Mated To The Dying Ruthless Alpha

Kira Hayes POV:

The black sedan slid to a stop.

Through the tinted window, the Hayes Pack manor loomed like a gilded cage. Its sharp, modern lines felt less like home and more like a prison sentence I had already served twenty years of. The only reason I came back here and endured all of this was to uncover the truth behind my older sister Caroline's death.

The driver caught my eye in the rearview mirror. Pity. I hated it more than their scorn.

I pushed the door open, the click echoing in the silence.

The butler, a man who had known me since I was a child, opened the massive front door. He bowed his head.

"Miss Kira."

His voice was professionally respectful, but the slight hesitation was a betrayal. To him, I was the useless Omega, the family's shame, now being brought back for one final, sacrificial purpose.

My heels clicked against the marble floor of the foyer, the sound swallowed by the cavernous space. It made my presence feel small, insignificant. The air was thick with the oppressive scent of cedarwood-my father, Alpha Derrick Hayes. It was a scent that promised control, not comfort.

From behind the heavy oak doors of the living room, a shrill laugh pierced the quiet. My stepsister, Paige. Her laugh was like nails on a chalkboard, a sound engineered for irritation.

I pushed the door open.

My father sat in his throne-like armchair, polishing a family signet ring with a soft cloth, his face a mask of indifference. My stepmother, Dinah Vaughan, sat opposite him, her lips stretched into that signature, plastic smile. And Paige, draped in a sickeningly pink dress, eyed me with the glee of a vulture spotting fresh carrion.

Derrick set the ring down. He lifted his gaze, and his gray eyes, cold as granite, landed on me.

"You're back," he stated. Not a question. A fact.

Dinah immediately chimed in, her voice syrupy sweet. "Kira, darling, come sit. We have something important to discuss."

She gestured to a lone armchair, set furthest away from their family circle.

I didn't move. I stood in the doorway, my gaze sweeping over the three of them.

"What is it?" My voice was flat, scraped clean of any emotion.

Paige couldn't wait. She leaned forward, her voice dripping with malicious delight. "It's wonderful news! Dorian Carlisle, the Alpha of the Carlisle Pack, has proposed a marriage alliance!"

Dorian. The legendary Alpha, whispered to be on his deathbed after a brutal rogue attack. My sister, Caroline, had been the intended bride before... before she was gone.

Dinah dabbed at a dry eye with a handkerchief. "Poor Caroline... she's no longer with us. But the marriage contract with the Carlisles cannot be broken. The penalty would bankrupt the Hayes Pack."

Derrick delivered the final blow, his voice devoid of any warmth. "Therefore, Kira, you will marry Dorian in Caroline's place."

Paige let out a derisive snort. "It's the honor of a lifetime for an Omega like you. So what if his dying? At least you'll be a Luna for a day."

The wolf inside me snarled, a low, guttural sound of rage that I forced down my throat. My wolf is too weak; they've all forgotten that I'm an Alpha's daughter.

My eyes stayed locked on Derrick.

"And if I refuse?"

The air in the room crackled and froze. Derrick's face darkened. Dinah's smile froze in place. Paige stared at me.

"You don't have the right to refuse." Derrick's voice dropped, laced with the power of his Alpha's Command. It was a psychic pressure meant to force submission, to buckle the knees of any lower-ranking wolf.

The force washed over me, a sharp sting against my forehead, and then... nothing. It dissipated against the shield of my own soul, a soul far more powerful than he could ever imagine. In the world of werewolves, this was a fundamental law: an Alpha's Command was an irresistible force for those of a lesser rank. My easy defiance was not just disobedience; it was an impossibility.

A flicker of shock crossed his face. He felt it fail.

"How dare you defy Dad!" Paige shrieked, jumping to her feet. "You ungrateful waste of space!"

She lunged, her hand raised to slap me.

Her movements were laughably slow, like a film in slow motion. I took a single, deliberate half-step back.

Her hand swiped through empty air. Thrown off balance by her own momentum, she stumbled forward, her forehead cracking hard against the sharp corner of the marble coffee table.

A sickening thud.

"Ah!" A pained scream as she crumpled to the floor, clutching her head. Blood seeped through her fingers.

"Paige! My baby!" Dinah shrieked, rushing to her side. She glared at me, her eyes filled with venom. "Kira! You vicious little-"

"She tripped," I cut her off, my voice calm and cold. "Everyone in this room saw it."

I turned my gaze back to Derrick, whose face was now a thundercloud.

"I'll say it again," my voice was steady, unwavering. "I refuse."

Without another glance at them, I turned and walked toward the door.

"Kira!" Derrick's roar echoed behind me. "You walk out that door, and you will never see a single thing your mother left behind!"

My feet stopped. My mother's things. My weak spot. The only reason I had returned to this hellhole.

I didn't turn around.

