FATED TO ALPHA HUNTER BY VENNEH LISAH

𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

"What if I were to change you, and turn you into a vae-wolf?" The King asked, and I locked eyes with him, shaking my head in horror. I didn't want to reveal that I was a Devonshire, with a royal bloodline. Too many bad things happened whenever I mentioned it, and over the years, I had learned never to do so. I stopped admitting that I was a vae-wolf as well, content with being a lycan. But then another thought occurred to me - why would he want to turn me into a vae-wolf if I wasn't one?

"Why?" I blurted out.

"Because I want to change your title, as I said," the King replied.

"Turning me into a vae-wolf wouldn't automatically change my title, and what would people think? No, that's a terrible idea, Arman. They would kill me," I rambled in a panic.

"Who would kill you?" he asked, smirking.

What just happened? I couldn't process anything. My mind was blank, and I must have continued rambling and blubbering because he pressed a finger to my lips to silence me. "The other werewolves, everyone who knew what I was before, they don't automatically change my status just because I would be immortal. I am still a rogue, still a servant," I explained.

"Don't you get it, Ania? I have been saying it for days now, yet you are not understanding. I told you before; I don't want you as my servant. I want you," he said.

"I only know how to be a servant, Arman, a rogue, or a slave. That is what I was destined to be," I growled before covering my mouth.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to growl at you. I keep doing it. I'm sorry," I apologized.

"The moon is soon coming out, that's why you keep growling, and your instincts are all over the place. Growl at me all you want. I would be growling like you, but over the years, I've learned how to control it. Which only means one thing: you don't shift a lot," he laughed.

I sighed, embarrassed at my outburst. I remembered how moody I got before I first shifted. What a traumatizing experience that was. I'm glad Hunter commanded the shift. The first time Rina shifted was worse; we were forever getting the cane that week, then her shift. I tried not to think about it.

"I was just thinking," I admitted when the King clicked his fingers in front of my face.

"Where did you just go?" he asked, waving his hand in front of me.

"I was thinking about Rina's and my first shift," I said. It was difficult for her because Richie wouldn't let her outside under the full moon. It induced our animalistic side to come forward faster, but he locked us in a tiny windowless room. She screamed for hours, and Lucy would come up and whip her every time she got too loud. I ended up muffling her sounds with my hands because I couldn't handle watching her being beaten. It was especially hard because it was only after her mate had died, so she had no one to comfort her during the agony.

"I see, the first one is never pleasant," The King agreed.

"I didn't have to endure a long one since my mate, who was an alpha, commanded the shift and stayed by my side. It was over in minutes. However, Rina's experience was different. Her mate had just passed away, it was a full moon, and she was locked in a windowless room," I explained, shaking off the memory of her screams that I could vividly recall.

"What?" The King exclaimed.

"Richie and his mate wouldn't allow her to go outside during the full moon. One of the cooks, Valentine, was kind to us when Lucy wasn't around. She advised Rina to go outside, stating that the transition would be quicker if she did, but Lucy refused to let her. She locked us in the room," I told him.

"She locked you in the room with a transitioning wolf?" The King was perplexed.

"Yes, well, we shared a room," I shrugged.

"I don't know what horrifies me more, the fact that Lucy kept Rina away from the moon or that she locked her in the room with you," The King said, his eyes darkening.

"I'm not sure what you mean. I think sharing a room with Rina was the least of her worries. I've seen her naked plenty of times, and after that, we weren't allowed to shift. When the moon almost came out, she would give us some drugs to suppress our animal side. I've only shifted once in my life," I told him.

"No, what I mean is that Rina could have killed you. Transitioning werewolves are dangerous on their first shift. They can lash out. That's why your mate commanded your shift. If you went savage, you could have been dangerous," the king explained. My eyes widened in horror. I had no idea. Although Rina did turn a little angrier and snapped at me, I just thought she was in pain. She then laid down on her tummy, and I brushed her fur all night, waiting for her to shift back.

"Lucy and Richie have a lot to answer for regarding yours and Rina's treatment, you have shifted once, only once. That is f****d up." The King growled while shaking his head.

"I promise. I will remain with you in all your shifts and you will never miss a single shift," the king assured me.

"What is your wolf's name?" He asked. "Claudia!" I spat, and his eyes went blank, staring at me.

" Claudia! Ania! Claudia! Ania!" He kept rumbling those names as if they had triggered a memory in him that he had forgotten. "Your wolf's name is Claudia and you are Ania Talia?" He mumbled.

"My king, are you alright?" I asked, looking at his confused state. He shook his head and mumbled, "Yes, I don't know why your wolf's name is trying to snap me out of a place that is clouded. Almost like I have a memory about your name and wolf's name together, but that memory had been locked somewhere in the cloud." He explained. I shrugged, not knowing what he meant.

