The Alpha Never Stopped Trying To Claim Me Chapter 01

The Alpha Never Stopped Trying To Claim Me Chapter 01

My Alpha fiancé Lucian still had no idea that my childhood friend—high-ranking Alpha Seth from a neighboring territory, who’d pined after me for years—had never given up the plan to take me away.

…

I’d once thought this Mating Ceremony would be the most sacred day of my life.

I’d spent six whole months preparing for it.

I’d agonized over every single detail and confirmed each one personally. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust the planners from the pack. It was because—this was my first ceremony as the future Luna. I wanted the entire territory to know that Serena was willingly giving herself to this Alpha.

The ceremony was held at Moonlight Grove, on Lucian’s territory. It was an ancient oak forest, canopies weaving together like a domed roof. Only on the night of a full moon did moonlight pour through the single gap in the leaves, illuminating the sacred altar at the center.

Carved into that altar were the vows of every Alpha and Luna before us, and legend said it was already three hundred years old.

I’d started decorating the clearing three months earlier.

On the altar, I’d laid down a soft pelt of White Wolf Fur. It was the coming-of-age gift Seth had given me when we were kids—I’d never dared to use it, but I’d been willing to lay it out on the Luna’s altar.

At the center of the altar stood two brass cups, each engraved with the initials of our names. S&L. We would drink from them together during the ceremony, our blood mingling as a symbol of our union.

The cups bore our ancestors’ blessing.

“As the moon calls the tide, I call you mine.”

I’d also memorized my vow for the day word for word.

“I, Serena, accept you, Lucian, as my Alpha and Fated Mate. Your pack is my pack, your war is my war, your moon is my moon. Until the moon falls from the sky, I am yours.”

Everyone was waiting for this wedding.

Lucian had promised me this Mating Ceremony was “foolproof.”

But when evening rolled around on the day of the ceremony, the noise outside the door shifted. It wasn’t the howls of the honor guard—it was a chaos of panicked shouts.

Chloe ran out to check, and came back pale as a sheet. “A she-wolf broke through… her name’s Maya. The second Lucian saw her, he ran straight out after her.”

The bouquet slipped from my hands, petals scattering across the floor.

It felt like an omen.

I heard Lucian immediately called off the Mating Ritual, rushed over, and fussed all over Maya. “How are you back? How’ve you been all these years? Are you hurt?”

The ceremony doors, which had been thrown wide open, were shut again, leaving a racket booming from outside.

“Look, Lucian! The doors are all open, go greet your future Luna already!”

Lucian, the pack’s future Alpha, got shoved back into the room by the crowd, glancing over his shoulder every step he took. But all his attention was glued to that Beta outside. My heart sank straight to the bottom of my chest.

He walked straight to me holding the moonblossom, even forgetting the kneeling vow we’d rehearsed a dozen times.

“Hurry up, we need to get to the altar soon.” When he saw me frozen on the wedding bed, he lowered his voice, tone sharp like he was scolding an unruly Omega.

“Be reasonable. The most important comrade I’ve ever had is here today. Cut me some slack. We’ve been together four years. This Mating Ceremony’s just a formality. But Maya’s different—she just got back from border patrol, she hasn’t eaten yet.”

Before I could even reply, he turned around and went back to attending to Maya.

The ceremony photographer—a Beta from a neutral pack—had his camera pointed straight at the commotion over there. Maya was everyone’s center of attention.

Alone in the quiet bridal suite, I could feel someone’s mindlink trying to reach me. I’d blocked him this whole time, because I didn’t want to see him hurt.

But my grief had weakened my control, and I let the link in. My wolf howled inside me, free from her chains. My wolf was always the sharpest one—she’d known all along Lucian wasn’t my fated mate. At the very least, he wasn’t the right one.

My childhood friend, high-ranking Alpha Seth, sent through the mindlink.

“That Mating Ceremony I promised you when we were kids is all set up in the Longhouse across from the altar. Come or don’t, I just care that you’re safe.”

My eyes burned. I only sent back one word. “Okay.”