I felt their three pairs of eyes-furious, hateful, shocked-boring into my back as I walked out, closing the door on their suffocating world.

Leaning against the cool wall in the hallway, my heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drum of fury and adrenaline.

This was just the beginning.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. A new encrypted message.

It was from Zane Stone, my contact in the digital shadows.

"X, latest file on Dorian is in. Handle with care."

Kira Hayes POV:

The living room door flew open, slamming against the wall. Dinah stood there, her face stripped of its fake smile, leaving only raw, ugly hatred.

"Kira, you ungrateful wolf! You think you've grown claws?"

I calmly slid my phone back into my pocket, my eyes meeting her furious gaze. "I just don't want to marry a dying man. Is that so wrong?"

Dinah let out a cold, sharp laugh. "You have no choice. Either you marry him and buy this family time, or..." Her eyes narrowed with a cruel glint. "You will never see your mother's things again."

She expected me to crumble, just like I had for the past twenty years. She didn't know I was back to claim everything they had taken from my mother, and from my sister.

I looked at her, and a slow, deliberate smile spread across my face.

"Alright," I said.

Dinah froze, her mouth slightly agape. "What... what did you say?"

I took a step toward her, closing the distance, and lowered my voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "I said, 'I'll marry him.' But not for free."

I walked past her, back into the living room. Derrick and Paige looked up, their expressions a mixture of anger and confusion. A neat white bandage was now plastered on Paige's forehead, making her glare even more venomous.

I walked straight to Derrick and placed my phone on the table in front of him. On the screen was a quickly drafted agreement.

"I want all of my sister Caroline's shares in Hayes Corporation," I stated, my voice ringing with newfound authority. "And half of the bride price the Carlisles are paying."

Derrick's pupils contracted. "Are you insane?" he growled. "Caroline's shares are held by the Pack now. They are Pack assets!"

I met his furious gaze without flinching. "She left no will. According to Pack inheritance law, as her only living immediate family, I am the primary heir. You may be managing them, but they belong to me."

My knowledge of the law, their own laws, clearly startled him. I wasn't supposed to be this smart. I was the family idiot.

"As for the bride price"-I glanced at Dinah, whose face was turning a blotchy red-"since I'm the one risking widowhood, taking half as hazard pay seems perfectly reasonable, don't you think?"

"This is blackmail!" Dinah hissed, her body trembling with rage.

I shrugged. "You can see it that way. Or, you can watch the Hayes Pack default on a marriage contract, lose all credibility, and get devoured by our rivals."

I presented the choice, cold and simple. Their pride, or their survival.

Derrick stared at me, his eyes searching for any sign of weakness, any hint of a bluff. He found none. My heart was beating steadily, my resolve as hard as the marble under my feet.

The silence stretched, thick with tension. Paige started to speak, but Dinah shot her a look that silenced her.

I knew the calculation happening in Derrick's mind. His Pack's future versus the humiliation of giving in to the daughter he despised.

After what felt like an eternity, he spoke, the words ground out from between his teeth. "The bride price... one-third. At most."

I didn't argue. I simply picked up my phone and moved my thumb toward the delete button. "It seems we have nothing to discuss. I'm disappointed, Father. To give up the entire Pack for such a small amount of money."

My thumb hovered over the screen.

"Half!" he roared, his control finally snapping. "You get half! The shares and the bride price, it's all yours!"

I stopped, a triumphant smile finally breaking through my cold facade. "Excellent. I'll need a legally binding document, notarized by the Pack's lawyer. Until I have that in my hands, I won't be meeting with anyone from the Carlisle family."

Derrick slumped back in his chair, looking ten years older. He waved a tired hand at the butler. "Do as she says."

Dinah and Paige looked like they had swallowed poison. Their glares could have set me on fire.

I pocketed my phone and turned to leave. At the door, I paused.

"Oh, and one more thing." I looked back at Dinah.

"Have all of my mother's belongings packed and sent to my room. If a single item is missing..." I let the threat hang in the air, my eyes locking onto hers. "I will make you regret it."

A tremor ran through her. In my eyes, she saw something new, something she had never seen before.

Something that terrified her.

I walked out and returned to my assigned room, the smallest and most remote in the entire manor.

The moment the door closed behind me, the facade of strength crumbled. I sagged against the wood, my body shaking. That was the first step. The next would be facing the Carlisle Pack, a beast far more complex than the Hayes family, and an Alpha I couldn't read.

I needed more information. Especially about the night my sister died.

I opened the encrypted channel to Zane.

"Zane, I need everything you can find on Caroline's fall. Specifically, any communication records between her and Dorian Carlisle from that day."

The reply was almost instantaneous. "On it. And a heads-up, X. Dorian's Beta, Leo Foster, is putting out feelers on the UmbraNet. High price for any information on a healer who goes by 'X'."

