Fatty for the Playboy Alpha

Anaya Morgan tried her best to mask the fear on her face but her hands clenched by her sides, sweat beaded on her brow and her chest heaved, each breath betraying the calm facade she desperately tried to maintain.

She stared warily at the three hunters, Elijah, Marcel and Fed ... her ex-childhood friends who surrounded her with the intention to kill.

It wasn't anything new to be surrounded, to be cornered like a prey in the dark. Like prey? She was prey!

It wouldn't be the first time she was dragged by four or five guys and tied to a tree. Forced to watch on as they made out with each other, their laughter and moans echoing through the woods.

Next would be physical and emotional torture. The broken bones. The mocking howls when they shifted, circling her like a wounded deer. The scars that never quite faded, hidden beneath layers of flesh she'd grown to hate.

She had long mastered the art of forbearance even when pain held her in a chokehold.

However, tonight was different. Tonight FELT different. The howling of wolves at a distance did nothing to ease her fear.

The cool night breeze teased her skin with misguided comfort, stirring the loose strands of her dark hair, and she felt the phantom touch of her mother's voice in her mind:

"It's your fault, Anaya. If the Moon Goddess wanted you, she would have claimed you. You're defective and unwanted. A shame to the Morgan name."

And she believed. Cause why not? Wasn't it obvious?

She looked from Elijah to Marcel then at Fed, her eyes pleading for mercy she knew she'd never receive.

She hated that she had to beg for it, that she couldn't turn and rip the throats of these hunters and that her weight wouldn't allow her to run even if they gave chase.

Shame! That's all she was. Fat, unturned and ranked so low in the social ladder, she might as well be invisible. She was everything wolves hated, everything they couldn't stand the sight of.

"Look at her," Marcel sneered, stepping closer. His boots crunched against dry leaves and earth, each step a countdown to something terrible. "Begging already. Pathetic."

Anaya's throat burned. "Please. I was just walking home. I didn't.."

"You didn't what?" Fed cut in, his voice dripping with mockery. "Didn't exist? Didn't take up space?"

She flinched as if he'd struck her. The words cut deeper than any blade ever could.

Elijah remained silent, watching her with those cold eyes she'd once thought held warmth. He'd been her first crush. Her first heartbreak. The boy who'd held her hand and promised to protect her, only to become the one who hurt her most.

"Please, Elijah," she whispered, her voice cracking. "You said..."

"I said a lot of things." His voice was cold. "Before I realized what you really are." He stepped forward, and she saw the glint of claws extending from his fingertips. "A stain on our pack. A fat, useless Omega who can't even do the one thing she was born to do."

Before the sting could settle, Fed moved behind her, his breath hot against her ear. "You know what I think? I think we should make her run. Give her a head start. Make it interesting."

Marcel laughed. "She can't run. Look at her. She'd collapse after ten feet.

"Then it'll be quick."

Anaya's heart hammered against her ribs. Run? She couldn't run. Her legs were already shaking, her lungs already burning with the effort of just standing here, cornered.

But then Elijah spoke, and his words sealed her fate. "Run, Anaya."

Pure, primal terror sent her legs moving before her brain could catch up.

Branches whipped across her face, leaving stinging welts on her cheeks. Her lungs burned, each breath a ragged sob that tore through her chest. Her feet slipped on damp leaves, and she stumbled, nearly falling, but somehow she kept going.

Behind her, she heard their howls, triumphant and mocking. They were playing with her. Toying with her like cats with a dying mouse.

Her mind screamed for her to move faster but her body wouldn't obey. Her legs were heavy, her muscles screaming in protest.

"You can't outrun us!" Marcel's voice echoed through the trees, distorted by his shift. "Stop fighting! It'll hurt less if you just give up!"

She ignored him and kept running, gasping... until her foot caught in a tree root that came out of nowhere, and she went down hard, her face slamming into the dirt. Pain exploded through her skull, bright and blinding, and she tasted blood.

