The Alpha's Rejected Vessel

Lia woke up dead.

At least, that's what her body thought. Skin branded with enemy marks. Blood that wouldn't clot. A scent screaming Silver Creek loud enough to get her throat slit before breakfast.

The only problem? She was still breathing.

Pain slammed into her-white-hot, everywhere. Her body felt flayed, every nerve raw and screaming. She forced her eyes open. One barely cracked. The other swollen shut, throbbing with each heartbeat.

Dawn light crept through the grimy window, gray and sickly. Wrong. Everything was wrong.

The smell hit first. Sharp. Metallic. Invasive. Enemy wolf scent coating her skin like oil. Not Black Rock. Not her pack.

Silver Creek.

Her throat closed. Silver Creek wolves had marked her-territorial claims scratched deep into flesh. She could feel the raised welts across her shoulders, ribs, thighs. Branding her like livestock.

Lia tried to sit up. Her arms buckled. Pain exploded through her skull, and she tasted copper-split lip bleeding again. In the cracked mirror across the room, a stranger stared back. Face mottled purple and black. Cheekbone slashed to bone. Eye swollen grotesque.

A pure-blood would heal within hours. Her half-human blood meant these wounds would linger for days.

But something felt off. Not the wounds-something else. Something warm coiled deep in her chest, pulsing faintly with each breath. Like embers buried under ash.

She pressed a hand to her sternum. The warmth flared, just for a heartbeat, then settled back to a quiet hum.

Footsteps thundered outside. The door slammed open. Elder Morna burst in, silver-streaked hair pulled tight. Pack members crowded behind her, disgust radiating in waves.

"The council demands your presence." Morna's lip curled as she tossed a threadbare cloak at Lia's feet. "Now."

The walk to the central clearing felt like a death march. Each step sent jolts of pain up her leg, but she forced herself forward. The thin cloak did nothing to hide the enemy scent.

Whispers erupted before she reached the gathering.

"...reeks of Silver Creek..."

"...marked like a common whore..."

"...tainted blood finally showing..."

Lia kept her chin up. Five years she'd lived here. Five years of swallowing their contempt, believing she could earn acceptance through silence.

All of it built on one man's protection.

Jason.

She could see him now, standing near the stone platform. Tall. Strong. The Alpha's son who'd found her half-dead at the border five years ago and convinced his father to let her stay.

"I'll always protect you," he'd whispered just last week, arms tight around her. "You're mine, Lia."

She'd believed him.

Jason stood with his back to her, refusing to look.

"Lia Dorman." Elder Morna's voice sliced through the murmurs. "You were found unconscious beyond our territory, bearing enemy marks. Explain yourself."

"I don't-" Lia's voice cracked. She swallowed blood. "I don't remember. I was gathering herbs, and then..." Nothing. A black gap where memory should be.

"How convenient." Morna's smile was poisonous. She turned to Jason. "As her intended mate, what say you about these marks?"

The clearing went silent.

Jason finally turned. Slowly.

The eyes that had once promised sanctuary were now cold. Empty.

"The engagement is void."

Three words. Simple. Final.

Lia's knees buckled. Mark caught her elbow, his grip gentle.

"A marked half-blood has no place as my mate." Jason's voice carried, meant for everyone. "I need someone pure for my bloodline. Not..." His gaze met hers-nothing there. "Not damaged goods who can't even protect herself."

Something inside Lia shattered. Her chest caved. Vision blurred.

But beneath the pain, that strange warmth flared. Hotter this time. Almost angry.

Jason's eyes slid past her to where Aileen Graham stood, golden hair gleaming. He moved toward her with deliberate steps. Their fingers intertwined. Aileen pressed herself against him, then looked over his shoulder at Lia.

Her smile sharpened. Triumphant.

The crowd erupted.

"Finally showing her true nature-"

"Tainted blood attracts trouble-"

"Should've been exiled years ago-"

That warmth in her chest pulsed harder. Burning.

"The council has deliberated." Morna's satisfaction was thick. "Lia Dorman, your blood was already impure. Now marked by enemy wolves, you have become a liability. You will be stripped of all protection and-"

"Wait."

The word cracked across the clearing like thunder.

Conversations died. The crowd parted, and Derek Damsi stepped through.

Raw power radiated from his massive frame-the kind that made grown wolves bare their throats. Black wolf pelt draped his shoulders. Every step measured, controlled, inevitable.

His glacial blue eyes swept the clearing, then locked onto Lia.

She couldn't breathe. Derek Damsi, who'd never shown mercy, was looking at her like she was a puzzle he intended to solve.

