Marked by the Alpha
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B. E. Harmel
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18.9K
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Leah D’Lara returns home determined to prove she’s more than the chief’s daughter. But after a reckless encounter leaves her marked by the ruthless Alpha Darius Voss, she’s bound to the one man she refuses to trust. As war closes in and a dangerous secret threatens every pack, Leah must decide whether to keep fighting the Alpha…or fight beside him. Because the bond she never wanted may be the only thing powerful enough to save them all.
Chapter 1: Recognition
LEAH
“Dr. D’Lara.”
The deep, smooth voice curled through the office before I could fully steady myself.
Alpha Darius Voss sat behind a grand mahogany desk, broad shoulders tense beneath a black button-down, one large hand resting over an open file. The moment his green eyes met mine, something inside me shifted violently.
Not metaphorically. Physically. Like my body had recognized something before my mind could catch up.
His gaze dragged over me slowly, deliberately, lingering just long enough to make heat creep beneath my skin. Raven-dark hair fell over his forehead, giving him a dangerously untamed look despite the polished office and alpha control radiating from him.
God. No one should look at another person like that.
Darius Voss looked nothing like the boy I vaguely remembered from years ago. That version of him was gone, replaced by something far more dangerous.
He looked like an alpha in every possible sense of the word.
Power radiated from him effortlessly. From the expensive black dress shirt stretched over his chest to the heavy silver watch around his wrist, everything about him screamed control. Confidence. Authority.
This man was all sharp edges and restrained power. And he was staring at me like he already knew exactly how I tasted. I swallowed hard.
Heat season. That was all this was.
It had to be. One corner of his mouth lifted slowly, like he could hear every frantic thought in my head.
“Leah D’Lara,” he murmured this time, my name sounding almost sinful in his mouth. “Finally.”
My pulse stumbled. “Alpha,” I said, the single word coming out softer than I intended.
His eyes darkened.
He stood, and the movement alone felt dangerous. Tall. Broad. Controlled. The kind of man who commanded rooms without trying.
Or ruined women without effort. He rounded the desk toward me, and every instinct I had screamed to hold my ground even as something deeper urged me closer.
Mine. The thought hit me so suddenly my breath caught.
No. Absolutely not.
I’d spent years away from this pack. Years building a career, a reputation, a life that belonged to me. I wasn’t about to lose my mind because the alpha happened to be devastatingly attractive.
Years becoming more than Edgar D’Lara’s daughter. More than the chief’s little girl. More than the wolf everyone expected me to be.
I’d built my own name. My own career. My own future. And I hadn’t come home to lose any of it.
When he stopped in front of me, the scent of pine, smoke, and something uniquely male wrapped around me so suddenly my wolf stirred beneath my skin. My breath caught. His eyes darkened slightly. He noticed. Oh God, he noticed.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet my new superstar,” he murmured, extending his hand toward me.
My. The possessiveness in that single word sent heat curling low in my stomach.
I slid my hand into his, intending the gesture to be brief and professional. The second our skin touched, a violent rush tore through me. Heat exploded low in my stomach. His fingers tightened. Not enough to hurt. Enough to warn. My breath hitched before I could stop it.
And Darius noticed. Of course he noticed. Those green eyes locked onto mine, sharp and predatory, and for one terrifying second, the entire room disappeared around us. No office. No pack. No future. Just him.
Darius’s jaw flexed. Then, slowly, his thumb brushed once against the inside of my wrist. A tiny movement. Barely anything. My entire body reacted anyway. His nostrils flared slightly, like he’d caught the change in my scent, and satisfaction flickered across his face. Dangerous man.
“Alpha,” my father said, his voice cutting through the tension sharply.
I nearly jerked backward. I’d forgotten anyone else was in the room.
Darius didn’t move his gaze from me immediately. That somehow made it worse. Then finally, slowly, he released my hand. “Chief,” Darius acknowledged calmly.
I glanced toward my father, who watched us both carefully now, suspicion tightening his features. My mother stood beside him, quieter but observant. That reaction alone told me I hadn’t imagined the intensity between us.
“We’ll talk later,” my father told me, his tone carrying meaning beneath the words. Then he looked back at Darius. “Alpha,” he added.
Darius dipped his head once. The moment the office doors closed behind them, silence swallowed the room whole, and somehow, being alone with him felt infinitely more dangerous.
Darius took another step toward me. Too close. Way too close.