They surrounded her again, but this time they weren't humans. Three massive wolves emerged from the darkness, their eyes gleaming with savage hunger. Saliva dripped from Fed's jaws as he circled her, his growls low and menacing.

"Please," she sobbed, curling into herself. "Please, I'll do anything. Just don't..."

The first blow came from Elijah, his claws raking across her back.

Anaya screamed. The pain was unreal-a searing fire that burned through her flesh, her muscles, her very bones. She felt the skin split open, felt the warm gush of blood soaking through her thin shirt.

Marcel lunged next, his teeth sinking into her shoulder.

She felt the puncture. Felt the grind of bone beneath his jaw. The scream that tore from her throat was primal, a sound of pure agony that echoed through the trees.

"She's bleeding so nicely," Fed observed, his voice a low rumble. "Maybe we should draw this out. Make her suffer."

And then it was chaos.

Claws. Teeth. Pain so overwhelming that her vision went white, then black, then white again. She felt her ribs crack. Felt claws rake down her sides. Felt her own blood pooling beneath her, warm and thick and everywhere.

I'm going to die, she thought, and the realization brought a strange sense of peace. Finally. It's finally over. Just as she accepted her fate, something changed.

Anaya felt it before she heard it, a presence and then the voice.

"MINE!"

It was a claim and declaration that echoed through every cell of her body, reverberating in her bones, her blood, her very soul.

The wolves froze mid-attack.

"What.. " Elijah started, but he didn't finish as the ground suddenly trembled and trees shook violently.

Anaya felt something inside her give way. The pain vanished, replaced by something far worse-a pressure so immense that she thought her skull would shatter. It built and built, coiling in her chest like a living thing, demanding release.

And then it exploded.

Her body arched off the ground, a scream ripping from her throat that wasn't entirely human. The voice in her head grew louder, more insistent:

"Mine. MINE. MINE."

And then she felt him. The wolf who'd claimed her from across the distance, whose soul had reached out and wrapped itself around hers like chains of fire.

She felt his fury. His protective rage. The cold, calculating hatred he held for the wolves who'd dared to touch what was his.

"You will pay," he thundered, and the words weren't directed at her. They were for them. For Elijah, Marcel and Fed. "Every single one of you will pay."

Elijah stumbled back, his eyes wild with confusion. "What's happening? What's she doing?"

"I don't know.. " Marcel started, but he was cut off by a howl-not from their pack, but from somewhere impossibly distant, yet impossibly close.

Anaya felt her body begin to change.

Not the shift she'd always dreamed of. The power that surged through her veins wasn't her own-it was his. The bond that had formed between them now pulsed with life, demanding acknowledgment.

Her vision fractured, splintering into a kaleidoscope of impossible images: a towering stone building, torches flickering in the dark, a man's face-sharp cheekbones, eyes the color of winter frost, a cruel mouth twisted in a snarl.

"Who are you?" she choked out.

"Later. First, you fight."

"I can't. I can't. They're going to kill me."

"They will try. And they will fail."

The wolves circled her again, but something had changed. They were wary now.

"Kill her," Elijah ordered. "Now. Before whatever this is..."

But Anaya moved before he could finish. Her body acted on instinct, on his instinct, and suddenly she was lashing out, claws she'd never possessed raking across Fed's snout. He yelped, stumbling back, and the shock of seeing blood on her hands made her stomach lurch.

She looked down at her fingers and realized with dawning horror that they'd changed. Her hands were elongated, tipped with claws that gleamed in the moonlight. She stared at them a little too long, her mind reeling. Could she turn now?

The wounds on her back were still there, still bleeding, but she couldn't feel them anymore.

"Finish it," Elijah snarled, and he lunged.

But Anaya was faster.

She ducked under his attack, rolling across the blood-soaked leaves, and came up swinging. Her claws caught his flank, and she felt the give of flesh, heard his yelp of pain.

"Bitch!" he howled, staggering. "What did you do to me?"

