She's Mine To Claim

: Release her

"ENOUGH!" A powerful voice thundered suddenly, instilling fear in the crowd.

The entire shifters fell into a deathly silence the moment Alpha King Henry stepped out from the mansion.

Aurora raised her head weakly and her gaze connected with intense golden eyes, the same eyes she had seen the night she was almost attacked by that lycan.

She couldn't be mistaken. Although she hadn't seen his face that night, but his eyes... she knew she couldn't be wrong.

Bishop spoke of an important guest earlier. Could it be that this man with the hypnotic eyes was the Alpha King?

She watched him walk towards her. The crowd moved back, fear and respect visible in their eyes. Even Bishop stepped aside, his head bowed slightly.

Henry stopped before the guards holding Aurora, his gaze dark and terrifying.

"Release her." His voice sounded calm, too calm, but everyone knew it was the calm before the storm.

The guards promptly let go of Aurora, and she collapsed to the ground.

"Alpha Henry," Bishop ventured out, his head still bowed with respect. "I apologize if this scene has caused some disturbance to you. I assure you, this girl will be dealt with..."

"You rejected her, did you not?" Henry brutally cut him short. His gaze was still pinned on Aurora who had began to shiver on the ground.

When Bishop didn't give him a reply quickly enough, he turned and glared at him.

"Did you not?"

"Yes, Alpha. I did reject her." Bishop answered quickly. "But it was in a moment of anger. I surely didn't mean to..."

Besides him, Amelia looked on in shock and annoyance. She didn't understand why Bishop would say something like that.

"Save your breath." Henry turned away again. "You've made it clear to these people, that the woman you plan to marry is the one beside you." He didn't even spare a single glance at Amelia as he spoke.

"Yes Alpha." Bishop nodded.

"Very well." Henry made up his mind. "From this moment, the girl is no longer a member of your pack. She will return with me to Ashidore."

"But Alpha..." Bishop tried to protest, but Henry had already walked away, leaving everyone staring after him.

Suddenly annoyed at the turn of events, Bishop ordered his beta and gamma to take Aurora away and prepare her to leave with Alpha King Henry.

The other shifters who had hoped for Aurora to be punished severely, left in disappointment. They couldn't fathom why the Alpha King would spare a worthless omega like Aurora.

Amelia was beyond livid. Though she loved Bishop, but her eyes had been set on Alpha King Henry for a while. The only reason why she never acted on her obsession for him was because of the secrets shrouding him.

Henry never spared anyone, and certainly not an omega. Why did he suddenly show an interest in Aurora? It disturbed her greatly and she complained to Bishop.

"I don't understand why he wants to take her with him." She snarled angrily. "The bitch clearly disrespected you. She should be punished here, and not spared. Talk to the Alpha, he needs to understand that we have our ways of doing things here..."

"Shut up Amelia!" Bishop snapped at her. "How dare you speak about the Alpha King in that manner?"

"But..."

"It seems you don't really know who Alpha Henry is." Bishop shut her up again. "He's the Supreme Alpha, Alpha King of all Alphas. I am merely a pawn beneath him. I serve him, and so do the other shifters. Whatever his orders are, we follow it without complaint. So I would advise you to watch your mouth and watch the way you speak about him!"

He pushed her out of his way and hurried after Alpha Henry.

While all these were happening, Aurora couldn't hear a word of what was being said. There was a loud persistent ringing in her ears, and her head felt like it was splitting in two.

When she managed to crack open her eyelids, her vision was blurry. Black spots danced before her eyes and she slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

...

When Aurora opened her eyes again, she was no longer sprawled on the ground in front of Bishop's mansion. She was in a strange moving vehicle.

She tried to sit up but her entire body exploded with pain. Groaning softly, she lay back down and shut her eyes.

Suddenly a deep voice broke the silence.

"Hang in there," the voice said. "We will arrive soon."

Aurora tried to open her eyes, to see the owner of the voice. It sounded vaguely familiar, and she tried to recall where she had heard the voice before.

But her head was spinning again and the persistent ringing was back. A dull ache throbbed behind her eyelids and soon, she slipped into unconsciousness.

Henry watched as she passed out again. He knew there was nothing he could do to ease her pain. She would just have to hang in there, like he told her, until they arrived at Ashidore, the Lycan Kingdom.

He leaned back against the luxurious leather seats and let out a deep sigh. They were inside a fancy carriage, pulled by six large vicious wolves. The distance between Ashidore and Silver Dawn pack was three days ride and Henry wanted to return as quickly as possible.

As the carriage sped on, his mind went back to the moment he first saw Aurora.

It was that night when he had been hunting. Her scent had slammed into him like the sweetest of nectar, and the urge to have her had been so strong.

But when he realized that she was Bishop's mate, he killed whatever urge he had. He never messed with another man's mate. Women didn't appeal to him, unless he wanted to bed them. He discarded them the moment his pleasure ended.

So why did Aurora appeal to him? During breakfast the previous day, why had he been so furious when Bishop made it clear that he didn't want her? And why had he stepped in to save her when Bishop banished her?

He hated feeling this way. He hated the flutter he felt in his heart whenever he started at her. Her hair, like the finest of golden silk, made his fingers itch to touch them. Her bewitching emerald eyes enthralled him. Her scent threatened to make him go insane.

Why was he feeling this way, after more than a hundred years of being without a mate?

There was only one way to stop those strange feelings. He needed to distance himself from Aurora. He had done her a great deed by saving her from Bishop's banishment.

Now he had to push her away again. The moment they get to Ashidore, he would send her away to another part of the kingdom, where he would never cross paths with her again.

He couldn't make the mistake of falling for her, especially when she was an omega. The secrets he harbored couldn't be revealed.

He was doomed to be alone for eternity, and he planned to keep it that way.

But when his gaze fell on Aurora again, the flutter in his heart returned.

And he hated himself for it.