Violet: Luna of The One-eye Alpha

VIOLET'S POV

“Without a bloodline, you’re nothing. Don’t return to my house until you can prove otherwise.”

Lady Seraphina didn’t shout.

She didn’t need to.

Her words were calm. Polished. Deadly.

The kind of tone used to dismiss servants.

Not daughters.

I stood on the porch, my worn travel bag pressed to my chest like it could stop my heart from breaking out of my ribs.

I was gone for ten years.

When I returned this morning, she smiled brightly for the neighbors.

“You’re welcome any time,” she said, her voice warm and sweet.

But now there was no audience.

No watchful eyes.

No reason to pretend.

She wouldn’t even look at me.

“I understand,” I whispered.

And I did.

What I understood was this: it had never been my home.

The heavy doors closed behind me.

Slow. Final.

And just like that, I was alone, homeless in the very pack territory where my fiancé, Silvan, was meant to become Alpha.

In just twenty-four hours in the Luna-Light Pack, I had already been rejected twelve times… every single place I applied for a job turned me away.

Twelve.

“No birthline registration.”

“No verified lineage.”

“No pack documentation.”

“We don’t employ strays.”

Stray.

That word again.

As if my family hasn’t lived here for the past ten years.

As if I wasn’t dating the future Alpha.

My chest tightened.

I hadn’t answered his messages.

Not since I came back.

I wanted to do this on my own.

I wanted to prove I’m not that weak little girl everyone used to know.

But it already feels like a terrible mistake.

I swallowed the pain.

I can’t afford to give up.

Not today.

The Employment Registration Hall loomed in front of me, its marble pillars carved with pack laws about blood purity and legacy.

I didn’t go inside.

I already knew what they would say.

Without proof of lineage, I was invisible.

Without status, I was disposable.

I stepped back onto the street.

And that’s when I saw it.

Moonfall Palace.

The most expensive strip club in the entire territory.

Gold-lit windows. Velvet ropes. Expensive cars lined outside like trophies.

A place for ranked Alphas.

A place for powerful men to choose.

A place girls like me avoided.

My reflection stared back at me in the glass… faded jeans, old sneakers, red hair refusing to be tamed.

I looked like poverty wrapped in stubborn pride.

But pride didn’t buy food.

Pride didn’t rent rooms.

Pride didn’t keep you from sleeping under bridges.

I inhaled.

Then I walked inside.

The interview was humiliating.

Girls with perfect makeup and designer dresses sat beside me, their perfume suffocating the air.

When I gave my name, one of them snorted.

“Kitchen staff?” she guessed.

I forced a smile. “Anything available.”

The manager looked bored as he scanned my form.

“No dance experience?”

“No.”

“No service training?”

“I learn fast.”

He didn’t look impressed.

They called names.

One by one.

Each girl selected smirked as she passed me.

When only three of us remained, hope flickered in my chest.

Then two.

Then just me.

“Violet Marlow.”

My heart stopped.

“I’m sorry,” the secretary said gently. “You were not selected.”

Something inside me cracked.

I bowed anyway.

“Thank you for the opportunity.”

I walked out the back door before anyone could see the tears blurring my vision.

The second the door shut, my legs gave out.

I slid down the wall, choking on a sob.

This was it.

I had nowhere left to go.

“Hey!”

I jerked up.

The manager jogged toward me, slightly out of breath.

“You’re still here?”

I nodded quickly, wiping my face.

He glanced around like he didn’t want anyone to hear.

“A high-ranking Alpha arrived earlier than expected. He dismissed all the dancers.”

I blinked.

“All?”

“All.”

His eyes scanned me slowly.

“If you want the job, it’s yours. Immediate contract. Staff accommodation included.”

Accommodation.

The word echoed like salvation.

“Yes,” I said instantly. “I’ll take it.”

He shoved papers at me.

I signed without reading.

Right now, survival mattered more than caution.

The kitchen was chaos.

Steam. Shouting. Plates clattering.

But for the first time all day, I felt… useful.

“I’m Violet,” I said quickly, tying my apron.

A cook shoved a tray into my hands. “Run that.”

I ran.

I worked.

I didn’t complain.

And slowly, the crushing weight in my chest eased.

My wolf, Molly, stirred inside me.

Restless.

Alert.

Excited.

