The Alpha I Was Forced to Marry Hated Me, Until He Fell for Me

"You wanted to marry me so badly? Fine. But remember this—I will make you regret every single day you spend as my wife."

The vow slammed into me before the gold band even touched my knuckle.

Lucian Blackwood gripped my fingers, his touch freezing cold. He did not look at my face. His icy gray eyes stayed glued to the stained-glass window behind the priest, ignoring the crowd filling the pack cathedral.

"Don't mistake this marriage for love," he muttered under his breath, sliding the heavy ring onto my finger so roughly the metal scraped my skin.

A murmur rippled through the front pews. The guests had heard him.

I tilted my chin up, meeting his rigid profile, and let out a dry chuckle.

"Don't worry," I said, pitching my voice so every elder in the front row could hear. "You're not exactly my dream husband either."

Several people gasped. A wine glass clinked sharply against a pew.

Lucian’s jaw twitched. For the first time all morning, his glare snapped directly to mine.

"What did you say?" he whispered, venom coating every syllable.

"You heard me, Alpha," I replied, holding his gaze without flinching. "Slip the ring on or call it off. I have places to be."

He shoved the band down to the base of my finger, his grip bruising.

None of this was supposed to be mine.

Twenty-four hours ago, the white silk gown had belonged to my sister, Isabelle. She was the golden child of the Cross family, the obedient daughter bred to unite our bloodline with the most feared Alpha in the territory. But yesterday evening, her bedroom was empty. Only an open window and a torn note remained.

My father had dragged me out of my room ten minutes later, thrusting the gown into my arms.

"You're putting it on," he had barked, his face pale with panic.

"Isabelle ran away, Father! Why should I take her place?"

"Because if a Cross bride doesn't show up tomorrow, Lucian Blackwood will tear our business and our territory to pieces!" He grabbed my wrists, shaking me. "You are just taking the fall for her this once!"

My mother had stepped in from the hallway, arms folded over her chest, eyes cold as winter frost.

"If you run," she said flatly, "we freeze every account in your name. We strip your inheritance. You will be cast out of this pack without a dime, sleeping on the pavement. Put on the dress, Nora."

So I wore the dress. I walked the aisle. I stood where my sister was supposed to stand, taking the punishment meant for her.

The ceremony ended without a kiss. Lucian turned on his heel the moment the priest finished the benediction, leaving me to trail after him down the runner alone.

The drive to Blackwood Manor took thirty minutes of suffocating silence.

The estate loomed on the cliffside, surrounded by dark pines and iron fences. The black gates groaned shut behind our limousine.

Lucian stepped out first, not offering a hand. When I gathered the heavy skirts of the gown and climbed onto the gravel, a line of servants was waiting near the grand oak doors.

An older man in a tailored suit bowed his head. "Welcome home, Luna."

"She is not your Luna," Lucian cut in, stripping off his suit jacket and tossing it to the butler.

The staff froze.

"Sir?" the butler asked, confused.

"Take her luggage to the attic room in the east wing," Lucian commanded, striding past the foyer toward his study. "The farthest one."

"The storage wing?" I demanded, marching behind him across the polished marble floor. "Are you serious?"

He stopped and turned around so fast I nearly crashed into his broad chest.

"You think you earned the master suite?" His lip curled with contempt. "You connived your way into my house, Nora. You don't get the privileges that come with it."

"I connived?" I threw my hands up. "Do you honestly think I begged to wear this ridiculous dress?"

"Drop the innocent act," he sneered, leaning in until his shadow swallowed me completely. "You hold zero Luna authority here. You don't manage the household. You don't sit at pack meetings. You don't speak to my council. You are a guest who forced her way past the threshold, nothing more."

"Then let me leave," I shot back, taking a step toward the heavy front doors. "Send me back to my father. Annul it right now."

He let out a harsh, mocking bark of laughter.

"And let you run to the press with a fat settlement check?" He stepped directly into my path, towering over me. "No. You wanted the Blackwood name. Now you choke on it."

"Nora! Oh, thank goodness you're alright!"

A soft, breathless voice echoed from the sweeping staircase.

Victoria rushed down the steps. She wore an emerald gown, her pale face practically radiating concern. She was supposed to be my closest friend since childhood, the one person who knew how terrified I was of the Blackwood family.

She threw her arms around me, squeezing tight.

"I tried to stop your father," Victoria whispered in my ear, her voice trembling. "I told him it wasn't fair to force you."

"Victoria, what are you doing here?" I asked, pulling back to look at her.

"Alpha Lucian sent for me to help unpack the Cross family belongings," she said softly, smoothing down my ruffled veil. Then she glanced up at Lucian with wide, sorrowful eyes. "Lucian, please don't be too hard on her. She only did what she thought was best."

Lucian's expression hardened into granite. "Save your breath, Victoria. You don't need to defend her anymore."

I frowned, shifting my gaze between the two of them. "Defend me from what?"

Victoria bit her lower lip, stepping back as if she had spoken out of turn. "Nothing, Nora. I just... I promised I wouldn't say anything."

"Say what?" My voice sharpened. "Victoria, what are you talking about?"

"She doesn't have to say anything," Lucian interrupted, his voice dropping into a dangerous rumble. "Victoria was honest enough to tell me the truth last night while your parents were still scrambling to cover your tracks."

A cold pit opened in my stomach. "What truth?"

Lucian walked over to the desk by the foyer archway, picked up an ivory envelope, and flicked it against his fingers.

"Isabelle didn't just decide to run away out of the blue," Lucian said, his eyes drilling into mine. "Victoria found Isabelle's travel tickets booked from your private laptop two weeks ago. You bought her passage to the southern coast, didn't you?"

"I did what?!" Shock punched the air straight out of my lungs. "That's a lie!"

"Isabelle confided in me, Nora," Victoria murmured, shrinking behind Lucian's arm, her eyes shining with fake unshed tears. "She told me you convinced her that Lucian was a monster, that he would lock her up. You told her to run so you could save the family alliance yourself."

"Victoria, you lying snake!" I lunged forward, but Lucian’s hand clamped around my wrist like a steel vise, wrenching me back.

"Keep your hands off her," Lucian warned, his grip tightening until my bones ached. "You plotted this whole thing. You scared your own sister away to take her crown."

"Look at me!" I shouted, staring into his brutal eyes. "Do I look happy to be here? Do I look like a woman who just won a prize?"

"You look like a thief caught red-handed," he replied coldly.

He shoved my hand away, disgusted.

"East wing attic. Now," he ordered the guards standing by the doorway. "If she steps out before morning, lock the corridors."

As the guards moved in, I caught Victoria's face over Lucian's shoulder.

The innocent, tearful expression was completely gone.

Her lips curved into a sharp, victorious smirk.

A sudden heavy knock thudded against the front door, rattling the iron hinges before anyone could take another step.