Carrying Another's Pup, Claimed By The Alpha

"Losing ownership of Silver Crest Construction means losing everything… this life of affluence, respect, and connection," Madam Fiona said sharply, gesturing toward the grand, luxurious mansion they called home. Crystal chandeliers sparkled above her head, casting golden light on marble floors that echoed under her heels.

"We'll become a joke," she continued, voice tight with disdain. "The same people who once groveled for our approval will trample us like dirt. As if they weren't the ones begging favors from us when we had it all."

She paused just in front of her husband, eyes locked with his as if staring at her reflection. "Life is cruel to the weak. That's why we must strike before Alpha Lucien even thinks of making a move. We've come too far. We can't afford to go back to being those penniless, forgotten people we once were."

Her eyes dropped to the golden bracelet hugging her wrist, and her stomach churned. The idea of losing all she had clawed her way into, the luxury, the status made her insides twist.

…

Meanwhile, chaos buzzed like wildfire across the Duskborne Creed Pack. Within an hour of the court appearance, word of Alpha Lucien's sudden marriage to a pregnant, wolfless omega had spread through the entire territory.

From trading halls to taverns, any place where more than two wolves gathered, rumors bloomed like weeds… twisted and exaggerated with each retelling.

That evening, when Lucien returned to the Alpha estate, he walked into a storm.

The sitting room was dim, the fire burning low beneath the silver crest of the Duskborne Creed Pack. Shadows clung to the deep green walls, broken only by the warm flicker of gold sconces.

Former Alpha Rhode Axen sat stiffly on a leather couch, tension coiled in his shoulders. Beside him, Luna Athenya sat in poised silence, her gaze sharp and unmoving.

Lucien's boots echoed softly across the marble floor as he entered. The air was heavy.

"You didn't inform~" 

"What the hell am I hearing?" he barked, surging off the moss-green couch. "That you married some wolfless woman? One pregnant with a dead man's pup?"

Lucien's jaw tensed. He strode further into the room pausing just in front of his seething father.

"What helpless woman have you entangled yourself with this time? Do you ever learn?" Rhode's voice thundered, his eyes ignited with disdain.

Lucien's lips curled into a bitter smile. "You've already made your inquiries. You know the rumors aren't baseless. So what's the point of this farce?" His voice was calm but brimming with restrained fury. 

"If you expected me to deny her, I won't. Everything you heard is true… except the part that paints her as some shameless seductress."

He met his father's glare without flinching, gold irises glowing faintly with Alpha dominance.

"How dare you speak to my face in that manner," Rhode's arm shot up, ready to strike him across the face, then froze mid-air. A flicker of awareness hits him. He wasn't Alpha anymore. Lucien was.

Slowly, Rhode lowered his hand and took a step back, the heat in his glare still burning. "Where were your ears when I taught you the virtues of leadership? Of honor?"

His voice dropped low, almost pleading, then sharp again. "A true Alpha leads by example. That is how he earns loyalty. And look at you, look at the disgrace you've committed."

His hands clenched at his sides.

"You're trending all over the social feed," he spat. "And not because you expanded the territory or accomplished something noble but because you married a wolfless omega. A woman carrying another man's pup."

Rhode's head shook in disbelief, disgust flickering in his eyes. "And don't tell me this is why Arlena returned to Frostveil Pack without a word?"

Lucien exhaled heavily and walked across the room, putting distance between himself and the suffocating weight of expectation.

"I've led this pack just fine. No one complained. So why do you expect me to mimic every step you took?" His tone chilled further. "I'm not your puppet. I never was."

He turned slightly, shadows hugging his figure in the dim lamplight.

"And as for Arlena, her staying in Duskborne was your and Mother's idea. I never wanted her here. I made it clear to her from the beginning: this fated bond would never work. She stayed by choice, even after knowing my heart belonged to someone else."

The room fell into taut silence.

Then Athenya, who had been quiet all along, finally spoke, her voice elegant, but tinged with sharpness. "Your bond with Arlena is not a petty courtship you can end at a whim. It binds the fate of two packs. Rejecting her is a declaration of war against Frostveil."

Her eyes narrowed, golden like polished topaz.

"Can you shoulder the consequences of that decision?"

Lucien remained still, though the tension in his jaw deepened.

"A fated bond is the Moon Goddess's most sacred gift to our kind," Athenya added, her tone unshakable. "No Alpha of Duskborne Creed has ever gone against the will of the Goddess. And it will not start with you."

Her words hung heavy in the air, elegant yet commanding.

Rhode stepped forward once more, his voice now low and firm. "No son of mine and no Alpha of this pack will drag our name through the mud. I won't allow it."

He turned without waiting for a response.

"Let's go," he said to his wife, and together they strode toward the grand arched exit, the door clicking shut behind them.

Lucien stood there, fists trembling. His claws had extended without him noticing, now digging into his palm. Drops of blood pooled between his knuckles.

"Damn it," he growled under his breath, pacing back toward the center of the room. His golden eyes burned with silent fire.

'They can say what they want. They can threaten, rage… But I'll protect Valessia. Her and the children. With everything I have.

Fate won't repeat itself. Never again'.