He moved closer. This close, she could see scars across his jaw and throat-battle wounds no ordinary wolf survived.

"Derek." Morna's voice held a warning. "This doesn't concern you."

"I can sense something in her." His voice was flat but carried. His nostrils flared slightly. "Something valuable. Something this pack would be foolish to discard."

He took another step. The scent of him hit Lia-pine and steel, sharp as winter wind. But beneath it, something wild and barely leashed.

That warmth in her chest suddenly flared hot, responding to his proximity.

Derek's eyes narrowed fractionally, gaze dropping to her sternum for a split second, as if he could see the heat beneath her skin. His pupils dilated.

But Lia had seen it. That flash of recognition. Of hunger.

"She bears enemy marks," an Elder protested.

"Then I will replace their mark with mine." Derek's gaze never left Lia. "I will take her as my mate."

The clearing exploded.

Jason's head whipped around, face contorting. Aileen's triumph cracked into confusion and fury.

"My claim will override theirs," Derek stated. "The marking ceremony will take place in seven days. At the full moon."

"Don't I get a say in this?" The words burst from Lia.

Derek's eyes locked onto hers. Surprise flickered-as if furniture had suddenly spoken. He moved closer, that wild scent overwhelming.

He reached out, hand hovering inches from her shoulder. Close enough she felt heat radiating from his skin.

Then something happened.

Derek's entire body went rigid. Every muscle locked. His fingers curled into a fist, tendons standing out sharp. His eyes widened, and for just an instant-a heartbeat-Lia saw gold flicker in those glacial depths.

Not blue.

Gold.

Molten and utterly inhuman.

His breath came faster. The scent of him intensified-that wild edge sharpening into something dangerous, barely controlled.

He was looking at her throat. At the pulse jumping frantically. His lips parted slightly, revealing canines that seemed longer than they should be.

Then he jerked back. The gold vanished. His expression shuttered. But his hand-the one that had almost touched her-was trembling.

He clenched it into a fist, knuckles white.

"Would you prefer exile?" His voice was soft, dangerous, slightly rough. "Winter comes. Silver Creek wolves hunt these woods. How long would you last alone?" He paused, jaw tight. "A day? Maybe two?"

He leaned down, breath warm against her ear. "At least with me, you'll live to see spring."

Brutal honesty. Accept this cage or die alone.

But Lia noticed the faint tremor in his voice. The tension coiled through his frame. Whatever he'd sensed in her-whatever had made his eyes flash gold-he wanted it.

Badly.

Derek straightened, stepping back with visible effort. Controlled again, but something remained wrong. Tense.

"The ceremony will proceed as stated," he announced. "Prepare accordingly."

Then he turned and walked away, hands clenched at his sides, knuckles white.

"Thank you," Lia whispered. Ash on her tongue.

Derek stopped mid-stride. Shoulders stiffened. For three heartbeats, frozen.

Then, barely audible: "Don't thank me yet."

He walked away without looking back. The crowd dispersed, whispers following. Lia remained where she stood, trembling.

Seven days until the full moon.

But as the crowd cleared, Lia caught one last glimpse of Derek.

He'd stopped at the clearing's edge, one hand braced against a tree-no, not braced. Clawing. Five deep gouges ripped through bark, sap weeping like blood.

His other hand pressed flat against his chest, fingers spread wide, as if trying to contain something struggling to break free.

And for just a heartbeat, before he vanished into shadow, Lia saw it again:

His eyes.

Gold.

Burning like twin suns, wild and utterly inhuman, locked on her across the distance.

The tree he'd clawed was still bleeding sap. She could smell it from here-sharp, acrid, wrong.

Just like the scent of her own blood had been, these past five years.

Wrong.

Lia stood alone in the clearing now, morning sun climbing higher. That strange warmth in her chest had settled back to embers, but she could still feel it. Waiting.

Seven days until they tried to chain her to a man who looked at her with hunger in his eyes.

But a single thought crystallized. Cold. Sharp. Clear as winter steel.

He wasn't the only one with secrets.

The enemy marks on her skin throbbed. Not with pain anymore. With something else. Something that tasted like silver and smelled like vengeance.

Valuable, he'd called her.

Damaged goods, Jason had sneered.

Let them all think what they wanted. Let them believe her broken, weak, compliant.

She'd survived five years in this pack by being underestimated.

She could survive seven more days.

And then she'd show them exactly what damaged goods could do.

Lia walked away from the clearing, chin high despite everything.

Behind her, in the shadowed treeline, Derek watched. Hand still pressed to his chest. Eyes still burning gold.

Neither of them knew it yet, but the marking ceremony in seven days wouldn't be a claiming.

It would be a detonation.