
Beneath the Alpha's Claim
Glory Udochukwu Kings-Nwachukwu · Ongoing · 31.6k Words
Introduction
On her 18th birthday, Layla hopes for a better future and eagerly awaits the arrival of her soul mate. Her heart leaps when she finds out that he is none other than Devon, the Alpha's son and the most powerful werewolf in the pack. But her dreams are shattered when Devon coldly rejects her, choosing Valerie instead. But despite the rejection, Devon's possessiveness creates a dangerous and confusing bond between the two.
When Sebastian, the mysterious and commanding Alpha, arrives in Silverwood, he sets his sights on Layla, sparking a fierce conflict between the two power players. Sebastian offers Layla a way out of her suffering, but his intentions may not be as pure as they seem. As the danger mounts, Layla uncovers shocking truths about her origins, betrayals, and the manipulative forces that have shaped her life.
Caught in a storm of power, love and betrayal, Layla must travel a dangerous path to fulfill her destiny. But her heart is torn between two Alphas, and enemies lurk in every shadow. Can she find the strength to fight for her place in a world that seeks to crush her?
Chapter 1
Leila's pov
I don't know who my father is. I don't remember my mother very well either.
Father's face has long faded from my memory while mother's face is a blur. I don't even remember her voice but I remember the day she left.
It was a very cold morning. My birthday cake was on the dining table, the candles were in and I sat in my chair waiting for her to come home. When she did, she clutched a suitcase. She never told me “Happy Birthday” instead she walked through the door. My own mother didn't waste a second to turn her back on me. I was 7 years old back then — too young to understand why she abandoned me.
“She's better off without you.” Someone had whispered to me that day. I didn't know what they meant but I do.
The Silverwood pack is my prison. A cage for people like me.
Someone had said it was not a place for someone like me. I never really understood until the day I realized the pack thought of me as a monster.
Why?
Because my father was a Rogue.
The people of Silverwood see Rogues as monsters and they said my father was the worst monster of all. I had never met him. I don't even know his name but it didn't matter to them. They said anyone born of a Rogue was a Rogue too.
“Rogue spawn!” They would hiss thinking I couldn't hear them.
“Abomination!” They would whisper for me to hear.
They didn't even hide their hatred at all.
Why should they?
I'm nobody.
“Leila!” Valerie yelled and I jerked upwards, her sharp voice pulling me from my thoughts.
Valerie has long, golden-blonde hair that she often wears in perfectly styled waves. She has sharp, piercing blue eyes that hold a hint of cruelty. Valerie possesses a slender figure, accentuated by her fashionable and well-put-together appearance. She's perfect in every way I'm not.
“Why do you always disturb Leila?” Klaus, her father, dropped his iPad on the polished mahogany table.
Valerie scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Why do you even waste your time on her, father? She's nobody.”
Klaus glanced at me with a look of pity etched on his face. “Go inside, Leila.”
“But father!” Valerie stomped her foot on the floor.
“Valerie, that's enough!” Klaus said in a firm voice then he looked at me. “Go inside now, Leila.”
I looked between him and Valerie, not knowing who to obey. “But —”
“Now!” He said.
“Ugh! I can't do this!” Valerie pushed her seat and walked away before I could.
It's going to be a long day.
After fulfilling my duties in the kitchen, I hovered in the garden, the only place I found peace.
The wind tugged softly at the flowers, carrying a few petals in midair. Now, I suddenly wished I was like those petals – free, gone like the wind. But that was only wishful thinking. I was trapped. In this hell.
“Leila.” A soft voice called behind me and I was startled.
I quickly rose to my feet and bowed.
“Relax, it's me.” The voice said.
I looked up to find Klaus. My stuffy shoulders sagged comfortably and I heaved a sigh.
“Are you alright?” He asked softly, beaming at me with a smile.
I returned his smile. “Yes.”
It was strange to me that Valerie was his daughter and yet his smile was warm while hers made my stomach twist in an uncomfortable way.
