Mated To The Dying Ruthless Alpha

Kira Hayes POV:

The black sedan slid to a stop.

Through the tinted window, the Hayes Pack manor loomed like a gilded cage. Its sharp, modern lines felt less like home and more like a prison sentence I had already served twenty years of. The only reason I came back here and endured all of this was to uncover the truth behind my older sister Caroline's death.

The driver caught my eye in the rearview mirror. Pity. I hated it more than their scorn.

I pushed the door open, the click echoing in the silence.

The butler, a man who had known me since I was a child, opened the massive front door. He bowed his head.

"Miss Kira."

His voice was professionally respectful, but the slight hesitation was a betrayal. To him, I was the useless Omega, the family's shame, now being brought back for one final, sacrificial purpose.

My heels clicked against the marble floor of the foyer, the sound swallowed by the cavernous space. It made my presence feel small, insignificant. The air was thick with the oppressive scent of cedarwood-my father, Alpha Derrick Hayes. It was a scent that promised control, not comfort.

From behind the heavy oak doors of the living room, a shrill laugh pierced the quiet. My stepsister, Paige. Her laugh was like nails on a chalkboard, a sound engineered for irritation.

I pushed the door open.

My father sat in his throne-like armchair, polishing a family signet ring with a soft cloth, his face a mask of indifference. My stepmother, Dinah Vaughan, sat opposite him, her lips stretched into that signature, plastic smile. And Paige, draped in a sickeningly pink dress, eyed me with the glee of a vulture spotting fresh carrion.

Derrick set the ring down. He lifted his gaze, and his gray eyes, cold as granite, landed on me.

"You're back," he stated. Not a question. A fact.

Dinah immediately chimed in, her voice syrupy sweet. "Kira, darling, come sit. We have something important to discuss."

She gestured to a lone armchair, set furthest away from their family circle.

I didn't move. I stood in the doorway, my gaze sweeping over the three of them.

"What is it?" My voice was flat, scraped clean of any emotion.

Paige couldn't wait. She leaned forward, her voice dripping with malicious delight. "It's wonderful news! Dorian Carlisle, the Alpha of the Carlisle Pack, has proposed a marriage alliance!"

Dorian. The legendary Alpha, whispered to be on his deathbed after a brutal rogue attack. My sister, Caroline, had been the intended bride before... before she was gone.

Dinah dabbed at a dry eye with a handkerchief. "Poor Caroline... she's no longer with us. But the marriage contract with the Carlisles cannot be broken. The penalty would bankrupt the Hayes Pack."

Derrick delivered the final blow, his voice devoid of any warmth. "Therefore, Kira, you will marry Dorian in Caroline's place."

Paige let out a derisive snort. "It's the honor of a lifetime for an Omega like you. So what if his dying? At least you'll be a Luna for a day."

The wolf inside me snarled, a low, guttural sound of rage that I forced down my throat. My wolf is too weak; they've all forgotten that I'm an Alpha's daughter.

My eyes stayed locked on Derrick.

"And if I refuse?"

The air in the room crackled and froze. Derrick's face darkened. Dinah's smile froze in place. Paige stared at me.

"You don't have the right to refuse." Derrick's voice dropped, laced with the power of his Alpha's Command. It was a psychic pressure meant to force submission, to buckle the knees of any lower-ranking wolf.

The force washed over me, a sharp sting against my forehead, and then... nothing. It dissipated against the shield of my own soul, a soul far more powerful than he could ever imagine. In the world of werewolves, this was a fundamental law: an Alpha's Command was an irresistible force for those of a lesser rank. My easy defiance was not just disobedience; it was an impossibility.

A flicker of shock crossed his face. He felt it fail.

"How dare you defy Dad!" Paige shrieked, jumping to her feet. "You ungrateful waste of space!"

She lunged, her hand raised to slap me.

Her movements were laughably slow, like a film in slow motion. I took a single, deliberate half-step back.

Her hand swiped through empty air. Thrown off balance by her own momentum, she stumbled forward, her forehead cracking hard against the sharp corner of the marble coffee table.

A sickening thud.

"Ah!" A pained scream as she crumpled to the floor, clutching her head. Blood seeped through her fingers.

"Paige! My baby!" Dinah shrieked, rushing to her side. She glared at me, her eyes filled with venom. "Kira! You vicious little-"

"She tripped," I cut her off, my voice calm and cold. "Everyone in this room saw it."

I turned my gaze back to Derrick, whose face was now a thundercloud.

"I'll say it again," my voice was steady, unwavering. "I refuse."

Without another glance at them, I turned and walked toward the door.

"Kira!" Derrick's roar echoed behind me. "You walk out that door, and you will never see a single thing your mother left behind!"

My feet stopped. My mother's things. My weak spot. The only reason I had returned to this hellhole.

I didn't turn around.

I felt their three pairs of eyes-furious, hateful, shocked-boring into my back as I walked out, closing the door on their suffocating world.

Leaning against the cool wall in the hallway, my heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drum of fury and adrenaline.

This was just the beginning.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. A new encrypted message.

It was from Zane Stone, my contact in the digital shadows.

"X, latest file on Dorian is in. Handle with care."