My stomach tightened.“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I said immediately, turning to face him. My voice came out sharper than I intended. Fear always disguised itself as anger when it had nowhere to go.Kael didn’t respond right away.He studied me instead.Not like a prisoner.

The moment Alpha Kael reached me, the world changed again.Not outwardly.Inside me.The air felt heavier, tighter—like something unseen had just locked into place.He stopped directly in front of me.Close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off him, sharp and controlled even in the middle of chaos.Behind him, the battlefield still burned.Rogues still fought.Wolves still shouted.But none of it reached me properly anymore.Only him.Kael’s eyes flicked once to my arm.Then to my face.“You should not be here,” he said.I let out a shaky breath that almost sounded like a laugh. “I didn’t exactly choose it.”A rogue lunged somewhere behind him.He didn’t even turn.He moved.One strike.The sound of impact.Silence again.Then his attention was back on me like nothing had happened.That should have terrified me more than anything.Instead, I felt it.The pull.Stronger now that he was this close.It wasn’t just pain anymore.It was awareness.Like something inside me had fin

The forest did not sleep.Neither did I.Kael set up camp without ceremony. No fire at first, no comfort, no attempt to soften the reality of where we were. Just survival.He moved like someone used to war—efficient, silent, always calculating the next threat before it arrived.I watched him from a few steps away as he drew a perimeter line in the soil, marking boundaries only he seemed to understand.“You’re drawing circles like that will stop rogues from appearing out of nowhere,” I muttered.Kael didn’t look up. “It won’t stop them.”“Comforting.”“It will delay them.”“That’s worse.”Only then did his eyes flick briefly toward me.A pause.Then he returned to his work.I exhaled slowly and sat on a fallen log nearby. My arms folded tightly across my chest, partly from cold, partly from the lingering tension that never fully left my body anymore.The mark on my arm was quiet now.Too quiet.That silence felt suspicious.Like something holding its breath again.The wind shifted thro

Kael did not sleep.I learned that within the first hour of nightfall.The forest had gone fully dark now, the kind of darkness that didn’t just cover things—it swallowed them. Even the wind seemed quieter, like it understood it wasn’t welcome.Kael sat a few steps away from me, back straight, eyes open, scanning the tree line in slow, controlled intervals.Always alert.Always waiting.I shifted slightly on the log, pulling his cloak tighter around my shoulders. It still carried his scent—sharp cedar, something metallic underneath, something distinctly him that I didn’t have a name for.My body reacted to it anyway.That part irritated me more than anything.“You’re not going to sleep?” I asked quietly.Kael didn’t look at me. “No.”“That sounds unhealthy.”Silence.Then: “It is necessary.”I exhaled slowly. “Everything you do is ‘necessary.’ Do you ever just… rest?”His gaze flicked toward me briefly.“I rest when there is no threat.”“Then you basically never rest,” I muttered.Tha