Chapter 4 The Alpha’s Claim

By the time I made it home, my mind was a mess.

I slammed the door behind me, leaned against it, and exhaled hard. The house felt safe, human, ordinary and yet, nothing inside me felt ordinary anymore.

I didn’t believe in fated bonds or wolves that walked like men. But I couldn’t shake his voice, his eyes, the way I felt when he said my name.

The pull had quieted a little, like a heartbeat I could barely hear, but it was still there constant. Unyielding.

I spent the day cleaning, reading, baking, anything to drown out the restless hum inside me. But as dusk fell, a knock echoed through the cabin. Three steady raps.

I froze.

“Clara.”

It was him.

“Go away!” I yelled before I could stop myself.

“Please,” Donald’s voice came through the door, calm but firm. “I need you to come with me. Just for a few minutes.”

“I told you I’m not going anywhere with you!”

Silence. Then, softly: “They’ve found you.”

The words chilled me.

When I opened the door, Donald stood there tall, broad-shouldered, and surrounded by several men and women dressed in dark clothes. They moved like shadows, silent but watchful.

“Who are they?” I whispered.

“My pack,” he said simply. “And they mean you no harm. But they need to see you.”

“I’m not some exhibit!”

“You’re not,” he agreed. “You’re… something much more important.”

Before I could argue again, one of the women graceful, sharp-eyed stepped forward. “Alpha, this is her?”

Alpha. The word hung in the air, heavy with respect.

Donald nodded. “Yes.”

The woman’s gaze swept over me, disbelieving. “She’s human.”

I folded my arms. “You say that like it’s a disease.”

No one spoke.

Then Donald turned to me, his expression calm but resolute. “Clara, come with me to the clearing. There’s something I have to do.”

I hesitated. “Why me?”

“Because you deserve to know who you are to me.”

Something in his voice steady, almost vulnerable made my anger soften. Against my better judgment, I followed.

The clearing was bathed in moonlight, surrounded by tall trees that whispered in the wind. Dozens of wolves stood in a half-circle, their eyes glowing faintly in the dark.

Some were in human form, others not. All of them watched me with suspicion.

I felt completely out of place a single fragile thread in a tapestry of strength and power.

Donald stepped forward, the pack parting for him like water. His presence filled the clearing. Even without understanding their ways, I could sense its authority. Respect. Fear.

He turned to face them, his golden eyes bright beneath the moon.

“Tonight,” he began, “you all stand before your Alpha and before my mate.”

The words hit me like thunder.

“Mate?” I choked out. “Donald what are you doing?”

Gasps rippled through the crowd. A few wolves growled softly, others whispered furiously.

“She’s human!” one man shouted.

“She doesn’t belong here!” another voice echoed.

Donald raised a hand, and silence fell instantly.

“Enough,” he said, his voice cutting through the night like steel. “The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes. She chose her and I will not question her will.”

The murmurs died down, replaced by uneasy silence.

I took a step back, shaking my head. “Donald, you can’t just say that in front of all these people! I didn’t agree to”

He turned to me, his gaze steady but gentle. “I know you didn’t. But the truth doesn’t wait for consent it simply is.”

“This isn’t truth!” I snapped. “It’s madness!”

A low growl rose from somewhere in the circle, but Donald’s glare silenced it instantly.

He stepped closer to me, lowering his voice. “Clara, I didn’t plan to tell them this soon. But they sensed you. If I hadn’t claimed you now, they would’ve feared you. Questioned you. Maybe even harmed you.”

My heart raced. “So you just decided to announce I’m your… mate? Without asking me?”

“I did it to protect you.”

I wanted to scream at him but the sincerity in his voice, the weight of his words, made my anger falter.

Still, I couldn’t understand any of this.

The wolves around us were whispering again, disbelief written across their faces. Some looked angry. Some curious. One the sharp-eyed woman from earlier stepped forward.

“Alpha, with respect,” she said carefully, “this breaks every rule. The bond cannot be real. A human cannot survive it.”

Donald’s gaze hardened. “Then watch her survive.”

A ripple of unease spread through the pack.

The woman bowed slightly but didn’t hide her disapproval.

Donald turned back to me. “You don’t have to accept this tonight,” he said quietly. “But they needed to hear it from me. You needed to know how far I’ll go for you.”

His words left me breathless.

“I don’t understand why,” I whispered.

“You will,” he said softly. “When your true self awakens.”

My chest tightened. “What does that even mean?”

He smiled faintly. “That the human you think you are isn’t all there is.”

I stared at him, stunned.

The wind picked up, rustling the leaves. A howl echoed from the distance long, haunting, and strange.

Donald’s head turned sharply. “They’re close.”

“Who?” I asked.

“The rogues.”

The pack immediately shifted, forming a defensive circle. Some crouched low, eyes gleaming; others began to change, their bodies rippling with energy.

I stumbled back, terrified but Donald caught my hand.

The instant his skin touched mine, the pull blazed to life again, stronger than ever. My vision blurred, and for a heartbeat, I saw something impossible silver light pulsing under my skin, wild and alive.

Donald’s eyes widened. “It’s starting.”

“What’s starting?”

But before he could answer, three figures emerged from the shadows men with dark, feral eyes and the smell of blood in the air.

Rogues.

Donald released me, stepping forward with a low growl that vibrated through the ground. His wolves shifted behind him, ready to strike.

The tallest rogue sneered. “So it’s true. The mighty Alpha’s gone soft for a human.”

Donald’s response was calm but deadly. “Touch her, and I’ll end you where you stand.”

The rogue laughed. “You’d protect her with your life?”

“Gladly.”

Something inside me stirred then a strange, fierce warmth, like a spark waking up in my veins. The air shimmered faintly around me, and even the rogues seemed to notice.

One of them frowned. “What… is she?”

Donald’s eyes never left me. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

Then, without another word, he shifted a massive black wolf, fur glinting under the moonlight.

The rogues lunged.

I stumbled back as chaos erupted snarls, claws, flashes of fur and fury. But through it all, my gaze locked on Donald.

He moved like living shadow, powerful and precise. The forest itself seemed to bow to him.

When the last rogue fell, silence returned, heavy and trembling.

Donald shifted back, his chest heaving, golden eyes still burning with fury and something else. Worry.

He came to me slowly. “You’re safe.”

I wanted to argue. To deny. But as he reached for me, that same light flared in my veins again warm, protective, alive.

Donald’s voice softened. “You feel it now, don’t you?”

I didn’t answer.

Because I did.

The pull wasn’t just between us anymore. It was inside me awake, alive, and waiting.