"I don't know!" she screamed back, tears streaming down her face. "I don't know what's happening to me! Just leave me alone!"

But they didn't leave. They came at her again, all three of them, and Anaya felt something inside her snap.

The power that had been building inside of her erupted in a wave that sent all three wolves flying. They crashed against trees, their bodies crumpling, and the forest fell silent.

Anaya stood in the middle of the clearing, her body trembling, her chest heaving, blood pouring from wounds she couldn't even feel anymore.

The bond flared to life, a connection so intense that she gasped. She could feel his heartbeat, his breath and the cold fury that still simmered beneath his icy exterior. "What have you done to me?"

Before Anaya could respond and make sense of what was happening, everything went black.

Kaelen had Belinda or whatever her name was pressed against the wall of the entertainment room, her fingers already working the buttons of his shirt, her mouth trailing hot and insistent along his jaw. She'd walked up to him earlier and stated, without an ounce of hesitation, that she wanted to be his for the night.

"Kaelen," she breathed against his throat, and he was already reaching for the hem of her dress when it happened.

Pain!

It hit him like a fist through the chest, so sudden and so violent that he staggered back, knocking Belinda's hands away. His vision blurred, the room tilting, and for one disorienting second he wasn't in the room at all... he was in the woods, cold air biting his skin, the metallic taste of blood flooding his mouth though he hadn't been bitten.

Please, a voice sobbed, faint and desperate, threading itself through his mind. Please, I'll do anything..

"Kaelen?" Belinda's voice sounded very far away. "What's wrong with you?"

He didn't answer. He couldn't answer. Every nerve in his body had gone taut, straining toward something-someone-he couldn't see, couldn't name, but felt with a certainty that terrified him.

Mine, something in him roared before he'd even decided to think about it. MINE.

The word tore out of him before he could stop it, and the room seemed to shudder with the force of it. Belinda stumbled back, eyes wide with confusion and fear.

Kaelen barely noticed her leave.

He was already gone, not physically, but somewhere else entirely, chained to a girl he'd never met, drowning in her pain.

That was hours ago now, or maybe minutes, he couldn't tell anymore. Time had gone strange since the bond ripped through him, refusing to move at a pace he could track.

But that was not it, he thought, forcing his mind back into order. He had enemies on each side fighting for a share of power behind the Drake name. There had to be a set-up somehow.

No. That wasn't it either. He remembered how angry and volatile he'd been the second her pain hit him, how sheer fury had burst forth the moment he'd felt her fear. Anaya Morgan's fear.

The name seared in his mind. He'd known it the moment it surfaced through the bond, known it with a certainty that defied logic. Anaya Morgan. The unturned Omega from the slums.

And she was his.

He marched the length of the dimly lit hallway in quick strides, his shirt still hanging open, not caring who saw. He turned right when he reached the end of the hallway into a small passage that led to his chambers. Unlike other students in the Academy, he had his own private chambers; sitting room, dining hall, bedrooms, kitchen, and what not.

He opened the first door and scanned his iris for recognition at the second door and pushed it open once it verified. The scent that was unique to him flooded his senses as he stepped in, giving him small reprieve from the confusion that raged inside him.

He walked to the window, his back to the door, hands clasped behind him. From the outside, he was the picture of control but his reflection in the glass told a different story.

His jaw was tight, the muscle jumping beneath his skin. His chest rose and fell in measured breaths. And his eyes... they were wild and darting, unable to settle on one thing.

What did the Moon Goddess mean by this? Surely that was not how a mate bond worked. Right?

He had watched others. They all were in the same space and were suddenly assailed by the other's scent and knew they were mates.

But this... this was different.

The door opened softly behind him. He did not turn to look back. Only Liora, his Beta had access to his chambers also her Beta scent was evident.

Kaelen kept his back to her. He wasn't ready for her observation and drawn facts tonight or whatever he knew she wanted to say.