I stared at the message, a slow, dangerous smile spreading across my lips.

They were looking for me.

Kira Hayes POV:

I leaned against the cold wall of my room, my finger swiping through the encrypted file Zane had sent. The dossier on Dorian was terrifyingly thorough, detailing everything from his corporate holdings to his private medical records.

One photo caught my eye. He was in the driver's seat of a vintage sports car, his profile sharp and unforgiving. His silver-gray eyes seemed to see right through the camera, right through to the person looking. Even in a still image, the raw power of a top-tier Alpha radiated from him.

The last line of the file was highlighted in red: Subject is suffering from advanced silver poisoning. Vital signs are unstable.

The next morning, the Pack lawyer arrived with the documents. I read every single word, my eyes scanning for loopholes, before signing my name. Fifteen percent of Hayes Corporation and a legally binding guarantee for half the bride price were now mine.

From my window, I could see the distant gray cliffs where Caroline had fallen. With the agreement secured, it was time to find the truth.

I changed into a black athletic outfit, tying my long hair into a practical ponytail. Before leaving, I retrieved a small, rolled-up cloth from a hidden compartment in my suitcase. Inside was a set of finely crafted silver acupuncture needles. The tools of my trade. The tools of Healer 'X'.

I slipped out the back of the manor, avoiding everyone, and drove a nondescript car toward the coast.

The wind whipped my hair as I got out of the car, the air thick with the smell of salt and sea. I walked to the edge of the cliff. Below, violent waves crashed against black, jagged rocks.

The official report said Caroline had slipped and fallen. An accident. I never believed it. Caroline was one of the best fighters in our Pack. She wouldn't just slip.

I began to search the cliff's edge, my eyes scanning the damp earth for anything out of place. My gaze snagged on a tiny glint of light half-buried in a thorny bush.

I pushed aside the prickly branches and dug into the mud. My fingers closed around a small, metal object.

A delicate hair clip, inlaid with a single blue sapphire.

My breath caught in my throat. It was the one I had given Caroline for her birthday. She never took it off. The clasp was bent at an unnatural angle, as if it had been ripped from her hair.

Proof. There was a struggle.

I clenched the clip in my fist, a wave of grief and rage washing over me. At that moment, a sound cut through the roar of the ocean-a low, pained snarl from below the cliff.

My heart jumped. I dropped to my stomach and peered over the edge.

On the rocky beach below, a tall figure was on his knees in the churning, icy water. His body was wracked with violent tremors. He wore a white shirt, now soaked and clinging to a broad, muscular back. Even from this distance, I could feel the waves of agony and barely controlled fury radiating from him.

It was Dorian.

What was he doing here? The file mentioned that extreme cold could temporarily alleviate the symptoms of his poisoning. His condition was worse than I thought.

This was an opportunity. A chance to observe him up close. To test him.

I found a narrow path worn into the cliffside by local fishermen and began the treacherous climb down.

When I reached the rocky shore, he sensed me. He whipped his head around, his silver-gray eyes glowing with the feral, dangerous light of a cornered animal.

His face was deathly pale, his forehead slick with sweat. The powerful Alpha looked fragile, volatile.

"Who are you?" His voice was a raw, guttural rasp, laced with suspicion.

I didn't answer, just walked slowly toward him. I could smell his scent-a potent mix of sea salt, cold pine, and something else... the faint, metallic tang of decay that clung to the sick. It was a scent only a Healer could truly identify.

He tried to stand, but his body betrayed him. He staggered and fell back to his knees in the surf.

"Stay back!" he snarled, a clear warning.

I stopped a few feet away. "You need help," I said, my voice even.

He let out a cold, humorless laugh. "Get out of here."

I ignored his command and pulled the cloth pouch from my pocket, unrolling it to reveal the gleaming silver needles.

The moment he saw them, his pupils constricted. A wave of pure killing intent exploded from him. "What do you think you're doing?" The wolf inside him was roaring, triggered by the sight and scent of silver.

To show silver to a werewolf was the ultimate provocation. An act of war.

I met his murderous gaze without flinching.

"Helping you," I said calmly. "Or watching you die here, consumed by your own failing body."

He stared at me, his mind clearly racing, trying to figure out who I was, what I wanted. Pain and reason warred on his face.

The waves crashed around us. We stood in a standoff, one man in agony, one woman holding his potential death in her hands.

Finally, the tension in his shoulders seemed to collapse. "Who sent you?" he asked, his voice laced with weary self-mockery. "What do you want from me?"

He thought I was an assassin sent by his enemies. Good. A misunderstanding was better than revealing my true purpose.

I didn't answer. I stepped forward and knelt, bringing my face level with his.

We were close. So close I could see the tremor in his long eyelashes, the bloodless line of his lips. His breath was hot and ragged against my cheek.

I raised a single silver needle, holding it up between us.