“Are you sure?” He asked, taking a seat on one of the chairs in the garden.
I was quick to nod even though there was a heavy feeling in my chest.
He shook his head and handed me a small bag of bread and cheese. “Here. I figured you might be hungry.”
“Thank you, sir. But I'm not hungry.” I bowed my head, praying to the Goddess that my stomach wouldn't betray me. But it did and it was loud like a siren.
My stomach grumbled annoyingly and Klaus put the bag in my hand.
“Always listen to your stomach.” He said with a smile.
‘I wish I could put mine on silent.’ I nearly said.
“Thank you.” I brought the bag to my chest.
Without wasting a second, I opened the bag and whipped out the expensive bread and cheese dressing.
One bite out of it brought tears to my eyes. “Thank you so much.”
“You're welcome, kid.” Klaus smiled brightly.
Klaus was the only person in the pack that didn't treat me like dirt. I felt somewhat safe around him and appreciated his kindness even though it was a hidden one.
If the Alpha found out he was helping me, Klaus might lose his position as Beta. If that happens, I would lose the only person that doesn't hate me.
Actually, I see why he keeps his distance and I don't blame him. No one wanted to be seen with an outcast like me.
No one.
****
I sit in the tiny room the pack Alpha gave to me — the room barely bigger than Valerie's closet. Then and only then am I allowed to dream.
Tomorrow, I will turn 18.
Tomorrow, I will finally feel the bond of a fated mate.
It was the only thing keeping me going.
The Moon Goddess will choose someone who will love me. She will choose someone who will see me for who I am and who I'm supposed to be.
My mate will save me. He will take me away from the Silverwood pack and Valerie and everyone who hates me.
On my birthdays, there were no celebrations, no warm greetings, no cakes and no presents. I didn't expect any of those things. At least for someone like me but I would have my celebration, my warm greeting, and my present tomorrow – my mate.
Tomorrow, I'll find him.
He would be mine and I would be his. He would call me his “love” and not a “rogue spawn”. He would see me for who I am.
“Tomorrow…” I shut my eyes and dreamed. “...everything will change.”
Last Chapters
#28 Chapter Twenty eight
Last Updated: 1/17/2026#27 Chapter Twenty Seven
Last Updated: 1/17/2026#26 Chapter Twenty Six
Last Updated: 1/17/2026#25 Chapter Twenty Five
Last Updated: 1/17/2026#24 Chapter Twenty Four
Last Updated: 1/17/2026#23 Chapter Twenty three
Last Updated: 1/17/2026#22 Chapter Twenty two
Last Updated: 1/17/2026#21 Chapter Twenty One
Last Updated: 1/17/2026#20 Chapter Twenty
Last Updated: 1/17/2026#19 Chapter Nineteen
Last Updated: 1/17/2026
You Might Like 😍
Diaries Of A Hybrid And Her Mate
Beautiful Aubrianne Ivanov, raised by her single mom, had a tough childhood. With low self-esteem, she became an outcast and was alone one too many times for her liking. Time spent at her part time job, she eventually grew into a brave, confident, and determined young woman who walked right into an opportunity that would change her life forever.
Will Aubrianne truly feel whole? Will she find what has been missing in her life? Will she allow herself happiness and joy? Will she find love, and most importantly, will she survive what's to come?
Join Aubrianne on her journey as she discovers who/what she is and navigates all the heartbreak, betrayal, drama, and exciting and thrilling events that come her way...
Excerpt:
She lay before him in all her magnificent beauty draped across his king-size bed in the most compelling and provocative way known to man or beast. And for Alpha Zayne, it was the most captivating view he had ever had the pleasure of seeing with his own eyes.
She stared at his every movement, lips slightly parted, her stunning brown eyes scanning every inch of his gorgeously toned and glorious body while heat radiated off of hers. He was HERS.
Her body trembled in delight and anticipation; she was ready and wanted to be with him in every way.
As innocent as she was, she wanted him to...no need him to take her in the worse ways, bringing her to heights of pleasures she had never experienced before.
