Marked by the Alpha

Layla’s POV“Shhh!” a familiar voice hissed inside my bedroom, and outside the room my fingers froze over the doorknob, not moving. “Someone’s going to hear us.”It sounded like my half sister Lu, and a sick pit opened up at the bottom of my stomach as soon as I heard my fiancé Alex reply her“And what if they do?”Through the slit in the door I peeked and saw them on my bed with their feet entwined. Alex didn’t have a shirt on, and Lu was just in her bra.“Our Pack will lose it,” my sister purred, batting her eyelashes at him. Her tone was coy as she ran a nail down Alex’s chest slowly. I felt sick. “Alpha Hector hates a fuss—and besides, Layla won’t be too happy.”“I’ll protect you from all of them,” Alex said, lowering himself to kiss her forehead. He sounded confident, at ease, and a stranger listening to him would’ve thought that he was one of the greatest fighters we had. “I thought we agreed on not bringing her up when we’re together.”‘Her’ as in me. Lu moved to shoot back a re

Layla’s POVAt the question, my breath hitched in my chest and I felt a shiver run down my spine as his powerful voice washed over me. With tears streaming down my face I turned slowly to find Alpha Hector taking in the scene before him with a look of displeasure. His lips were pressed into a white slash, and his eyes were narrowed.I suppressed a gasp as soon as my gaze fell on him, taking in the sight of him wide-eyed. He cut a frightful figure in the bloodstained shirt he had on. There was dried blood splatter all over his face, and his hands looked like he’d dipped them into a bucket of red paint. A moment passed before it dawned on me that none of it came from him. Part of his shirt had been ripped clean through, but the skin underneath remained smooth and unbroken, though I knew from years of seeing him train that his body was a patchwork of scars roped over corded muscle.He was back from the battle he’d set out for two days prior with some of our pack’s finest, taking care

Layla’s POVThe next morning the house was silent, and mostly as my father and Reno were out serving out their punishment of double pack training. It was the most peaceful I could remember being in a long time and would’ve been perfect were it not for the fact that I could sense Lu’s sulking in spite of the fact that I was in the living room and she was all the way in the kitchen—something to do with the passive aggressive clattering of pots and pans as she moved around.The sound of a knock on the front door drew me out of my thoughts, and as I got up to answer it I saw Lu sidled out of the kitchen and leaned against the doorway.“Hey slut,” she said, and I stopped in my tracks. “No matter how hard you try to throw yourself at Alpha Hector and make yourself out to be the victim, you will never, ever be close to him.”Resisting a shiver, I opened the door to find Carlos, the leading Delta of the Sanguis pack and my father’s right hand, standing behind it. His bulky form filled the do

Hector’s POVFor two years now I had kept it to myself, the knowledge that Layla was my mate. When I found out my reputation was already set in stone, and anyone who knew of me would’ve said I was cold, powerful and uncompromising. These were qualities they all chalked up to the fact that I had gone so long without finding my mate or settling down.Not that I cared. I had never wanted a mate and family.But on a specific day, my entire life changed forever. That was her eighteenth birthday.On that day Gaius and I had been drinking, and in the middle of it he let slip that he didn’t want to go home because it was his daughter Layla’s eighteenth birthday. Turning eighteen for werewolves meant that they were officially transitioning into adulthood. It meant finally taking on certain responsibilities and finding your mate. Each Lycan would be gifted a small pouch by their father that contained wolfsbane according to tradition.Apparently, she was at home waiting to receive her pouch fro

Layla’s POVAfter the brief interruption, the Procession continued as planned and I tried to concentrate on everything going on around me rather than the heat I could feel radiating off Hector’s skin as we swayed gently, carried in the sedan chair. He didn’t say anything else after slipping his cloak on me, but the silence we shared was comfortable and in minutes we finally arrived at the central clearing where most of our Pack’s celebrations were held.At the middle of the clearing a huge bonfire had been lit—the holy fire—and as we drew closer to it the heat it gave off washed over my skin. I felt a bead of sweat trail down my forehead as the cloak around my shoulders sagged heavily.I’d be damned before giving it up though.A lone figure dressed in a snow-white gown stood with her back facing the burning pyre, and she was staring right at us: Delphine, the Pack’s High Priestess who usually played the role of the Moon Goddess in these types of situations.Naturally, she fit the rol