Reject Me, Alpha. I Belong To Your Enemy

ARINA. I was meant to turn twenty-one when the clock struck midnight. It was supposed to be the night my wolf was finally acknowledged by the Moon Goddess, the night my life began to take shape, and the night Knox would look at me in front of the pack and make every secret promise real. Instead, five minutes before midnight, I was on my knees in the center of the pack square, forced to watch my parents being sentenced to death for a crime they did not commit. The council said they had proof... My father’s scent on the poisoned ceremonial glass that had killed Alpha Greg. My mother’s signature on the altered border ledgers. And a witness statement from Hetel tying every lie together until it looked like the truth to people who wanted someone to blame. "...And according to the laws governing the Black Thorn pack, you are both sentenced to death by the hands of the Alpha." Nicolai read out my parents' sentence without a shred of remorse. The same Nicolai my father had taken in eight years ago after rogues slaughtered his family. The same Nicolai who had eaten at our table, slept under our roof, and called my parents his own. I stared at him in disbelief, my chest tightening painfully as the realization settled in. He couldn’t even look at me. “No. No, please.” My voice tore out of me as I fought against the guards holding me down. “They didn’t do it. I swear they didn’t do it.” One of the guards shoved my shoulder hard enough to make my knees scrape against the stone. “Shut it, you slut.” “Daughter of a traitor.” The insults came from every direction, sharp and eager, but one voice cut deeper than the rest. “You should die with them.” My breath stopped. Laurel. My best friend. She stood near the front of the crowd with her arms wrapped around herself, her face pale, her eyes wet, and her mouth trembling like the words had hurt her too. But she had still said them. Something inside my chest twisted, but there was no time to hold on to it. My attention was dragged back to my mother. She was kneeling on the same stone floor where people had once knelt to thank her for food, medicine, shelter, and kindness. Her wrists were tied behind her back. A cloth gag cut across her mouth. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, and her entire body trembled as she struggled against the guards holding her in place. The fear in her eyes would haunt me for the rest of my life. My father knelt beside her with his shoulders squared. Even there, even like that, he refused to collapse for them. He held himself like the Beta he had been for thirty years, but I knew my father too well. I saw the betrayal carving through him. I saw what it cost him to kneel before people who had once trusted him with their lives. This was the man who had served Alpha Greg as Beta for three decades. They had been brothers in everything but blood, and that bond had extended to their children. Knox, Rowan, and I had grown up under the shadow of that friendship. We had eaten together, trained together, run through these same grounds until our legs gave out and our parents called us back home. Alpha Greg had been dead for three years. Now his son was about to drive a blade into the chest of the man who had loved him like family. If Alpha Greg could see this, it would kill him a second time. The crowd fell silent the second the Alpha's presence was sensed. Even the guards holding me went rigid. Then Knox walked through the crowd. Rage moved with him like the weather. His blond hair was pushed back from his face, his jaw locked tight, his eyes carrying the same darkness that had lived in them since the night his father died. I had once believed I could reach into that darkness and pull him back. I had believed love meant something when grief came for a man. I had been stupid. Hetel followed closely behind him. To the pack, she looked pale and wounded, one hand pressed delicately to her chest as though the sentence pained her. But when Knox looked ahead, her mouth curved just enough for me to understand. This was not justice to her. This was arrival. My stomach twisted so hard I nearly doubled over. She had always wanted Knox. Even as children she had wanted him with a focus that went beyond ordinary affection. My heart shattered into a million pieces as I looked at the face of the same man who had taken my virginity barely two months ago and promised to make me his Luna once my wolf got the blessings of The Bond when I turned twenty-one. But the moment Hetel returned to the pack after six years of being away, and pointed at my parents as the killers of his late father, that caring and loving man I had known my whole life disappeared, leaving behind a strange monster who didn't want to listen to any form of reasoning except the one coming from the mouth of that liar, Hetel. Now he looked at my family like we were rot that needed to be cut from his pack. Alpha Knox drew out his usual execution dagger from its sheath. “No.” My voice broke as I lunged against the guards. “Knox, please. You have to listen to me. They didn’t do it. Please.” For one second, he paused. My heart stuttered violently. He had heard me. I knew he had, because his grip tightened around the dagger until his knuckles paled. My father kept his gaze on me the whole time. That hurt more than anything. Knox slowly turned to look at me. "Knox…" My voice dropped into a whisper, trembling with everything I had left. "Please." The corner of his jaw flexed. For one foolish, devastating moment, I thought he was going to stop. But I was wrong. "Traitor." He bit out as he drove the dagger right into my father's heart. I saw the exact moment the blade sank into my father’s chest, but it didn’t feel real. For a second, nothing happened. My father didn’t even move, like his body hadn’t caught up to what had just been done to it. Then, his body jerked as his eyes found mine again, and I saw something breaking quietly behind them. "No!