Fuck she is beautiful, one fine specimen, and she is all MINE, MY MATE. A wave of pure unbridled possessiveness vibrated through Alpha Zayne. He thanked the Divine Moon Goddess, for she has truly blessed him.
He drank her in, eyes trailing up her toned sexy legs spread wide for him, and she gave him that come-and-get-it look.
The Alpha King's Human Mate
“I have waited nine years for you. That’s nearly a decade since I’ve felt this emptiness inside me. Part of me began to wonder if you didn’t exist or you’d already died. And then I found you, right inside my own home.”
He used one of his hands to stroke my cheek and tingles erupted everywhere.
“I’ve spent enough time without you and I will not let anything else keep us apart. Not other wolves, not my drunken father who’s barely holding himself together the past twenty years, not your family – and not even you.”
Clark Bellevue has spent her entire life as the only human in the wolf pack - literally. Eighteen years ago, Clark was the accidental result of a brief affair between one of the most powerful Alphas in the world and a human woman. Despite living with her father and her werewolf half-siblings, Clark has never felt like she really belonged in the werewolf world. But right as Clark plans to leave the werewolf world behind for good, her life gets flipped upside down by her mate: the next Alpha King, Griffin Bardot. Griffin has been waiting years for the chance to meet his mate, and he's not about to let her go anytime soon. It doesn't matter how far Clark tries to run from her destiny or her mate - Griffin intends to keep her, no matter what he has to do or who stands in his way.
Taste of Fate: The Vampire King's Human Mate
He reached for the back of my head and pulled me up just enough to reach my neck. When his fangs slid into me, the pain was instant, electric. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. My hands found his shoulders, clawing for something to hold. My legs kicked. Tears streamed down my cheeks.
He moaned against my throat as he drank, and the sound was devastating.
After One Night with the Alpha
I thought I was waiting for love. Instead, I got fucked by a beast.
My world was supposed to bloom at the Moonshade Bay Full Moon Festival—champagne buzzing in my veins, a hotel room booked for Jason and me to finally cross that line after two years. I’d slipped into lacy lingerie, left the door unlocked, and lay on the bed, heart pounding with nervous excitement.
But the man who climbed into my bed wasn’t Jason.
In the pitch-black room, drowned in a heady, spicy scent that made my head spin, I felt hands—urgent, scorching—searing my skin. His thick, pulsing cock pressed against my dripping cunt, and before I could gasp, he thrust hard, tearing through my innocence with ruthless force. Pain burned, my walls clenching as I clawed at his iron shoulders, stifling sobs. Wet, slick sounds echoed with every brutal stroke, his body unrelenting until he shuddered, spilling hot and deep inside me.
"That was amazing, Jason," I managed to say.
"Who the fuck is Jason?"
My blood turned to ice. Light slashed across his face—Brad Rayne, Alpha of Moonshade Pack, a werewolf, not my boyfriend. Horror choked me as I realized what I’d done.
I ran away for my life!
But weeks later, I woke up pregnant with his heir!
They say my heterochromatic eyes mark me as a rare true mate. But I’m no wolf. I’m just Elle, a nobody from the human district, now trapped in Brad's world.
Brad’s cold gaze pins me: “You carry my blood. You’re mine.”
There is no other choice for me but to chose this cage. My body also betrays me, craving the beast who ruined me.
WARNING: Mature Readers Only
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates
"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."
I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.
Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."
New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.
Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates
When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.
But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
Cursed Fates
The Spy Who Left
"I still can't believe she actually did it. Aria Hart, filing for divorce. Who saw that coming?"
"How long do we think it'll take before she comes crawling back?" Another voice joins the conversation.
"Three days," Victoria declares. "Five at most. She has no money, no skills, no family. Where's she going to go?"
When Aria Chen divorced billionaire Leon Hart, New York's elite sneered, betting she'd crawl back within days. She never did.
Three years later, the world is rocked when Dr. Aria Vale, CEO of a revolutionary cybersecurity empire, steps into the spotlight. The mysterious genius who built a billion-dollar company from nothing is none other than Leon's discarded wife, the woman everyone thought was just a pretty ornament.
