MARKED BY THE ROGUE ALPHA

“You are nothing here.”

The words hit me like a hard slap. Alpha Damian's voice was low and rough. He stood very close to me. I could feel the heat coming from his big body. His fingers held my chin tight and forced my face up. I had no choice but to look into his sharp golden eyes.

“Just a slave,” he continued. His breath touched my skin.

“The sooner you accept that, the less pain I will give you. You will serve me. Give me everything I want, your obedience, your tears, even your life without any hesitation.” His thumb moved slowly across my shaking lower lip. It felt possessive and mocking.

“I own every part of you now, little princess. Body and soul.” He added.

A strong shiver ran down my spine. Fear mixed with something sharper. Something I did not want to name. How did my world fall apart so completely in one night?

Only hours earlier, everything had been perfect.

I had woken up in the Crescent Moon Palace. The smell of fresh flowers filled the air and I heard my mother warm laughter. It was my eighteenth birthday. It was the day I would finally be presented to the pack as a grown wolf. Candles glowed softly on the long banquet table. My father, the Alpha King, smiled with pride as he raised his goblet. Guests from allied packs filled the hall. Their conversations were buzzing with excitement.

I had just closed my eyes, ready to send my deepest wish to the Moon Goddess, when death came without warning.

A silver dagger flew through the air. It missed my cheek by inches and went deep into my father's chest with a sickening sound. Blood sprayed across the white marble and stained the birthday decorations red. His eyes opened wide in shock. He staggered and held the dagger before he fell forward.

“Father!” My scream tore from my throat. It was raw and desperate.

Before I could move, a second blade hit my mother's chest. She gasped once, a small broken sound, then fell beside him in a pool of red blood.

“Mother… Father…” Tears filled my eyes as I tried to run to their bodies but strong arms pulled me back.

“Your Highness, we must get you to safety!” one of the royal guards shouted. Another guard joined him. Together they dragged me away from the blood and bodies.

Chaos broke out around us. Snarls and howls filled the grand hall as our guards fought the invaders. It was a savage unknown pack wearing dark armor. They moved with terrifying speed. Our warriors were skilled but these wolves fought like demons. One by one, my father's loyal men fell. Their blood soaked the floor where I used to dance as a child.

I twisted hard in the guards hands and tried to reach my parents.

“Let me go! I have to help them” I cried.

We barely left the hall before more enemies blocked the corridors. The guards cursed and pushed me back inside. They hid me in a dark corner behind heavy curtains. My whole body was shaking. This could not be happening. My perfect life, my family, my future, was being taken away in minutes.

Silent sobs shook me until a guard whispered, “Quiet, Princess. They will hear you.”

Heavy footsteps came closer. A dark figure stepped into the flickering torchlight.

He was enormous, taller and broader than any wolf I had ever seen. Power came off him like dark waves. When his golden eyes looked at me through the gap in the curtains, pure terror held me in place. This was not an ordinary alpha. This was a monster.

My guards roared and attacked him at once. They were elite warriors of the Crescent Moon Pack. But he destroyed them in seconds. Claws flashed. Bones broke with sickening sounds. Blood sprayed the walls. In moments, both men lay dead at his feet. Their eyes stared at the ceiling without seeing anything.

I ran, my heart pounding loud in my ears. But his warriors were everywhere. Rough hands grabbed me from behind and slammed me face down on the cold stone floor. Pain exploded in my head as it hit the ground. Stars burst behind my eyes. I tasted blood in my mouth.

They dragged me back to the banquet hall, back to the nightmare. My parents' bodies still lay where they had fallen. The huge man stood over them like a conqueror. His boot pressed down hard on my father's chest and ground into the wound.

“I am going to ruin your precious daughter so much that she will beg the Moon Goddess for death,” he said loudly. His voice carried across the hall. His eyes never left mine.

“She will learn what it means to belong to a rogue alpha.” He added.

Helpless rage burned inside me. I clenched my fists until my nails drew blood from my palms. But I could do nothing as his men lifted my parents' bodies like pieces of meat.

“Burn what is left of them,” he ordered coldly. “Then we move out.”

“No” The word tore out of me. I broke free with desperate strength and threw myself at the men carrying my mother. My beautiful silk gown soaked up their still-warm blood.

“Where are you taking her? Please stop! She is your queen” I said.

A hard push sent me falling to the ground. Pain shot through my ribs. Before I could stand, a large hand grabbed my long hair and yanked me up. My scalp burned as they dragged me outside and threw me into a heavy iron cage made for captured animals.

The caravan started moving. Through the bars I watched in horror as my parents' bodies were thrown on the ground. Wolves from the conquered territories rushed at them. They shouted curses and threw stones at the corpses.

Small stones came through the cage bars and hit me too. They cut my cheek and arms. Warm blood ran down my face. But the pain in my heart was much worse.

At the front of the line, the man rode a big black stallion. His broad back was straight and strong. He never looked back at the destruction he caused. I stared at him through my tears and made a silent promise, One day, I will make he pay for this. Even if it costs me everything.

The journey was merciless. We traveled through the dense forest without stopping for rest, food or water. My stomach hurt with hunger. Thirst made my lips crack. Exhaustion finally pulled me into a restless sleep on the cold metal floor.

When I woke up suddenly, the cage had stopped outside tall stone walls that disappeared into the night sky. Torches flickered like watching eyes in the darkness.

“Lock her in the dungeons,” The man's commanding voice rang out. He rode ahead without looking back.

Rough hands pulled me from the cage. I stumbled and my injured leg hit a sharp rock. I cried out in pain but the guards did not slow down or show mercy. They pushed me through narrow damp corridors that smelled of mold and old blood until we reached a pitch-black cell.

The heavy iron door slammed shut. The lock clicked like the end of everything.

I fell onto the dirty straw-covered floor and wrapped my arms tightly around my knees. Tears ran down my cheeks in silence.

Yesterday morning I had woken up to laughter, warm hugs, and the promise of a bright future. Today I was nothing but a broken slave in a rogue alpha fortress, alone, hungry, and marked for whatever cruel fate he had planned.

Yet as the heavy darkness pressed around me, I could not forget the memory of his golden eyes burning into mine… or the strange, terrifying flutter low in my belly when his thumb touched my lip.

I hated him with every part of me.