"Anyway, let's get back to what we were discussing. I will always be there for you and with you, especially so you can allow Claudia to come out strongly. I'm sure she's been dormant for a while," he said, and I nodded in agreement.

"You do know that we get physical when we shift, right?" I asked.

"I will remain with you. A few werewolf bites won't hurt me. Besides, before becoming a king, I was an alpha. I'm still an alpha, but now of kings. Therefore, I can also command the shift. Then we can run into the woods and set our wolves free," he said, cutting me off. He cupped my face with his hand, and the scent of his skin so close to my nose made me inhale deeply before I licked his wrist. My eyes widened at what I had just done. I quickly clamped my lips together, horrified that I had licked him. He snickered and lifted his knees behind me, forcing me closer. He smelled heavenly, and I couldn't help myself; I inhaled and sniffed him.

He turned his head up with a smile on his lips, offering his neck to me, and a foreign urge overcame me at the sight of it. I sniffed him, running my nose up his neck and down again before stopping in the crook of his neck. I saw a mark and couldn't help but feel like I had placed it there. I shook my head at my instinctive thought as his hand slipped into my hair. I tried to stop myself, but the urge was too intense and on the verge of pain. Much to my horror, I licked his neck, burying the urge to sink in my canines.

He shivered, pressing me closer, and suddenly, I bit into him. And I don't mean gently either, like a darn animal, but not too deep to mark him. He groaned, and I swear I felt his c**k twitch beneath me. His blood rushed into my mouth like a slap of clarity in the face.

I gasped as he pulled me closer, but then quickly let go when I realized what I had done. "You can bite me, Ania," he urged, but I shook my head.

"I made you bleed," I shrieked, trying to get off his lap. I was afraid that he would punish me for my actions. His guards would surely do so if they noticed what I had done to their king.

"Shh, breathe. Do I sound mad?" he asked, holding my face still with his hand. My lips were pressed against his warm skin, and the urge to bite him returned. I clamped my teeth together, trying to resist.

"It's okay, love. If you want to bite me, bite me. I am yours to do what you want with," he urged on.

"But I'm just a servant," I retorted.

"Call yourself that again and see what happens. I don't know how much clearer I can be. I have told you I don't want you as my servant. That's why I want to change you," he sighed, loosening his grip on me.

"I want you to be mine, and I want to be yours. I want to make you my queen. Do you understand that? I want to mark you after you shift, Ania, after the moonlight. I want to change you, and I want you to be my Luna Queen, the Luna of all queens," he implored.

I jerked in his hold and growled, trying to break free, but he refused to let me off his lap.

I asked him, ''You want to mark me?'' and he nodded in agreement.

''Yes, I want to mark and mate you, and I also want to change you,'' he said.

''But I am a rogue, a servant,'' I argued.

''Not to me, you are not. I don't care about your status, and neither will my pack. I want you, but I want you to want me too,'' he almost pleaded with me.

''Wait, you don't want me to be a s*x slave?'' I was surprised. Wasn't that why he was being nice to me? To get something in return?

''What?'' He seemed outraged by my words.

''Is that what you thought all this was?'' he snapped at me. I swallowed but nodded. What else was I supposed to think? I knew what had happened to the rogues. It hung over mine and Rina's head for years. Richie made sure we didn't forget our place; he even branded it in our skin, so we wouldn't forget. We weren't people; we were objects, labor, someone to kick when they feel particularly sick about their lives, a quick power boost because we had no power of our own.

''I figured you would throw me away when you got bored, which is fine. You don't have to promise things or do things. It is what it is,'' I uttered. Arman growled, and the sound vibrated against my chest, making my heart beat erratically.

"If I wanted to use you sexually, I would have ordered you onto your back, Ania. I certainly wouldn't be explaining myself to you for it either. So let me make one thing clear: I do not want a s*x slave. I want a mate, and I want you to be mine as equals. I don't want you to do things because you believe it's what I want or because you feel obligated to because I am the King," he snarled. His anger was terrifying, and I watched his eyes flicker with the beast within him.

"Ania, we are equals. I won't pull rank over you unless it's for your safety or something I feel strongly about, and I sure as hell would never force myself on you or anyone. If I make you uncomfortable, you tell me. I won't get mad, and I won't punish you for how you feel. We are equals, so if you want something, tell me. If you don't, tell me, and I will do the same for you. Do you understand?" he asked, and my lips parted.

Words failed me. Most people would dream of being with the alpha of kings. However, my wishes were not like anyone else's. I didn't want to be owned. I wished for freedom and a voice because mine had been squashed for so long.