"The Council felt it," Liora said finally, her tone measured. "They've called an emergency session. Our insider tells me Darius Blackwood is making noise about rogue energies and unstable elements."

Kaelen could see wolves running at a distance and envied their normalcy. "Rogue energies?"

"He suspects. Whatever that surge was, it was powerful. It was felt across three territories, Kaelen. The elders are rattled."

Kaelen's hand tightened behind his back. He could visualize the sight of her running through the woods, her face a mask of fear and hurt and... "What did you tell him?" He asked absentmindedly.

"Nothing. I told him I had no information." She paused. "What happened, Kaelen?"

Finally, Kaelen turned. His face was a mask of cold indifference, but Liora knew him well enough to see the tension in his shoulders. "I bonded with an Omega. An unturned Omega. Anaya Morgan."

"How?" Liora composed demeanour cracked for a moment revealing her shock. "Was she here?"

Kaelen rubbed his forehead and sighed. "No, Liora. It happened so suddenly. She was being hunted. She was on the verge of death Liora. I don't know." He had never felt this confused, this unaware..

"You claimed her. In that moment of crisis, you reached across the distance and claimed her." Liora stared at Kaelen with understanding. "The bond solidified because you willed it, Kaelen. Whether you understand it or not."

He wanted to argue. Wanted to deny that he'd had any control over what happened. But the truth sat heavy in his chest, undeniable.

He had answered the call of a dying Omega. He had reached out and wrapped his soul around hers, not because the Moon Goddess willed it, but because something in him had gone haywire when he felt her slipping away.

"The Council wants answers," Liora continued, pulling him back to the present. "They'll convene within the hour and when they do, they'll demand to know who triggered the surge."

Kaelen stared at her. "And what should I tell them?"

"That you were investigating a disturbance in the territory. That you felt a surge of power and went to assess the situation." Her eyes locked with his. "You don't mention anything, buy us time."

"Time for what?"

"Time to bring her here. To the Academy." Liora's voice was cold and calculated, every inch the Beta advisor protecting her Alpha's reign. "Once she's here, we control the narrative."

Kaelen's eyes narrowed into slits. "You want to cage her."

"I want to protect your reputation." Liora stepped closer, her voice dropping. "Listen to me, Kaelen. That Omega is a liability right now. She's untrained, unstable, and she's bonded to the most powerful Alpha of our generation without warning or preparation. Do you have any idea what the Council will do when they find out?"

"And you think bringing her here will stop that?"

"I think bringing her here gives us control." Liora's gaze was unyielding. "She's yours, Kaelen. You claimed her. Now it's your responsibility to keep her alive. And the only way to do that is to keep her close."

The words hit him like a physical blow. He'd spent years building walls around himself, insulating himself from the weight of responsibility, the crushing expectations of the Drake legacy. But this... this was different.

This was a living, breathing woman who'd been thrown into his life without warning. A woman who'd been broken and discarded by everyone who was supposed to protect her.

"What about the Council?" he asked, his voice low. "If I bring her here, they'll demand to interrogate her..."

"They'll try." Liora's smile was predatory. "And you'll stop them. Because you're Kaelen Drake, heir to the Drake legacy. And you don't answer to anyone."

***

Three hours later, Anaya Morgan was dragged from the hospital bed by two masked wolves. Literally dragged. If she weighed less, one would have slung her over his shoulders.

She didn't fight. She couldn't fight. Her body was still screaming from the attack, her bones grinding together with every movement, her back a canvas of fiery pain. The wounds had been cleaned and stitched, but they were still raw and still pulsing with the phantom memory of claws and teeth.

"Where are you taking me?" she rasped, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Silence," one of the wolves growled. "The Council wants you."

Anaya's breath caught in her throat. Although she was from a small town, she knew who the council were.

They were the wolves who governed their kind, who decided who lived and who died, who enforced the brutal hierarchy that had crushed her since birth.

"I don't..." she started, but the wolf's grip tightened on her arm, and she hissed in pain.