Now, every powerful man wants the queen Leon threw away a renowned scientist seeking partnership, a financial titan proposing an empire, and an actor offering devotion. Each sees the brilliance Leon ignored.
Then Leon discovers the truth: Aria's sacrifices, her secret double life, and the daughter she's been raising without him. For the first time, the man who once took her for granted must fight for her love. But can he compete with men who valued her from the beginning?
A story of love, betrayal, and power where the king must kneel before the queen who never needed saving.
Cursed To Be His
At thirteen, everything changed.
After her parents were murdered, she was cursed by a powerful witch and used as a vessel for Elder magic. Saving her life came at an impossible cost; the curse was broken, but so was the wolf inside her, leaving her human.
Ten years later, Talia hides her grief behind sharp sarcasm and a smile she no longer believes. When a rogue attack proves she can no longer protect herself, or the people she loves, she leaves the only home she's ever known for the quiet human town of Ashbourne Hollow, determined to disappear.
Instead, she catches the attention of the town's most dangerous owner.
Alaric Lazarus is a vampire who rules from the black castle overlooking Ashbourne Hollow. He is cold, enigmatic, and impossible to read, but he awakens something in Talia she can't explain. She doesn't trust him. He trusts her even less.
Then vampires begin turning up dead.
Forced into an uneasy alliance, Talia and Alaric uncover a trail that leads back to the family she lost... and the curse she thought she'd escaped. As old enemies emerge from the shadows and buried secrets come to light, Talia discovers that everything she believed about her past was a lie.
Because the curse that stole her wolf was never meant to save her.
It was meant to lead her to him.
This is book 3 in the series, but it can be read as a standalone.
Book 1 - The Matchmaker
Book 2 - The Heir of Flame and Fang
Omega Bound
Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life.
Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
The Ice Between Us.
Then comes Jax Miller.
Jax is a hotheaded rookie with a lightning-fast puck and a reputation for burning bridges. He doesn't follow playbooks, he doesn't respect authority, and he’s determined to melt Julian’s icy composure. When a viral video of their on-ice collision threatens to bankrupt the program, Coach Clain delivers an ultimatum that feels like a death sentence: they must live together in a cramped, two-bed dorm for the duration of the season.
Forced to navigate the high-stakes world of sports fame, "forbidden" locker-room tension, and the mysterious blackmailer who caught their first mistake on camera, Julian and Jax must decide what’s more dangerous: losing their careers, or losing themselves to the person they were supposed to hate.
A Queen Among Darkness (Book 4 in the Gods' Saga)
For centuries, she has been on the run, helping the supernatural community under the cloak of anonymity while she works to clear her name and save the very people after her from destruction.
Enemies are closing in, but an unexpected complication befalls her when she realises she’s been fated to someone who wants her species exterminated. After all, an evil chance seldom comes alone.
A Queen Among Darkness is the 4th book in the Queen Among Series/The Gods' Saga. This is an interconnected series. To see how it ends, I recommend reading the full series.
Books in the series in order:
A Queen Among Alphas - Book 1
Bite-Size Luna - A Queen Among Alphas Prequel (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Snakes - Book 2
A Queen Among Blood - Book 3
A Queen Among Darkness - Book 4
Whole Again - A Queen Among Alpha's spin-off (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Tides - Book 5
Valor, Virtue, and Verve - Tides Prequel Spin-off (will be available under book 5)
A Queen Among Gods - Book 6
Runaway Empress - A Queen Among Snakes Prequel (will be available under book 2)
A Queen Among Tempests - Book 7
Dark Vocation - Darkness spin-off (will be available under book 4)
A Court of Arcane Souls Anthology (side character short stories exclusive to Ream)
Royal Shadow Series (Next Generation Coming Soon)
Kaged In
Follow Kage's journey as he tries to heal, falls in love and faces his inner turmoil.












