ALPHA'S STOLEN MATE

Ameera stood before her dad, her face furious in a fierce glare. Her hands clenched into fists as she angrily yelled at him.

"I refuse to do it! I won't be manipulated by you anymore!!" I have dreams and feelings of mine too. I won't let you just throw them away like they are some trash."

Alpha Stuart stood there across her, his expression darkened, while he remained stoic. With his gaze bore into hers.

"You don't ever get to say no, Ameera; this is not a request." He said calmly

Stuart is the alpha of the moonstone pack and a father to Ameera. He's trying to bond her with another Alpha who is not her mate again.

"I don't care, I won't do it, I'm no longer a child, you can't keep me locked up forever, you can't just push into a bond or I don't want just because it's convenient for you," She screamed, her voice piercing the air, leaving an echo.

Stuart sighed heavily. "You think this is about love? You are the heir to the silver moon pack; your duty is to strengthen this pack, not chase after your so-called dream; you have responsibility. You need to understand that."

Ameera had spent her entire life within closed walls, following Stuart's orders, healing his warriors, and playing the obedient daughter, but she was drawing the line this time.

"My duty?....my duty is to be your tool, to marry whoever you decide for me, to keep being your obedient servant using me to heal your warriors like that's only what I'm made for?"

Her dad looked at her, jaw tightened. "You are gifted, Ameera."

"This is not a gift, a gift that chains me to this place. It's a curse! My mother had told me earlier before she died, so I don't believe you."

Her mother, Lunara died in a war against a rival pack.

Stuart frustrated. "Every single thing I have ever done was just for your safety; I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you, Ameera."

"Safety?..... The only thing you ever wanted was to control me, Father." she scoffed.

His eyes blazed with a menacing intensity. "Watch your tone."

"No, you watch yours." She took a bold step forward. "Father, tell me why you have been acting this way towards me; tell me, do I have a mate that you know about but you are trying to protect me from?"

Stuart was furious and nervous. "There's nothing like a fated mate, so stop searching for one. I had promised your mother to protect you till the end, and that's what I'm perfectly going to do."

Ameera looked at him, her eyes sad but resolute. "I'm sorry, Father, this is the only way I believe." And with that, Ameera turned and walked out of the room, leaving him standing there.

Stuart voiced out to her. "Don't you dare walk out on me; I'm still talking to you; you will regret it if you do!"

Ameera never stopped walking while Stuart stood there, commanding all his guards not to stop her, this time leaving her to move freely.

She moved through the training grounds past the watchful eyes of the nighttime guards, out of the main border, and straight out of the Moonstone's territory.

Ameera felt a fleeting sense of freedom as she found herself alone, far from her father's grasp for the first time. The owl's hoot resonated through the air, its haunting echoes drifting from afar, while the crickets' gentle trilling wove a calming melodious hum. She discovered she was now in a forest far from her father's territory.

Slowly, she kept walking, enjoying the atmosphere in the forest. Then suddenly, the wind stood still; she knew something was wrong; she took up a knife from under her dress, ready for the unseen, as she slowly turned around, scanning through the dark forest. She saw no one, and she assumed she was only imagining things as this was her first time out of the Moonstone's territory.

Then she continued walking, but this time around, she noticed a low, ominous rustling in the underbrush. The scent of damp stones and burning wood filled the air, she felt an uneasy feeling of being watched. She became so scared and cautious.

A presence roused in the darkness. Her eyes gazed out wide with alarm in a mixture of terror, anxiety, and drive as she shouted.

"Who's there?" she asked, but before she could turn around to identify the voice, a huge hand as hard as an iron twisted her arms backward and grabbed onto her wrist, drawing her into a sudden, tight embrace.

Her pulse faltered; whose arms was she in, she wondered. She thought it was her father's warriors trying to bring me back home to her overprotective father. She wanted to react.

Not unstill a resonant, low-pitched voice grumbled in her ear. "I've finally tracked you down," Ameera shattered. She timidly opened her mouth to scream, but a hand veiled it.

"Don't resist me else you regret it", he murmured, his voice deep and commanding with the warning "You're safe with me, but you need to come with me"

Ameera knows quite well that she's all by herself and eager to survive to go back home, though it's not comfortable to go back there with her father still over her. With a sudden rush of adrenaline, she slammed her elbow backward, catching him right in the ribs.

He groaned, and his grip eased for just a second, enough for her to see the face of her abductor; she locked eyes with him as her breath caught, seeing golden, piercing eyes that also looked familiar, more like an Alpha's. 'Who would he be?', she thought as she felt a glimpse of satisfaction in her.

"You...who are you" She started with her voice faltered.

"Our mate," Kaida grumbles in her head.

The stranger said as he gritted his teeth. "I'm your mate," Ameera shook her head violently. "Mate? You're lying; what do you mean by that?" Trying to ignore the fact that Kaida had also confirmed it earlier.

He exhaled "I don't have enough time to convince you; you will have to come with me right now," he said. He moved so fast grabbing her before she could even move as she was slung over his shoulder like a rag doll. Ameera tried all she could to escape from him but she couldn't, not anymore.