Claimed by the Alpha

Maya

I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw those golden orbs staring at me through the blood-splattered glass. By morning, I'd almost convinced myself it was a trick of the arena lights. Eyes didn't just glow like that. And Liam Black definitely didn't notice girls who hid under bleachers.

The hallways of Millfield High buzzed with excitement about last night's victory. Everyone was talking about Liam's brutal takedown, about how he'd single-handedly crushed Riverside's chances. They called him a beast, a monster, a machine.

If only they knew how right they were.

I kept my head down as I navigated to my locker, hoping to blend into the crowd like always. My oversized sweater hung loose on my small frame, and my worn jeans had a hole near the left knee that I'd tried to hide with a patch. Nothing about me screamed "look at me," which was exactly how I liked it.

But today felt different. I couldn't shake the feeling that eyes were following me, watching from the shadows. Every time I turned around, though, there was nothing there.

"Well, well. Look what crawled out from under a rock."

My blood turned to ice. I knew that voice – sharp, cruel, and belonging to Jessica Martinez, Millfield's queen bee and Liam's on-and-off girlfriend. I slowly turned around to find her standing with her usual pack of followers, blocking my path to first period.

"I heard you were lurking around the rink last night," Jessica said, her glossy lips curving into a predatory smile. "What's the matter, Maya? Couldn't afford a ticket like everyone else?"

Heat flooded my cheeks. "I wasn't lurking. I was just.."

"Just what? Spying on my boyfriend?" Jessica stepped closer, her expensive perfume making my nose wrinkle. "Did you really think someone like Liam would ever notice a pathetic little mouse like you?"

Her friends giggled behind her like a pack of hyenas. I tried to step around them, but Jessica's friend Brittany moved to block me.

"Where do you think you're going?" Brittany grabbed my backpack and yanked me backward. "We're not done talking to you."

"Please, I just want to get to class." My voice came out smaller than I intended, which only made them laugh harder.

"Oh, she says please," Jessica mocked. "How adorable. You know what, Maya? I think you need to learn your place."

Before I could react, Jessica shoved me hard against the lockers. The metal crashed against my shoulder blades, sending shooting pain down my spine. My books scattered across the floor, and students stopped to stare, forming a loose circle around us.

"This is where you belong," Jessica hissed, pressing closer. "At the bottom. Invisible. Alone. So don't you dare think for one second that.."

"What's going on here?"

The voice cut through Jessica's words like a blade. Deep, commanding, and instantly recognizable. The crowd parted like the Red Sea, and suddenly Liam Black was standing there, still wearing his letterman jacket from morning practice.

My heart stopped beating entirely.

He looked exactly like he did on the ice, tall, powerful, dangerous, but up close, I could see details I'd never noticed before. The sharp line of his jaw. The way his dark hair fell across his forehead. The faint scar above his left eyebrow that somehow made him look even more intimidating.

And his eyes. They were brown again, dark as coffee, but there was something wild lurking in their depths that made my skin prickle with awareness.

"Liam!" Jessica's voice instantly shifted from cruel to sweet. "I was just explaining to Maya here about appropriate behavior around the team."

Liam's gaze flicked to me, pinned against the lockers with my books scattered at my feet. Something flickered across his face – anger, maybe, or annoyance. When he looked back at Jessica, his expression was arctic.

"Get lost."

The words were quiet, but they carried the weight of an avalanche. Jessica's friends immediately stepped back, suddenly very interested in examining their phones. The crowd of onlookers began to disperse, sensing the shift in power.

"But Liam..." Jessica started.

"Now."

The single word made even Jessica flinch. She shot me a look that promised this wasn't over, then stalked away with her followers trailing behind like wounded puppies.

I thought Liam would leave too. Thought he'd just walk away like the hero in every teen movie, his good deed done for the day. Instead, he turned those dark eyes on me, and I felt like a deer caught in headlights.

"Thank you," I whispered, bending to gather my scattered books. "You didn't have to.."

"You're right. I didn't." His voice was cold as a winter wind. "And I won't do it again."

