Claimed by the Alpha King's Enemy

*Chapter 1: The Blood Moon’s Price*

The iron gate slammed shut behind me with a sound that echoed like a death sentence.

Cold air hit my lungs. The scent of pine, blood, and something older, wilder, filled the night.

I was standing inside the territory of the Moretti Pack. The most feared werewolf mafia in the country. And I was here because they dragged me here.

“Keep moving, wolfless,” one of the guards snarled, shoving me forward. 

Wolfless. That word again. Like a brand on my skin. 

For twenty years, I’d lived as human. No wolf. No pack. No family. My mother told me it was safer that way. That if the Moretti’s ever found out who I really was, they’d kill me before I could breathe.

She was right.

“Alpha’s waiting,” the guard muttered. “Don’t waste his time. He hates wasting time.”

Hate. That was all I felt too.

The doors to the main hall opened, and the smell hit me first—cedar, smoke, and power. Then I saw him.

Lucien Moretti.

Alpha King of the Northern Territories. The man who slaughtered my father. The man who burned my pack to the ground when I was five years old.

He sat on a throne of black stone like he owned the night itself. Tall, broad-shouldered, with eyes like molten silver. A scar cut across his jaw, and his jaw was clenched like he was holding back violence.

His gaze locked onto mine, and the air in the room shifted.

“Step forward,” he said. His voice was low, dangerous, the kind of voice that made people kneel without realizing it.

I didn’t move.

His lips curled. “I don’t repeat myself.”

“I’m not one of your wolves,” I said, my voice steady even though my hands were shaking. “You have no authority over me.”

A low growl rippled through the room.

Lucien stood. The motion was slow, deliberate, predatory. He walked down the three steps of his dais until he was standing in front of me. Close enough that I could see the gold flecks in his eyes. Close enough that I could smell him—danger and cedar and something that made my traitorous body react.

He reached out and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up at him.

“You’re lying,” he said quietly. 

“What?”

“The moment you stepped into this hall, the bond snapped into place.” His thumb brushed over my skin, and pain shot through my chest like lightning. “You’re my mate, Aria Blackwood. The lost daughter of the Lycan King. And you’ve been hiding from me for twenty years.”

My blood turned to ice.

“No,” I whispered. “That’s impossible.”

Lucien smiled, but there was no warmth in it. Only rage.

“Nothing’s impossible, little wolf. And now that I have you… you’re not going anywhere.”

Outside, the moon turned red.

The Blood Moon had risen. And with it, my nightmare began.

Lucien’s grip on my chin tightened, but not enough to hurt. His eyes searched mine, like he was looking for the little girl he’d been told about in stories.

“You think I don’t know what it cost you to hide?” he murmured. “Your mother kept you away from everything. From your wolf. From your name.”

My breath hitched. How did he know about my mother?

“She died protecting that secret,” he continued, voice colder now. “And I intend to find out why.”

I jerked back, breaking his hold. “Don’t say her name.”

“She was a traitor to my pack,” he said flatly. “But you… you’re different.”

Different. The word echoed in my head. I’d been called wolfless my whole life. Now suddenly I was different?

A horn blew outside, sharp and urgent. Lucien’s expression darkened instantly.

“We’re not done here,” he said. “But duty calls.”

Two guards rushed in. “Alpha, the eastern border—rogues. They’re attacking.”

Lucien didn’t even look at me as he turned away. “Lock her in the west tower. No one speaks to her. No one touches her. She’s mine.”

Mine. 

The word followed me as they dragged me away, my heart pounding against my ribs. I didn’t know what terrified me more—the man who claimed me, or the bond inside me that was screaming that he was right.

The tower door slammed shut, and I was alone with the truth I’d spent my life running from.

I was a Blackwood. And the Blood Moon had just begun.