The Alpha's Claimed Mate

This was so confusing. There was no way he knew. But it was obvious that he knew something was up with me or it was a misunderstanding. Was he trying to bait me into spilling the beans? It was a pretty close call. If I hadn't used my powers and hadn't been lying for so long, I would have definitely gotten caught.

"Who do you want me to be?" I asked with a grin. Zak scowled at me.

"Enough with the jokes, Lupine. Tell me who you are to that annoying Alpha Heir of yours."

Eh, what? He just wanted to know about my awkward non-existent relationship with that useless Jared? But what significance was it to the Alpha Superior of the Northern Lands? We weren't even a pack that came under his rule.

"Oh, now we're back to calling each other by our species, Lycan? Why do you want to know about the guy that bullies me for fun? That's all I have to do with him," I answered honestly.

Daniel and Zak looked at me with eyes that seemed to assess the situation.

"Alpha, I think we should just be straightforward with her. She genuinely looks like she doesn't know anything about this," Daniel said. Thank heavens. Finally, someone who believed me. Both their eyes glazed over. Ah, they were having a conversation through the mindlink—basically telepathy within members of the same pack.

Omegas and Deltas didn't have this luxury.

The conversation went on for about three minutes before Daniel gave his Alpha a curt nod and looked between us hesitantly. His shoulders slumped in defeat as he went out the door and quietly closed it behind him.

"Daniel will be leaving since this is a confidential matter. I only allowed him to be here this long since you seemed to be more comfortable around him," Zak said, looking completely serious.

'Holy hell, what does he mean by confidential matter?'

I knew I had vandalized and defaced public property a couple of times, but that was about it. What did I even do to end up here? I had done nothing worth catching the eye of an Alpha Superior for the past five years. Well, there was this one incident... but even that was not worth mentioning in front of an Alpha Superior, of all people.

"Look here, Alpha Zak, I've been a model citizen for years. I don't even have a criminal record anymore!" He raised an eyebrow at this.

"Does that mean you had one?" I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came out as he waved his hand dismissively.

"As much as I would love to know what kind of criminal activities the future Luna of the Wolfsbane indulged in, I have more important questions."

My mind blanked at one word.

'Luna?'

"What do you mean?" I asked, my mood sobering instantly. What did that punk Jared do?

"Aren't you the chosen mate of Alpha Heir Jared? He thinks he is doing a good job of keeping you hidden and safe by making public appearances with your Beta's daughter."

'Seriously, what the hell did that guy do to make Alpha Superior Zakariya think I'm Jared's chosen mate?'

I sighed in annoyance.

Jared wouldn't willingly consider keeping me safe, even if he was given a choice between ripping out his spine and keeping me safe for a day.

"You address him by his first name," Zak pointed out. My lips twisted in distaste.

"Because that asshole doesn't deserve the title of Alpha Heir. I can safely say that his father is at least ten times better than him, and that's saying something."

Zak looked thoughtful for a moment.

"You are Ashley Diamante, aren't you?" He asked.

"The one and only. I can assure you that there aren't any other Ashley Diamantes in this pack."

His face hardened. Zak pressed the inside of his left wrist. I heard a creaking sound, and the door opened to reveal a confused-looking Gamma Superior Darren and Beta Superior Ryker.

"Is something wrong, Alpha?" Darren asked hesitantly. Zak ignored him and gestured for all of us to take a seat. I remained standing. I needed to be ready to run away if they started spewing crazy nonsense. My mind was just one big tangled web of confusion right now.

Ugh, I would probably have left this pack in a few hours. I couldn't believe I was spending my last hours here in this pack with this bunch of crazy Lycans and not my best friend.

"Aren't you going to sit down?" Zak asked. I shook my head at him, not in the mood to speak. Thinking about leaving Claire was making me depressed. Nobody pressed me to speak further as they sensed my bad mood.

"So, what's going on? I honestly don't have it in me to deal with anymore bullshit. I don't even know how I'm involved in such a high-profile problem," I said tiredly. The Alpha Lycan's presence was giving me a headache. Zak scowled at me.

"Why do you sound so depressed suddenly?" I gaped in disbelief at his words. Was this guy really asking me why I sounded depressed? I wanted to go off about every single thing that had happened to me this week, but I didn't because I didn't want to delay this any longer. I just wanted to get it over with and leave.

"Your aura is giving me a headache," I muttered. Which was partly true. It had been so long since I had felt a presence as overwhelming as this one, so it was taking time for me to get used to it. But fortunately for me, I wouldn't have to endure it for long. I was going to leave this place as soon as I cleared up whatever misunderstanding they had.

Some people had also witnessed me leaving with these guys, so when I escaped, they would just assume I was with them. That would give me more than enough time to cross the border. I didn't even have to attend the ceremony now; I could just run away as soon as this Alpha let me go.

"I'll let you leave as soon as we get some information from you. It's quite urgent." He looked a bit apologetic as he said this, but I couldn't be sure.

I gestured for him to proceed.

"I assume from your reaction that you, Ashley Diamante, are not aware that Jared Liandre has chosen you as his Luna candidate."

"I don't believe you." I didn't, even though he had no reason to lie to me. I simply couldn't.

Zak turned to Ryker.

"Ryker, did you bring the list with you?"

"Yes, Alpha," he replied, and a stack of papers appeared out of thin air. I wished I could do that too. Lycans were really lucky. They could do spells like a Magicka and shift like a Mythicka. The best of both worlds, seriously. I couldn't do either.

He handed the papers to the Alpha, but Zak shook his head and pointed at me. Ryker handed the papers to me. I recognized the Wolfsbane official sigil at a glance as I took it from him dubiously.

My eyebrows raised of their own accord as I saw the title. How did this guy even obtain the Luna Candidate list, which was exclusively accessible to the members of the Royal Council? I recognized their sigil too, which I had seen as a child.

Last time I checked, Alpha Superiors weren't part of that council.

I opened my mouth to ask, but Darren cut me off.

"Trust me, you don't want to know," he said, with a miserable look on his face. I decided not to ask. It was none of my business. They gave it to me, so I was obviously supposed to read it. It was a pretty long list, but it didn't take me long to find Jared's name since my pack was in the top ten.

I hoped fervently that it was Sierra's name next to his.

But it was not her name next to his.

It was mine.