Sometimes, I wondered if I even had one left. I certainly never used it, except with Rina. I found words hard, and I could only take orders. That's all I knew since Hunter's death.

Who would want a queen that was submissive to life because they never had one? Rina and I always spoke of what we would do with our freedom, but honestly, they were just dreams. Something we knew would never come to fruition. If given a chance, we would probably fall back into the same place, not knowing anything else. Comfortable in our own misery because that's what we were used to.

"Ania," the king called out.

"I don't think I can be what you want," I told him, and he sighed.

"We still have time, but one thing remains clear: you are not my servant. You are just Ania." His words confused me.

I don't understand what he's saying, but that's not the issue, I thought to myself. I felt lost in a dream of who I thought I could be and what I could accomplish. But, that dream was now out of reach and long forgotten. My aspirations and hopes had been crushed, leaving me feeling like an imposter of my former self. Now, I'm just "you," a reflection of what they made me to be. A name they assigned me because my own was deemed unworthy.

"What's on your mind?" Arman asked, and I let out a sniffle. I never found myself to be particularly good with words, which made it strange that he always pushed me to speak.

"I don't know who I am anymore, Arman," I told him.

"I know exactly who you are," he whispered, placing a soft kiss on my lips. His hands ran gently along the sides of my ribs and over the curves of my breasts. As he trailed his lips down my jawline, he nibbled on my bottom lip, sending shivers down my spine.

"You are the woman I want, the woman I will love and cherish. You are mine, just as I am yours," he murmured as he trailed open-mouthed kisses down my neck, making me purr. He paused and chuckled at the sound I made before pressing his lips to a similar spot to where I accidentally bit him.

"And when you realize that," he whispered before sucking the same spot.

"I will place my mark right here, so everyone knows I am yours, and you are my Queen," he said before breaking the skin with his teeth. I jumped at the sting, but his tongue was already lapping over it.

Heat rushed through me, and my skin tingled and vibrated as his touch sent buzzing sensations through my nerves. He pulled his face away from my neck, and I touched the spot with my fingertips.

"I didn't mark you, Ania. I can't until the moon night, but I must say I do like the look of my teeth on your skin," he teased. My eyes went to the mark I left on him. It had healed but was scarred, which I thought was odd. I touched it, and he shivered.

His hands cupped my face, and his thumbs went to my upper lip, pushing it up. His brows pinched in the middle before he did the same to my bottom lip.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Nothing, just that you already have canines almost like fangs. Are you sure you're a lycan? Is your birthday near?" he asked.

"Yes, it is," I answered, telling him the date.

"Strange, not unheard of. Your canines are almost like fangs. Unless you are a vae-wolf, mine were always longer than werewolves or human teeth," he shrugged.

"Is there something wrong with my teeth?" I asked, fully aware that I was a vae-wolf.

"No, there's nothing wrong with them. They just look a little more extended than usual. That's why I asked about your birthday. If you were a lycan, your canines would be different. Yours look like a vae-wolf's. Unless there's something you're not telling me," he said, and I shrugged.

"Want to hear something funny?" he asked. I raised an eyebrow at him but nodded.

"Vae-wolves are born with their fangs. My baby photos look pretty funny," he chuckled. I laughed, thinking that must have been hilarious.

"We should eat. Our food is probably cold, and we have to be up early to get to our destination by lunchtime," the King said.

"Did you know the King and Queen of Devonshire well?" I asked randomly, not sure why I did.

"Kind of. They kept to themselves mostly. My parents were close to them. When I was a child, my parents had an arrangement with theirs that we would always have each other's backs," he explained.

"My mate was from Devonshire, but that's all I remember about her. I...," his voice trailed off.

"What happened?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I erased all memories of her, leaving only minuscule information like she was from Devonshire," he told me.

"Why's that,why did you erase her memories?" I asked.

"Because I loved her more than anything, to the point where she became my weakness. After she died, I almost lost my life. I couldn't sleep or eat. With the help of a witch, I erased everything about her so I could move on with my life. My kingdom needed its king. But being with you brings me a sense of familiarity, like it's not the first time we're together. Last night, you called me Hunter, and I don't know why, but it felt like you were addressing me," he said.

"I feel the same way. It's as if I've known you before. My mate's name was Hunter Allan Augustus. I'm sorry if I called you by his name," I apologized.

"It's okay. If I remembered the name of my mate, I would probably be calling you her name too," he teased with a grin.

"What happened to your mate? What led to her death?" I inquired.

"I don't know. I wasn't with her at the time of her death. I just stopped feeling her through the bond, but whatever the case Richie was responsible that's all I can remember" he replied, shaking his head at the memory which had obviously stayed with him all these years.