Claimed by the RUTHLESS ALPHA

The first rule of survival was silence.

Aria kept her head down as she slipped through the crowded market street, her hood pulled low over her forehead. The smells of roasted meat, damp earth, and sweat filled her nose as she moved between carts, careful not to brush too close to anyone. Her movements were practiced, fluid. Invisible.

She'd spent years perfecting this routine-walking like a Beta, acting like a Beta, smelling like a Beta. The suppressants she brewed herself were strong. Risky. Illegal in most territories. But they worked-until they didn't.

Her heat cycle was due in two weeks, maybe less, and the doses were growing weaker. Her body burned hotter at night. Her dreams were vivid with flashes of teeth, scent, and need. She couldn't afford that-not now, not ever.

Because if anyone discovered what she really was-an unmated, unclaimed Omega-they would sell her.

Or worse...

Claim her.

She clenched her jaw and adjusted the strap of the satchel over her shoulder, weaving toward the far edge of the village. Hollow's End was small, bordered by forest and mountain ranges, and technically under the protection of the Southern Claw Pack. But in truth, they were a forgotten border town-a place for exiles, orphans, and those running from things they didn't speak of.

Aria liked it that way.

Until this week.

Something had shifted in the air lately. Warriors had been patrolling more often. Strangers watching from shadows. Whispers of the Northern Alpha, Kael Vortan, riding south with blood on his hands.

She'd overheard rumors of massacres. Border towns burned. People taken.

Aria didn't believe everything she heard-fear made people say stupid things. But one detail lingered in her mind like a splinter: Kael was hunting Omegas.

And he had killed for less.

---

She reached the crumbling cottage she called home, pausing only long enough to check the surrounding woods. Her senses were sharper than most-another mark of her nature-and something didn't feel right.

Still, she stepped inside, shutting the wooden door behind her.

"Lio?" she called.

A muffled thud answered her from the back room. Aria rushed in, only to find her younger brother, Leo, crouched under the table surrounded by scattered books and an overturned ink bottle.

"I didn't mean to knock it over!" he said quickly. His dark curls flopped into his eyes, ink smudged on his cheek.

She sighed, relieved. "You scared me, idiot."

"You're always scared," he said. "Even when nothing's wrong."

But something is always wrong, she thought.

Aria ruffled his hair and helped him clean the mess. Leo was only twelve, too young to understand how fragile their world truly was. He thought they were poor Betas with a dead mother and a missing father, living in a forgotten town.

He didn't know about the scent suppressants.

He didn't know their mother had been Omega, too.

He didn't know their bloodline had once ruled before the Packs tore themselves apart.

If he ever found out... he'd never forgive her for the lies.

---

Later that night, as moonlight poured through the broken slats in her roof, Aria lay awake, her body thrumming with unrest.

She'd been dreaming again.

Not of faces-but of him.

The shadowed Alpha.

Always faceless, but she knew it was him. She could feel the weight of his presence in the dream. Heat. Hunger. A pull so strong it left her breathless even after waking.

It was the bond.

It was coming for her.

And once it snapped into place, she would lose everything-her freedom, her will, her name. She'd be nothing but property.

She pressed a hand to her neck.

There was no mating mark.

Not yet.

But her time was running out.

---

Meanwhile – North of the Border

Kael Vortan stood on the bloodied field of a burned out village, his boots soaked in ash and mud. His warriors combed through the wreckage for signs of survivors. His eyes, however, were distant-sharp and golden, fixed on the horizon.

"She's near," he said quietly.

Darian, his second, looked up. "Alpha?"

Kael didn't repeat himself. He didn't need to. His wolf was pacing beneath his skin, restless, snarling.

He could feel her now.

The Omega.

His mate.

The bond had awakened.

"She's close," Kael said. "And she doesn't want to be found."

He bared his teeth in a smile that never reached his eyes.

"But I always find what's mine."