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Dad..." I fought harder against the guards as I tried to reach him, as if somehow I could undo what had just happened if I just got to him fast enough. His brows pulled like he wanted to say something. But he never got the chance. A sharp, broken breath escaped him. My world tilted. "Dad..." I whispered, but my voice cracked so badly I barely recognized it. He had done enough... He had to have done enough... He wouldn’t kill my mother... He couldn’t... But I was wrong. Knox turned toward my mother. He didn’t rush. He walked slowly to where she knelt, like he wanted me to watch every step. “Please.” I shook so violently my teeth nearly hit together. “He’s dead. You’ve done enough. Please.” My mother’s wide eyes were fixed on my father’s body. Tears streamed down her face, soaking the gag forced between her lips. She tried to say something through it. She fought the cloth, fought the guards, fought death itself for the chance to give me one last word. I would never know what it was. That thought nearly killed me before Knox could kill her. “Mum!” I screamed. “Mum, look at me.” Her eyes snapped to mine. I tried to crawl toward her, but the guards dragged me back. “Knox, please. Let her go. I swear we’ll leave. We’ll leave your pack and never come back. Take everything. Take the house. Take our name. Just let her live.” The words barely made sense, but I kept throwing them at him because there was nothing else left to throw. My gaze drifted to Hetel, and she had a smug smile of a woman who had been running a long race and could finally see the finished line, as she kept her gaze on me. She was enjoying every bit of my agony. But no. Not at the expense of my parents' lives. I looked around, and my brother, Rowan, was nowhere to be found. I prayed earnestly to the Moon Goddess that he was able to run far enough before the Alpha's men set out to look for him. I couldn't lose my entire family in one night. Hetel leaned in and whispered something into Knox's ear, and I saw his jaw tighten for a second. He finally turned to look at me properly, like this exact moment was for me. "Please..." I still whispered, hoping that somehow, the man I had fallen in love with was still in there and could hear me. But I was wrong. “You should have chosen your family more carefully.” He said in that low, unhurried tone as he drove the blade into my mother's heart. "No! Mum! No!" I screamed, my whole body shuddering so bad I thought I'd pass out. Knox's eyes never left me as he took in every ounce of my agony. The world around me faded. The cheers. The noise. It all sounded distant as I took in the sight of my own world crumbling before my eyes, while there was absolutely nothing I could do to save it. I watched Knox's boots shift in the pool of my parents' blood as he turned to fully face me, with blood dripping down the tip of his blade. Every nerve in my body had shut down, and all that was left was numbness. "Just so you know," He finally spoke, in that deep, baritone voice that I had once loved to listen to all day. But now, it sounded like the voice of death itself. I didn't look up. I kept my gaze on my parents, taking their faces into memory for the very last time, and making sure I never forget this day. "My men have captured your brother." That got my attention. No... God, please... I slowly lifted my head, my long, silky hair stuck all over my face, mixed with sweat and tears as I managed to look at him through the mess. He let out a cruel smirk as he watched the realization dawn on me. "And he'll be locked up in the Cave of the Saints. Until I decide when he dies." The Cave of the Saints. A prison worse than death itself. I felt nothing. No fear, no grief, not even rage. I just started blankly at him when suddenly, something shifted around me. The air suddenly became too hot around me, while my veins throbbed like liquid fire was flowing through them. At first, I thought it was rage building up fast in me, but as the seconds went by, I realized it wasn't rage. It was something worse than rage. It was the bond... I could now feel the bond. Which only meant the clock had struck twelve and I was finally twenty-one. And my wolf, Nyra, had been proven worthy of The Bond by the Moon Goddess. Knox stood still like he understood what was happening to me. He never took his eyes off me, and neither did I take my eyes off him, as I did my best to suppress the torment of the bond trying to settle. It felt like a surge of electricity flowing around my body that I didn't even have the strength to react to. This only meant one thing. My mate was right here, among this crowd of vile, evil men. I'd rather die than be mated to any man from the Black Thorn pack. But my vengeful vows came to an abrupt halt the moment the bond finally snapped in place, and my wolf surged to the surface so fast it was almost dizzying. And the one word that came out of my mouth while looking straight into the eyes of this murderer was... "Mate?"