Claimed by the Alpha I Hate – Episode 45
Mila followed Lucien’s messenger into an abandoned chapel beyond the Eastwind boundary. She expected payment, protection, or perhaps an introduction to the power replacing Scott and Nolan in her ambitions.
Lucien waited near the ruined altar. “You lost the box.” His calm disappointment frightened her more than anger.
“Your messenger was followed,” Mila replied. “I did everything you asked.”
“You copied a key and spread rumors. Do not confuse usefulness with importance.” The insult struck the insecurity she hid beneath arrogance.
Mila promised she could separate Daisy from Nolan. She knew Eastwind, the mansion staff, and every weakness Daisy tried to conceal.
Lucien considered her. Klaudius preferred servants motivated by fear; Lucien found ambition easier to direct.
“There is someone who knows Daisy better than you do,” he said. Footsteps sounded behind the chapel wall.
Scott emerged from the shadows. Six months in hiding had changed him, stripping away the polish of an Alpha heir and leaving resentment in its place.
Mila stared at the mate who abandoned Eastwind. “You left me.”
“I survived,” Scott corrected. He had spent months blaming Nolan for taking his pack and Daisy for becoming valuable only after he rejected her.
Lucien had found him among rogues and offered a path back to power. In return, Scott provided old Eastwind routes and knowledge of Daisy’s history.
Mila’s anger shifted quickly into calculation. If Scott returned with vampire support, she might reclaim the title Nolan denied her.
“Klaudius wants his daughter,” Lucien said. “Nolan wants his mate. We need them fighting over the same prize.”
Scott bristled at the word mate. He had severed Daisy’s bond, yet hearing another Alpha claim her awakened possessiveness he had never earned.
“She was mine first,” he said.
Mila laughed bitterly. “You chose me because she embarrassed you.”
Lucien silenced them. Their jealousy mattered only if it served his plan.
He ordered Mila to learn when Daisy’s grandfather traveled without guards. Scott would take the old man and force Daisy beyond Nolan’s defenses.
Neither asked what would happen after Klaudius received her. Each imagined a reward in the world her capture created.
Above the broken altar, moonlight revealed Lucien’s private smile. Klaudius believed the plan would recover his daughter; Lucien intended it to deliver the vampire throne.