The Alpha Who Feared to Claim Me
Lily · Completed · 7.9k Words
Introduction
He would rather give me a cheap vial of synthetic bonding pheromones than bare his fangs at me.
I thought I was just the unwanted substitute for my runaway sister, that he felt absolutely nothing for me.
I slammed the door and left, heading to the Moon Well to confide. But the moment my blood dripped in, the Alpha's voice echoed:
"I finally married her... but I was born with a curse. How do I mark her without hurting her the moment I bite down..."
Chapter 1
We’ve been married for almost a month, yet my Alpha keeps hiding in the study to avoid me.
He would rather give me a cheap vial of synthetic bonding pheromones than bare his fangs at me.
I thought I was just the unwanted substitute for my runaway sister, that he felt absolutely nothing for me.
I slammed the door and left, heading to the Moon Well to confide. But the moment my blood dripped in, the Alpha's voice echoed:
"I finally married her... but I was born with a curse. How do I mark her without hurting her the moment I bite down..."
——
The study door was ajar. I stood outside for two seconds before pushing it open.
Lucian's back was to me, fresh from training, wiping himself down with a towel.
His bronze skin still glistened with sweat, mixed with the scent of pine and blood—his signature. Every wolf in the pack knew that scent. None had ever been immune to it.
I stood frozen, throat tightening.
We'd been married almost a month. I should've been used to this body by now.
But every time I saw it, my heart betrayed me before my mind caught up.
"What are you doing here?"
He turned, saw me, and froze mid-motion.
I slipped off my outer robe, letting the silk nightgown show. I let his gaze land on me.
His eyes paused at my waist for half a second, then darted away.
I could tell he was holding something back—and that only made the ache in my chest worse.
Nearly a month together, and I'd barely felt his fingertips.
I clenched my fists and threw the words at him.
"I can't take this anymore. We've been together almost a month. How long are you planning to drag this out?"
The Blood Moon Presentation was next week. The elders would inspect the mark in front of everyone.
Without a real bonding mark, this marriage would be a joke. I refused to be the joke—refused to be known as the second daughter whose own husband wouldn't touch her.
Something darkened in Lucian's eyes. He dropped the towel and crossed the room.
"You need my help?"
He was finally willing. My heart flared without permission.
He eased me down onto the couch, his fingers brushing my arm, warm against my skin.
I closed my eyes, waiting for what came next.
Instead, right as we were about to touch, he jerked back. The warmth vanished with him.
I opened my eyes and watched him yank open a drawer, pulling out a small transparent vial.
Synthetic bonding pheromone. The kind only cowards used—wolves too afraid to actually mark their mates.
Then he pulled out a pair of finger gloves.
Something roared in my skull.
So this was what he thought I'd come here for. This was all he thought I wanted.
I snatched the vial and gloves and shoved them into his chest.
"You're so damn rigid! I want YOU—not your hands!"
The study went silent except for his ragged breathing.
He stared at me, eyes burning like they could scorch straight through skin. I'd seen that look a hundred times before. Every time, I thought he'd finally cross the distance. Every time, he stopped short.
His hands stayed at his sides, knuckles white from the force of restraint. He didn't move an inch closer.
I stared at those hands until my anger boiled over.
"Lucian, if you can't do it, just say so. I'm not the only Alpha's mate in this territory—I could find someone else to mark me."
His throat worked.
"That's not what I meant."
But he still didn't move.
No kiss. No real closeness. His eyes even started to slide away from mine.
Third time he'd backed away.
I grabbed the collar of my nightgown and snatched my robe off the chair back.
I slammed the door so hard the torches down the hallway flickered.
My eyes stung, but I told myself—not one tear. Not in front of him.
I headed straight for Zoe's tavern.
My phone buzzed nonstop in my pocket. I glanced at the caller ID and powered it off.
"Not answering?" Zoe asked, cigar between her teeth, eyeing me sideways.
I threw back a shot of hard liquor, coughing at the burn.
"That smoke of yours smells awful."
"Let me enjoy my vices." She waved the cigar pack in front of my face, smirking like she knew something.
A few words in, and everything spilled out of me.
"He'd rather use his hand to get me off, rather fake the bonding scent with some cheap potion, than actually mark me. Doesn't that mean he never saw me as his mate at all?"
The moment I said it, I realized the thought had been festering in me for far too long.
"Maybe he's just not into female wolves?" Zoe raised an eyebrow.
I shook my head.