They hauled her out of the hospital and into the back seat of a sleek black vehicle that smelled clinical. She couldn't see the driver's face. Couldn't see anything through the tinted windows that separated her from the outside world.

The vibration of the road against her broken ribs made her a little more clear-headed. She sighed and sat rigidly, praying for the car to come to a stop soon.

She hadn't had time to think, not since she blacked out. She did not even know how she got to the hospital.

Her life moved in an unlikely trajectory this night. From being cornered by hunters, to that bond...

Anaya's brows furrowed at the thought. She had felt that clearly, it wasn't a matter of being lightheaded or at the point of death.

She looked at her hands wrapped in gauze. These hands were claws a few hours back. She saw it, she attacked Elijah with it.

This wasn't the usual way other wolves turned. She knew that. She had watched from the sidelines the first turning of her peers. The breaking and arrangement of bones, the extension of hands into sharp claws. The jut of teeth too large for a human mouth and all of that...

But this was different. It was like something settled deep in her chest and his voice thundering in her ears. MINE! MINE! MINE!

He said other things but in the haze of that moment, she barely registered the words.

Anaya lurched forward as the car came to a screeching halt. She gasped as the door opened and hands latched onto her body.

The building loomed before her, all sharp angles and cold stone. It looked more like a fortress than a government hall. Not that she had been to many.

Anaya's feet scraped against the ground as they dragged her up the steps. She wanted to slow them down and rest for a bit, but the strength of their hands propelled her forward. Her back ached. Her body ached. It wasn't anything new but still.

The gauze on her hands was soaked through with blood... she must have been bleeding through the stitches.

"Do you think we should clean her up? She's bleeding," The man on her left asked his partner and frowned down at her.

"Doesn't matter. Blackwood wants her now."

The name sent a chill through her spine. Darius Blackwood. She knew him from the portraits that hung in every government building.

He was the head of the Academy Council known for his obsession with control and fight for more power. And he wanted her?

They hauled her through massive wooden doors into a hall that stretched so high she couldn't see the ceiling. Torches flickered on the walls, casting dancing shadows. At the far end, a long table sat elevated on a platform, and behind it, five wolves stared down at her like she was a bug under their glass.

Darius Blackwood eyed the fat Omega from where he sat in the middle. He waved his hands, dismissing the two wolves flanking her on both sides.

"So," he started, lifting his brows at her. "This is the Omega who caused the surge."

Anaya fidgeted under their stare, especially Darius's. Looking away meant defiance, staring meant disrespect, so she looked past them to the council's crest. The frozen angry snarl of the wolf gave her goosebumps and she turned her head away.

"How could this be?" one of the other Council members muttered. "Look at her. Does it look like she caused the surge?"

"Seems unlikely," another added. "Isn't she unturned?"

A glint flashed in Darius's eyes. He raised his hand, and the room fell silent. He stared straight at her. "Anaya Morgan. Daughter of the declined Morgan pack. Fat and unturned... you're a stain on our kind." He tapped the table rhythmically and leaned forward, frowning."And yet, tonight, you triggered a surge so powerful it was felt across three territories. You bonded with an Alpha without a formal ceremony."

Anaya opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Her throat was dry. She looked down at her feet and said nothing.

"Answer me!" Darius slammed the table, his voice echoing around the rather empty hall. "How did you do it?"

"I don't.." Anaya started before she was plagued by an assault of coughs that brought blood rushing to her mouth. She clenched her teeth and gulped it down, her face in a grimace. "I don't know."

"You don't know." Darius leaned back on his chair and swivelled. "Or you don't want to tell us?"

"I don't know!" The words tore out of her, the way she understood. "One minute I was dying, and the next... the next I heard a voice and everything suddenly changed. I don't know how. I don't know why. I've never shifted before. I've never..."

"Whose voice?" Darius caught her off. "Whose voice did you hear?"

