Claimed By My Rival Alpha

Eliana

The first time my mate Mark burned, I was standing in front of the entire pack.

Not in a bedroom. Not in some private claiming moment like the stories.

In the ceremonial hall-under torchlight and banners-while the elders watched like judges and the warriors watched like they'd already placed bets.

Riggs stood beside me on the dais, dressed in black, jaw clenched so tight I could see the muscle jump. He didn't touch me. Not even by accident.

The elder's voice echoed off the stone. "Step forward, Alpha Riggs. Step forward with your chosen mate."

My stomach twisted.

Chosen.

That word didn't fit. Not after the last three days. Not after he started avoiding me like I was something dangerous to be near.

I took a slow breath and stepped forward anyway. If I faltered, they'd smell it.

Riggs moved a beat later-just enough delay to make it noticeable.

The hall went very, very quiet.

I felt it like hands on my skin.

The elder smiled like this was normal. "Tonight, Silver Fang witnesses the bond that will strengthen our pack."

My wrist prickled where the mark should have been.

Everyone said I was Riggs' mate. Everyone said it like it was a fact that couldn't be questioned.

But my skin was still bare.

No symbol. No dark imprint. Nothing.

Only that faint, strange heat under the surface that came and went whenever Riggs got too close.

The elder lifted a carved ceremonial blade-dull, symbolic, harmless. "By tradition, the Alpha speaks first. Alpha Riggs, do you accept this bond and claim Eliana-"

Riggs stepped back.

Not far.

Just one clean step.

But in a room like this, it was a rejection shouted without a sound.

My breath caught. My hand twitched at my side like my body still expected his fingers to find mine.

It didn't happen.

A few people in the crowd shifted. I caught whispers like sparks: No... He can't... Is she-?

The elder's smile faltered for the first time. "Alpha Riggs?"

Riggs lifted his chin. His face was controlled, calm, Alpha-perfect.

His eyes didn't meet mine.

"This bond," he said, voice steady enough to fool anyone who didn't know him, "was a mistake."

For a second, I didn't understand what he'd said.

It didn't have a meaning. It landed as noise.

Then the words sank in, heavy and sharp, and my body reacted like it had been struck.

A small sound escaped me-half breath, half disbelief.

Riggs finally looked at me.

Just once.

And what I saw there wasn't hatred.

It was something worse.

Resolve.

Like he'd already decided how much of me he could sacrifice.

My throat tightened until it hurt. "Riggs..."

He didn't flinch at my voice.

He didn't soften.

"It ends here," he said.

The elder recovered quickly, too quickly-like he'd practiced this part. "Then by Silver Fang law, the Alpha rejects the bond."

Rejected.

The word rang in my skull.

The hall didn't erupt into outrage.

It didn't explode into chaos.

It exhaled.

Satisfied.

Like they'd been holding their breath waiting for him to say it.

My stomach turned cold.

Imani-standing off to the side near the pillars-went rigid. Her eyes were wide, furious, disbelieving.

I wanted to look at her longer.

I couldn't.

I couldn't look away from Riggs, not when my entire life was tipping off a cliff and he was the one pushing.

The elder gestured toward me like I was an item on a table. "Eliana of Silver Fang, you are stripped of your place at the Alpha's side."

A murmur rolled through the crowd.

No pity.

Not sympathy.

Curiosity. Relief. Hunger.

I forced my shoulders back. Forced my chin up.

I would not cry here.

I would not beg.

A second elder stepped forward with a silver-and-moonstone token-the one they'd pressed into my hands days ago with smiles and congratulations. Future Luna, they'd called me.

He held it out, then pulled it back. "Return it."

My fingers were stiff. My skin felt too tight.

I unclasped the token from my wrist with slow, careful movements. If I moved too fast, I'd look panicked.

If I moved too slow, I'd look weak.

I placed it on the table.

The small clink of metal on wood sounded loud enough to split the room.

Riggs didn't move.

Didn't speak.

Didn't stop any of it.

The elder raised his voice. "The ruling stands. She is no longer under Alpha protection."

Under Alpha protection.

So that was the point.

Not just rejection.

Removal.

The pack needed to see me fall. I needed it officially. I needed it cleaned.

Riggs' voice cut through again, low and final. "She leaves."

Two guards stepped forward immediately.

Not grabbing me yet.

Just close enough to make it clear they could.

Imani made a sharp sound. "You can't-"

A warrior shifted into her path, blocking her with the casual ease of someone following orders.

My chest tightened so hard I almost couldn't breathe.

So this was planned.

Not by Riggs alone.

By the room.

By the elders.

By everyone who stayed quiet.

I took one step back from the dais on my own.

Then another.

I would not be dragged.

The crowd parted as I passed, not out of respect-out of avoidance. Like humiliation was contagious.

I kept my eyes forward.

I kept my face blank.

I made it three steps before pain ripped through my wrist.

I gasped and clutched my arm.

Heat flared under my skin-sharp, vicious, sudden-as if someone had pressed a brand to the inside of my bones.

My vision blurred.

My wolf surged up in panic-

And then the heat snapped off.

Gone.

Replaced by cold.

Not normal cold.

Wrong cold.

The kind that makes your blood feel like it's slowing down.

My wolf went silent.

Not still.

Silent, like she'd been forced down.

I stared at my wrist.

Still no visible mark.

But under the skin, something had changed.

Something had been touched.

I lifted my gaze, searching without meaning to.

Riggs was still on the dais.

His face was unreadable.

But his eyes-just for a heartbeat-flicked to my wrist.

And in that tiny crack of control, I saw it.

Fear.

Then the mask slammed back into place.

The guards stepped closer.

"Move," one of them said quietly.

I swallowed hard, forced my legs to work, and walked toward the hall doors without looking back.

But the cold in my wrist pulsed once more as I crossed the threshold.

Like a warning.

Like a countdown.

And deep in my chest, a single thought formed-clear and terrifying:

Riggs didn't reject me because he stopped wanting me.

He rejected me because someone made him.