Back at the academy, Lucian's pheromones alone could send the entire campus of she-wolves into heat. Countless girls had thrown themselves at him, and he'd turned every one away, cold-faced.
It wasn't that he didn't like women.
It was that he didn't like ME.
Zoe narrowed her eyes, took a slow drag.
"Could it be he's still hung up on your sister?"
My chest lurched.
"Your sister was supposed to marry him first, remember? Then she packed her bags and ran off with some rogue wolf. Word is, the whole pack knew he was seething when you got shoved into her place."
Half a month of him bending to my every whim, giving me anything I asked for—except this one thing. Except the bond.
He'd rather concoct a fake pheromone to fool himself than actually bite down, break skin, leave a mark that was truly his.
So he had someone else in his heart. And I was just the replacement. Not even worth touching.
Touch me, and he'd probably be seeing someone else's shadow layered over mine.
Blood rushed straight to my skull. I grabbed my glass and slammed it down on the table.
"That's it. I've decided."
Zoe jumped. "Decided what?"
"I'm doing the Rejection tomorrow!"
Last Chapters
You Might Like 😍
The Blackthorn Saga: The Heir (Book 1 & 2)
Pulled into a hidden world he never knew existed, Kruz is forced to face the truth—he isn’t just different.
He’s a vampire.
The transformation is only the beginning. Thrust from a life of survival into one of power, wealth, and expectation, Kruz is given a position no one his age should hold: District Elder.
With it comes authority. Responsibility. And enemies he doesn’t yet understand.
And then there’s the bond.
Forced into a connection he didn’t choose, Kruz is tied to a girl—whether he wants it or not. She’s a complication. A problem. A constant reminder that his life is no longer his own.
Because the one person he wants… is the one he can’t have.
As pressure builds and danger closes in, Kruz is forced to walk a line few survive—between duty and desire, control and instinct, the life he had and the one being forced upon him.
Because in this world, power isn’t earned slowly.
It’s given.
And if you’re not ready for it—
It will destroy you.
Pregnant by My Husband's Rival Alpha
Those words should have destroyed me, but the truth was worse: I'd been used as a broodmare by the man who swore to love me, set up in a hotel room with a stranger because My husband Alexander Cross couldn't father children himself, and now I carried the secret babies of Damon Lester—the most powerful and dangerous Alpha in San Loris—while my own family replaced me with the daughter they'd always wanted. But when that same stranger's doctor appeared at my door, when twenty million dollars exchanged hands over a fake perfume bearing my secret identity, and when Damon's gray eyes locked onto mine with recognition I couldn't afford, I realized my carefully hidden life as the legendary perfumer Vera was colliding with a pregnancy that could cost me everything.
Could I protect my babies from the husband plotting my death, hide my true identity from the Alpha who's been hunting me for years, and reclaim the freedom I'd buried along with my dreams—even if it means standing alone against the wolves who see me as nothing more than a womb to be used and discarded?
The Billionaire's Mask (A Dark Steamy Romance)
Ignition And Ice; A Racer's Forbidden Blueprint
The first? Becoming an architect worthy of finally making her mark.
The second?
Convincing herself that one day, Hayes Gallagher–NHL superstar, lifelong best friend, and the man she’s secretly loved for years–will finally see her as more than the girl who’s always there when he needs her.
He doesn’t.
So when Hayes abandons her for yet another girl, Merritt decides she’s done waiting.
One reckless night later, she ends up in the arms of a stranger whose touch makes forgetting Hayes dangerously easy.
She never expects to see him again. Until that stranger turns out to be Stellan Mercer.
Formula One’s most infamous golden boy. And Hayes’s stepbrother who is the one man Hayes would rather destroy than share a room with.
When Stellan uses his influence to make Merritt lead designer on his luxury penthouse project, staying away from him becomes impossible.
Working behind closed doors quickly turns into a secret neither of them can afford. Because the more Merritt falls for the man she was never supposed to touch… the more Hayes realizes he may have lost the only girl who ever truly loved him.
And when jealousy, family rivalry, and the spotlight collide, Merritt will have to decide which dream she’s willing to lose.
Her career, her heart. Or both.
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother
"What is wrong with me?
Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?
It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.
He’s my boyfirend’s brother.
This is Tyler’s family.
I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.
**
As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.
Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.
When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.
I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.
**
I hate girls like her.
Entitled.
Delicate.
And still—
Still.
The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.
Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.
I shouldn’t care.
I don’t care.
It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.
It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.
I’m not here to rescue anyone.
Especially not her.
