Bury my name, Alpha

The scent of gold, velvet, and something intensely intoxicating—like pine needles after a heavy storm—was the first thing that drifted into my consciousness.

Slowly, the heavy fog in my mind began to lift. I opened my eyes, blinking against the warm, amber glow of a massive crystal chandelier hanging from a vaulted ceiling. I wasn't in the damp, freezing dirt of the Timberwolf Den anymore. I wasn't suffocating.

I tried to sit up, but a sharp, agonizing burst of pain ripped through my torso, forcing a ragged groan from my throat. I sank back into the mattress, panting heavily. The bed beneath me was enormous, draped in silk sheets that felt like liquid gold against my skin. Carefully, I peeled back the edge of the blanket and looked down. My breath hitched.

Bandages wrapped tightly around my arms, chest, and stomach, but through the white gauze, the jagged, angry lines of deep claw marks were still visible. The memory hit me like a physical blow. The kitchen. My parents' mocking laughter. The truth of my adoption. Aliyah’s smug smirk. And Alpha Kane—the man I had spent a grueling, sleepless month nursing back to health—wrapping his massive hand around my neck, squeezing the life out of me, and ordering his guards to bury me alive.

A sob escaped my lips, hot and bitter. The sheer injustice of it all burned in my chest. I had given everything to that family, to that pack, and they had discarded me like worthless trash, leaving me to rot in the most lethal territory in the region. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes, tracking through the dried blood on my cheeks.

The heavy oak doors of the room swung open. My muscles locked in instant panic, and I frantically tried to scramble backward against the headboard, ignoring the tearing pain in my wounds.

A man stepped into the room.

My heart stopped. It was him. The savior from the Timberwolf Den. The stranger who had cut through Alpha Kane’s guards in a blur of terrifying, effortless violence.

He didn't just walk into the room; he commanded it. His presence was suffocatingly powerful, heavy with a dark, ancient Alpha aura that made the very air vibrate. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a sharp, devastatingly handsome jawline. His dark eyes locked onto mine—cold, intense, and calculating.

"You're awake," he said. His voice was a deep, rumbling baritone that sent a strange shiver down my spine.

"Who... who are you?" I whispered, my voice raw and cracking. "Where am I?

He stopped at the edge of the bed, crossing his arms as he looked down at me. A faint, humorless smirk touched his lips. "It's funny that you don't know who I am. You really don't recognize the most powerful Alpha alive? The one who rules over hundreds of packs? I am Alpha Maximus."

He stepped closer, his shadow completely enveloping me. His gaze dropped to the thick bandages covering my body, his expression hardening. "Tell me. What happened to you? Why did those guards do that to you? Who dared to leave you to die in the Timberwolf Den?"

Hearing him mention the guards and the executioners sent a jolt of panic through my chest. If I told him the truth, if I told him I belonged to the Silver Blood Pack, he would look into them. He might send me back, or use me as a political pawn, or worse, my adoptive family would find out I survived and finish the job. Images of Kane, Aliyah, and my adoptive parents flashed through my mind, fueling a sudden, white-hot wave of hatred. I didn't want to go back. I refused to let them find me. I wanted that life completely erased.

I forced my expression into one of blank, terrified confusion, letting fresh tears pool in my eyes. "I... I don't know what happened. I don't know who did this to me."

His eyebrows knitted together, his dark eyes narrowing as he stepped closer, leaning over the bed. The sheer weight of his gaze was paralyzing. "Are you playing games with me, little wolf? Do you really have amnesia?"

"I don't know," I lied, my heart hammering against my ribs, hoping he couldn't hear the frantic rhythm. "I don't remember anything. I don't know who I am. I don't remember what happened to me. Everything is just blank."

He stared at me for a long, agonizing moment, searching my face for any sign of deception. Finally, he straightened up, exhaling a sharp breath. "Well, it doesn't matter anymore. What matters the most is that you are my mate. I found you. You belong to me."

My jaw dropped. Mate? The supreme ruler of hundreds of packs was my true mate?

"Do you remember your name?" he demanded dominantly, his voice leaving no room for argument.

"No," I whispered honestly, eager to drop the identity that had brought me nothing but pain.

"Lila," he declared, his voice ringing with absolute authority. "Your name is Lila now."

I swallowed hard, nodding slowly. Accepting the name felt like shedding a skin. Vida, the ungrateful stray and glorified servant of the Silver Blood Pack, was dead. She had died in the dirt of the Timberwolf Den. "Okay. Lila... Thank you for saving me."

"I had to," he replied smoothly, a possessive glint in his eyes. "You are my mate. And from now on, no one dares to hurt or touch you."

Before I could process the gravity of his words, the door clicked open again. A man dressed in long, pale robes stepped into the room, carrying a tray of medical supplies. He was an older wolf, his face etched with permanent lines of arrogance. The moment his eyes landed on me, his expression twisted into blatant disgust. He looked at me as if I were a plague rat defiling his clean sanctuary.

He set the tray down roughly and began checking my pulse, his grip unnecessarily tight and cold. He turned his back to me, addressing the Alpha with an annoyed, dismissive sigh.

"Alpha Maximus," the healer said, his voice dripping with condescension. "Why did you bring this creature inside the Apex? I highly doubt her intentions. She looks like nothing but a filthy opportunist who dragged herself into our territory to catch your attention."

"Watch your tongue, Kenneth," Maximus warned, his voice dropping into a dangerously low register.

But the healer, blinded by his own arrogance, didn't stop. He scoffed, pointing a finger at me. "An Alpha like you—the most powerful being alive—cannot possibly be matched with a homeless, broken woman. Look at her. She is trash. Be careful, Alpha. She is likely a spy or a parasite trying to leach off your crown."

A spark of the rage that had consumed me in the kitchen flared back to life. I wasn't going to sit here and be insulted again.

"I am not a parasite!" I snapped, my voice shaking with anger. "I didn't ask to be brought here!"

"Silence, stray!" Kenneth barked, turning to glare at me. "You do not speak in the presence of—"

He never finished the sentence.

In a fraction of a second, the air in the room shattered. Maximus moved with a terrifying, supernatural speed that the human eye could barely register. There was a sickening crunch, followed by a horrific, wet tearing sound.

Blood sprayed across the golden silk sheets.

I gasped, my eyes widening in sheer, unadulterated horror. Kenneth’s headless body stumbled forward a single step before collapsing heavily onto the floor, blood pooling rapidly into the plush rug.

Alpha Maximus stood over the corpse, entirely unbothered. In his large, powerful hand, he held Kenneth’s severed head by the hair, blood dripping steadily from the ragged neck. The cold, ruthless dominance radiating from him was absolute.

He didn't look at the body. Instead, he turned his dark, intense gaze directly to me. He raised the severed head slightly, holding it like a grim trophy, his voice echoing through the room with a lethal, terrifying promise.

"This is the price of disrespecting my mate."

"Anyone who dares to touch or insult you will face their death," he said, looking dead into my eyes.

I sat frozen, my breath trapped in my throat. My heart was racing so hard I could hear it pounding in my ears. I should have been screaming.  I should have been terrified of the monster standing in front of me.

But as I looked at the blood on his hands, and then into his fiercely  eyes, a strange, dark thrill bloomed deep within my chest. For the first time in my entire life, someone had stood up for me.  He had spilled blood just to protect my dignity.