Rejected And Claimed By The Alpha

Alina Pov

The courtyard was empty, yet the jeering laughter of the crowd still echoed in my ears long after they were gone. I stood frozen, staring at the spot where my parents had been dragged away. My hands trembled, a hollow emptiness filling my chest where my heart once was.

Gone.

Every step they had taken away from me felt like a knife carving into my soul. My parents—my only family—wrongfully imprisoned, humiliated in front of the pack they had served faithfully for years.

The Alpha’s cruel words replayed in my mind like a taunt.

You’ll die out there, alone and forgotten.

My fists clenched as I swallowed the lump in my throat. I wouldn’t cry. Not here. Not now.

They didn’t deserve to see my tears.

But as I turned to leave, the reality of what lay ahead hit me hard.

I had nowhere to go.

No house. No home. Just a broken shell of what once stood there.

The door hung open. Inside, everything was destroyed. Drawers were pulled out, chairs overturned. The small collection of trinkets my mother loved lay shattered across the floor.

I stepped inside slowly, my chest tightening.

I knelt beside a broken vase, my fingers brushing over its sharp edges. It had been my mother’s favorite. She always kept fresh flowers in it. She said they made the house feel alive.

Now it was in pieces. Just like everything else.

“Alina.”

The cold voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

I turned to see two enforcers standing in the doorway, their faces hard and unreadable.

“What do you want?” My voice came out hoarse, barely above a whisper.

“By order of the Alpha,” one of them said, stepping forward, “you are to leave the pack immediately. You are no longer welcome here.”

I stared at him, the meaning of his words sinking in slowly.

“You’re banishing me?”

“You’re lucky that’s all he’s doing,” the second one said with a sneer. “After what you did, you should be grateful you’re not joining your parents in the dungeons.”

A small spark of defiance rose in my chest, but it quickly faded under the weight of everything I had lost.

My family. My home. My life.

I pushed myself to my feet, my legs unsteady beneath me.

“Fine,” I said. My voice shook, but I kept it steady. “I’ll leave. But this isn’t over.”

They didn’t respond. They only stepped aside, silently ordering me to go.

I walked past them without looking back.

I took nothing with me. There was nothing left to take.

Everything that mattered was already gone.

***

The forest was silent.

Too silent.

I pushed through the undergrowth, branches scratching against my skin as I moved. The trees loomed tall around me, their shadows stretching long and dark. It felt like they were closing in on me.

I didn’t know where I was going.

I just kept moving.

My mind was blank, yet full at the same time. Thoughts came and went too fast for me to hold onto any of them.

All I knew was that I couldn’t stop.

But as the sun began to set, the forest changed.

The shadows deepened. The silence shifted. What had once felt calm now felt wrong. The soft rustle of leaves and distant howls filled the air.

My heart began to race.

I wasn’t safe here.

A low growl behind me made my whole body go still.

Slowly, I turned.

Three wolves stepped out of the shadows, their eyes glowing in the dim light. Their fur was rough and uneven, their bodies thin but dangerous.

Rogues.

Fear clawed at my throat, but I forced myself to stand my ground.

“Back off!” I shouted, though my voice trembled.

The largest wolf snarled, baring its teeth as it stepped closer.

My wolf stirred weakly inside me, but the pain from the rejection and my exhaustion kept her down.

I was alone.

I bent quickly and grabbed a fallen branch, holding it in front of me like a weapon.

“I mean it!”

They didn’t stop.

One of the wolves lunged.

I swung the branch with all my strength. It hit its side, and the wolf yelped as it fell back. But the others didn’t hesitate. They rushed forward, teeth snapping dangerously close to me.

I fought as hard as I could, swinging and stepping back, trying to keep distance between us.

A wolf’s claws sliced across my arm.

I cried out, stumbling as pain shot through me. Warm blood ran down my skin, but I didn’t stop.

I couldn’t.

If I stopped, I would die.

Another wolf knocked the branch from my hand, sending it flying. Its weight slammed into me, and I fell hard to the ground.

I struggled beneath it, my hands pushing against its chest as its jaws snapped inches from my face.

“Get off me!” I shouted, kicking and twisting, but my strength was fading fast.

The wolf’s teeth came closer.

Then—

A deafening roar tore through the forest.

The weight vanished.

The wolf was yanked off me, thrown aside like it weighed nothing.

I scrambled to my feet, my vision spinning, and looked up.

A figure stepped out of the darkness.

He moved with deadly speed and precision, cutting through the rogues as if they were nothing. One wolf leaped at him, but he dodged easily. His hand shot out, grabbing its throat.

With one brutal twist, he snapped its neck and threw it aside.

The other two hesitated.

He didn’t.

In the next second, he was on them. His movements were fast and controlled, his claws tearing through them with ease.

It was over in less than a minute.

Silence fell again.

The bodies of the rogues lay scattered across the forest floor.

The man turned to me, his silver eyes faintly glowing in the dark.

“Are you okay?” he asked. His voice was low and firm, but there was a quiet softness beneath it.

I tried to speak, but no words came out. The rush of adrenaline faded, leaving behind pain and exhaustion.

Everything hurts.

“Hey,” he said, stepping closer. His voice softened. “You’re safe now.”

Safe.

The word felt strange.

I hadn’t felt safe in what felt like forever.

Before I could answer, my legs gave out.

The ground rushed up toward me.

And everything went black.