Why?

I tried to ignore it.

Until whispers began.

“He’s terrifying.”

“I heard he owns three territories.”

“They say he rejected fifty women last year.”

“If he picks you, your life is made.”

Pick?

My skin prickled.

Another waitress leaned toward me.

“Don’t even think about it,” she said, eyeing my simple appearance. “He chooses perfection.”

“I’m not here to be chosen,” I said quietly.

I am here to survive.

The phone rang again.

Order after order.

But something was wrong.

The female staff were disappearing.

One by one.

Dismissed.

Rejected.

Sent home.

My stomach twisted.

“Why is he rejecting everyone?” I asked.

The waiter whispered back, “He says none of them are the one.”

The one.

Molly froze.

Then began pacing wildly inside me.

Before I could think further, the kitchen doors burst open.

“Violet!” the manager barked.

I was startled. “Yes?”

“Change into performance attire.”

“I… I’m kitchen staff….”

“You’re the only female left he hasn’t seen.”

Cold flooded my veins.

“I don’t know how to dance.”

“You don’t have to. Just go out there.”

My wolf was frantic now.

Heart racing.

Blood humming.

Something was happening.

Something bigger than a job.

The dress they handed me was barely fabric.

Deep red.

Clinging.

Exposing more than I was comfortable with.

When I stepped out, the manager stared.

His expression shifted from irritation to shock.

“Perfect,” he muttered.

Not relief.

Recognition.

My pulse thundered as he led me down the corridor.

The music grew louder.

Heavy.

Slow.

Like a heartbeat.

The doors opened.

And the second I stepped onto the floor…

Molly screamed.

MATE.

The word exploded inside my head.

My knees almost gave way.

Mate?

What is Molly saying?

No wolf has ever found a mate.

So how could I possibly have one?

The room was dim, bathed in amber lights and shadow.

Guards lined the walls.

A banquet table of untouched food stretched across the room.

And at the center…

Him.

Tall.

Broad.

Power radiating off him like heat.

Dark hair brushed back from a hard, merciless face.

One steel-black eye.

The other hidden beneath a black patch.

A scar carved beneath it.

My breath stopped.

Alpha Merrin.

The Butcher of Wolves-Heaven.

The man who slaughtered rogues without blinking.

The Alpha who…

My heart seized.

The Alpha who killed my father.

The music stopped instantly.

He had lifted one finger.

That was all it took.

Silence swallowed the room.

He rose from his seat slowly.

Deliberately.

Each step toward me felt like judgment day.

My wolf submitted instantly.

Bowed.

Trembling.

Traitor.

I wanted to run.

But my body wouldn’t move.

He stopped inches away.

Close enough for me to feel the heat of him.

The scent of dark woods and danger wrapped around me.

He lifted a finger beneath my chin.

Forced my face upward.

Examined me like a rare object he had finally reclaimed.

“You’ve grown,” he said softly.

His voice was deeper than I remembered.

Colder.

“But those eyes…” his thumb brushed my cheek. “I’d recognize them anywhere.”

My heart pounded violently.

He leaned closer.

And whispered my name.

Slow.

Possessive.

“Marlow Violet.”

The world tilted.

I’m not mistaken. It’s him.

Only one person has ever said my name like that.

Only one monster looked at me with that same cold, hungry stare ten years ago.

Merrin.

I stumbled back.

“Please… please let me go,” I whispered.

A slow smile spread across his lips.

“No,” Alpha Merrin said softly.

His steel-gray eyes darkened as they moved over me, slowly, carefully.

“I’ve been waiting.”

His hand wrapped around my wrist.

Firm.

Unbreakable.

“You ran from me once,” he said quietly.

The mate bond flared violently between us, scorching through my veins like wildfire.

My wolf whimpered.

But she didn’t resist.

She recognized him.

Claimed him.

Even when my heart screamed no.

Merrin leaned closer, his breath warm against my ear.

“This time,” he whispered, his voice low and deadly soft, “you’re not escaping.”

The ground seemed to crack beneath me.

Because the monster who ruined my childhood…

The Alpha I had spent ten years hiding from…

The one I feared would one day take my life…

Wasn’t just my enemy.

He was my mate.

And this time.

There would be no running.

No hiding.

No escape.

And if I wanted to survive… I would have to face him.