Especially not someone like her.
She’s not my problem.
And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.
But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
Lethal Web of Mafia's Revenge (Sequal to "Innocent in Mafia's Web)
He was a beast inhabiting this mansion, inflicting inhuman torture on my poor soul. He had created a living hell for me, this pitiful girl, within his castle.
On this cold winter night, he threw my wounded body into the icy pool, arrogantly enjoying it all, drinking and smoking expensive cigars. A satisfied, cold smile played on his lips as he reveled in my pain. His face was filled with the darkness of sin.
“How...more...am I…still…standing?” I stammered, my lips trembling.
Zain paused, thinking. Then, turning away from her, he replied:
“Until you die!”
With that, he left. As he wished. At that moment, my wish came true; I died.
But not in a frozen pool; I was struck in the head by a bullet from afar, blood splattering everywhere—that was far more gruesome.
My consciousness began to fade, but suddenly, I opened my eyes again and found myself mopping the floor in an ordinary restaurant.
I was startled: What happened? I was reborn? This is unbelievable!
The Billoniare's Fake Husband
Quin is wealthy, controlling, and desperate to keep his inheritance, so he offers Tyler a deal: stay married until he clicks thirty and get paid. Tyler doesn’t trust him, but he needs the money Quin was offering, so he agrees.
What starts as a fake marriage soon turns into something messy and real. Feelings begin to get involved and walls start to crack. Suddenly Tyler is risking his heart for a man he swore to hate.
Now, with secrets coming out and time running out, they both have to decide—is this just a mistake… or something worth fighting for?
Tempted By The Enemy
She escapes to Preston Island to attend the wedding without informing him only to collide with Lucas’s hot, fiery and arrogant brother, the twenty-three-year-old, Nicholas Donnelly. Sparks immediately fly between them but Alyssa refuses to acknowledge them fearing her brother's wrath.
The wedding is over and Alyssa tries hard to forget the mysterious Nicholas Donnelly but can he forget her? Can he ignore the attraction he feels for her, feelings that have resurfaced after ten years?
What will Allyssa do when she is stalked by the man who has been invading her dreams since the day she met him? What will she do when she is whisked away to a deserted island by the unpredictable Nicholas Donnelly? Can she tame her heart or surrender to sinful temptations? Read to find out!
Part of the Temptation Series. Can be read as a standalone.
Where I End and She Begins
But when a body lies at Amelia’s feet, and her hands are covered in blood that isn’t hers, one question echoes louder than the rest:
How did it come to this?
As the school year unfolds, cracks begin to show — in friendships, in family, and in Amelia’s own mind. The lines between loyalty and control blur. Between truth and perception. Between who she is… and who she thinks she needs to be.
Because some friendships don’t just shape you.
They consume you.
And when the illusion shatters, there’s always something left behind.
Offside Temptation
Ethan Ryder was a disaster waiting to happen. Hot-headed, reckless, and constantly one bad decision away from ruining his career. I was supposed to hate him. Instead, I memorized him. I learned exactly how to push his buttons on the ice just to see the fire in his eyes.
When he grabbed my jersey in that locker room and kissed me in front of twenty cameras, it wasn't a mistake. It was the moment the line between hatred and obsession finally snapped. The media called it a scandal. They called us a divorced couple. But they didn't see the way Ethan trembled when I cornered him in the hallway afterward.
"You're staring again," he whispered, his back hitting the wall.
"You're still here," I replied calmly, stepping close enough to feel his erratic pulse.
He thought I was cold. He thought I was controlled. He didn't realize that every time he looked at me, I was fighting the urge to completely destroy the distance between us.
Now, the league is forcing us to live together, train together, and smile for the cameras to fix our public image. But the more time we spend alone in my apartment, the harder it is to pretend I just want to play hockey...
The Alpha Of The Shadow Pack And His Mute Luna
Vanessa, the mute runt of a cursed litter, has only ever known cruelty and abuse. Her voice stolen by a witch’s spell, her freedom crushed by a brutal father, she’s been promised to a monster she doesn’t want. But fate intervenes when she’s left for dead—bleeding, broken, and bound—only to be rescued by Alpha Alfred of the Shadow Pack.
Alfred, fighting against a generational curse that has doomed his brothers to remain wolves forever, never expected his fated mate to be a fragile girl on the brink of death. But the moment he breathes in her scent, everything changes.
Together, they must confront the past, survive betrayal, and uncover the true key to breaking the curses that bind them. Will their bond be strong enough to save them both?