She shook her head, her eyes pleading. "I don't know. I don't know who he is. I just... I felt him. He was there. And then he wasn't."

"Liar." Darius's eyes narrowed. "You can't tell me you don't know who he is."

"I don't!" She could feel her body weakening. Her eyes rolled back in her head before she stabilized herself again. "I don't know anything! Please, I just want to go home. Please let me go home."

Blackwood studied her for a long moment before beckoning to the others. The Council members exchanged glances and talked among themselves.

"An Alpha," one of them murmured. "An Alpha bonded to an unturned Omega. How is that possible?"

"Perhaps the bond is flawed," another suggested. "Perhaps it's not a true mate bond at all. Just a... reaction."

Darius held up his hand, and the whispers stopped.

"We don't know what it is," he said slowly. "And that's the problem. She's a variable we don't know how to control."

"And the Alpha?" someone asked. "Who is he?"

Darius's eyes flickered. "I have my suspicions but nothing concrete... yet."

He stood and walked toward Anaya, his footsteps echoing in the silent hall. Anaya flinched as he stopped in front of her, looming over her.

"Anaya Morgan," he said, his voice soft and cold. "You are a threat. You don't mean to be but your very existence upsets the order of things."

Anaya shook her head and took a shaky step back, her hands clasped in a plea. She shook her head at him. "I don't want to be a threat. I don't want any... I just want to go home."

"Do you have a home?" Darius laughed mockingly and reached for her hair damp with sweat. He coiled it round his fingers and looked at her. "The hunters who attacked you were from your own pack. Your own people wanted you dead, Anaya. Did you know that?"

Anaya's breathing turned ragged. She searched his face for any indication he was lying but saw none. "What?"

"Elijah, Marcel and Fed were sent by your pack. They wanted you eliminated. He leaned closer to her, his voice dropping to a whisper. "You have no one, Anaya. No pack. No family. No home."

She wanted to deny it. She wanted to scream that he was lying, that her pack wouldn't do that to her.

But deep down, she knew. She'd always known.

"You're alone," Darius continued, his voice almost gentle. "But I'm offering you a chance. A new home. A new purpose."

She looked up at him, her vision blurred with tears. "What do you mean?"

"Valkyr Academy." The name fell from his lips like a promise. "The most prestigious school for wolves in the world. You'll go there. You'll live there. You'll follow their rules, keep your head down and stay out of trouble."

"Why would you do that? Why would you help me?"

Darius only smiled. "I'm not helping you, Anaya. I'm containing you. The Academy is the perfect place for someone like you to be under my observation and control."

Anaya shook her head, her mind ringing warning bells at the prospect of The Academy. "But I don't belong there. I'm unturned. I'm..."

"Exactly," Darius cut her off and stepped back. "You don't belong there. Which means you'll stand out, we'll always know where you are. And through you, we'll find the Alpha who claimed you."

Anaya opened her mouth to protest but closed them when she saw the look in his eyes. "I don't even know who he is."

"You'll find out or he'll find you. Either way, we'll be watching."

He turned and walked back to his seat, settling into it like a king on a throne. He reached for the bell button at the side and touched it.

"For an Omega, you sure do have a lot of willpower. I was told you almost died... how are you still standing?" Darius asked but he wasn't expecting an answer from the girl. He swiveled from side to side, his hands on his chin.

Anaya stared at him and at the other members of the Council, her heart in her mouth. What would be her fate?

She recoiled when the two wolves who brought her here came into the hall again and stood near her.

"Take her," he ordered the wolves. "Send her to the Academy. Put her in the Omega dormitory. Make sure she knows the consequences of stepping out of line."

Anaya scurried back when the wolves approached her but they were faster. They grabbed her and held her in a death's grip. Anaya's vision swam, her broken ribs screamed and her body ached.

Just as they brought her to the door, she turned back and looked at Darius. "Please," she whispered. "Please, don't let them take me."

The answer she got was of Darius turning away. A clear dismissal.