I froze with my hands wrapped around my chemistry textbook. Slowly, I looked up at him. His face was a mask of indifference, but there was something else there too. Something that looked almost like fear.

"I don't know what you think you saw last night," he continued, his voice dropping even lower. "But you saw nothing. And you'll keep seeing nothing. Stay out of my sight, Maya Carter."

He knew my name. Liam Black knew my name, and he was using it like a weapon.

"I... I don't understand," I stammered, getting to my feet with my arms full of books.

"You don't need to understand. You just need to stay away." He stepped closer, and I caught a scent that made my head spin, pine trees and winter air and something wild and dangerous that my brain couldn't identify. "Far away."

Then he was gone, disappearing into the crowd like he'd never been there at all. I stood alone in the empty hallway, my books clutched against my chest and my mind reeling.

What had I done wrong? I'd never even spoken to him before today. All I'd done was witness his fight, seen his eyes change color for just a moment. But somehow, that was enough to earn his coldness, his warning.

Stay out of my sight.

The words echoed in my head all day. Through English class, where I couldn't concentrate on Shakespeare. Through lunch, where I sat alone picking at a sandwich I couldn't taste. Through chemistry, where I nearly started a fire because I couldn't stop thinking about golden eyes and the way he'd said my name.

By the time the final bell rang, I felt like I was walking through fog. My skin felt too tight, like something was trying to claw its way out from the inside. My chest ached with a strange emptiness that had nothing to do with hunger.

I found myself walking toward the arena without making a conscious decision to do so. My feet just carried me there, drawn by some invisible thread I couldn't explain.

The building was mostly empty now. Practice had ended hours ago, and the janitors had already cleaned up from last night's game. But something pulled me forward, deeper into the building, until I found myself back under the bleachers where this whole mess had started.

I settled into my usual spot and pulled out my homework, but the numbers might as well have been hieroglyphics. That strange pulling sensation in my chest was getting stronger, like something was calling to me from the empty rink beyond.

This is crazy, I told myself. *You're acting crazy.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that something important was about to happen. Something that would change everything.

The arena lights were dimmed to almost nothing, casting long shadows across the ice. It should have been peaceful, calming. Instead, it felt like the whole building was holding its breath, waiting.

That's when I heard the footsteps.

Heavy boots on concrete, moving with purpose through the empty corridors. I pressed myself deeper into the shadows, my heart racing. The footsteps grew closer, echoing off the walls like thunder.

A door slammed open somewhere near the ice entrance. More footsteps, these ones different – the sharp scrape of skate guards on concrete. Someone was coming onto the rink.

Through the gaps in the bleachers, I saw a figure step onto the ice. Even in the dim light, I recognized that silhouette immediately.

Liam.

But something was wrong. He moved like he was hunting something, his head tilted to one side like he was listening for sounds I couldn't hear. Or smelling scents I couldn't smell.

He stopped in the center of the rink and slowly turned in a circle, his face tilted up toward the bleachers. Toward me.

The pulling sensation in my chest became a sharp tug, like an invisible rope connecting us. I pressed my hand against my sternum, gasping at the sudden intensity of it.

Liam's head snapped in my direction.

Even from this distance, even in the near-darkness, I could see his eyes beginning to glow. That same impossible gold from last night, growing brighter with each passing second.

He knew I was here. Somehow, he knew exactly where I was hiding.

My rational mind screamed at me to run, to get as far away from here as possible. But my body wouldn't move. I was frozen in place, trapped by his gaze like a mouse cornered by a wolf.

Because that's what he was, wasn't it? The realization hit me like a physical blow. The inhuman speed and strength. The way his teammates kept their distance. The eyes that changed color and seemed to glow in the dark.

Liam Black wasn't just the star hockey captain. He was something else entirely. Something dangerous. Something that was looking at me like I was the answer to a question he'd been asking his whole life.

One word echoed in the empty arena, spoken in a voice so low and rough I felt it in my bones rather than heard it:

"Mate."