“You’re nervous,” he said softly. Something in his voice shifted as he said it—not the cool authority he’d worn since I walked in, but something almost unguarded. A crack in all that polished control.
“I’m not.”
His gaze dropped briefly to my throat before returning to my eyes. “Liar.”
The word sent heat flooding straight between my thighs. Jesus Christ. I straightened my shoulders. “You brought me here for a hospital tour, Alpha. Not interrogation.”
A slow grin spread across his face. “There she is.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means,” he said, voice dropping lower, “I was starting to wonder if the famous Leah D’Lara existed at all beneath all that professionalism.”
I crossed my arms. “And now?”
His eyes swept over me again. Slowly. Thoroughly. He looked almost hungry. “I’m starting to think the rumors didn’t do you justice,” he said.
The air between us thickened instantly. I should’ve stepped back. Instead, I held his gaze. Challenge met challenge.
His wolf pushed against the surface then—not fully visible, but there. I saw it in the faint sharpening of his canines. In the possessive intensity burning behind those green eyes.
It should’ve frightened me.
Instead, my pulse kicked harder. Darius noticed that too, of course he did.
“Come,” he said finally, voice rougher now. “I’ll show you your hospital.”
My hospital. Not the hospital. Mine.
And somehow, the possessive note in his voice felt less like a professional title…and more like a warning.
Darius held the office door open for me, but as I stepped past him, his hand settled briefly against the small of my back.
It should’ve been innocent. Professional.
Instead, heat exploded through me so fast my step faltered. His fingers flexed slightly against me, like he’d felt it too. God.
The contact lasted barely a second before he pulled away, but my skin kept burning long after. And judging by the dark look in his eyes, he wasn’t unaffected either.
“Careful, Doctor,” he murmured close to my ear. “Wouldn’t want you falling on your first day back.”
The low rasp of his voice slid over my skin like sin itself.
I shot him a glare that only made his mouth twitch. Arrogant asshole.
The hallway outside the alpha wing buzzed with movement, wolves stepping aside the moment Darius appeared. Conversations quieted. Heads lowered.
But I noticed something else too.
Their eyes kept drifting toward me.
Toward us.
As if they sensed something neither of us had spoken out loud yet.
Darius walked beside me with effortless dominance, one hand tucked into his pocket while the other occasionally brushed against my arm or lower back whenever someone passed too close.
Every touch felt deliberate. Possessive. And terrifyingly easy to get used to.
“You’ve changed the entire hospital,” I said, mostly to distract myself from the fact that his scent was driving me insane.
“We needed to evolve.” His voice carried quiet pride. “The old systems weren’t enough anymore.”
The moment we stepped outside, the massive glass-front building came into view. I stopped short.
The Voss Hospital used to be respectable. Now it looked world-class.
Glass, steel, magic-infused infrastructure woven seamlessly into modern medicine. Energy lines pulsed faintly beneath the walls, feeding protective wards and healing chambers.
“You built this?” I asked quietly.
Darius glanced at me. “For the pack.”
But the way he said it made it sound like he was waiting for my approval specifically.
Inside, the hospital moved with practiced efficiency. Nurses hurried through corridors, healers consulted enchanted monitors, and the faint scent of herbs and antiseptic filled the air.
It was beautiful. Alive. Purposeful.
And for the first time since returning home, excitement pushed through the tension clawing beneath my skin.
“This is incredible,” I admitted.
Something softened in Darius’s expression. That strange vulnerable crack I’d noticed earlier appeared again.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he said.
He showed me each floor personally, never delegating the task to anyone else despite the fact that he was an alpha who clearly had a thousand responsibilities waiting for him.
And the entire time, his attention stayed fixed on me.
Not wandering.
Not distracted.
Focused.
Like I was the most important thing in the building. By the time we reached the top floor, my nerves were frayed raw.
Darius opened a set of double doors and stepped aside.
My breath caught.
The office was stunning. Spacious but warm, with towering windows overlooking the pack grounds. Shelves lined one wall, already filled with medical texts and journals I recognized immediately.
My journals.
“You imported my research collection?” I turned toward him in shock.
“You’d need them,” Darius said.
That simple. Like there’d never been a question. I walked farther inside slowly, fingertips brushing over the polished desk. Everything had been designed exactly to my preferences.
Not approximately. Exactly.
A dangerous flutter stirred low in my stomach. “You planned this long before I arrived,” I said softly.
Darius leaned against the doorway, watching me with those impossible green eyes. “Yes.” No hesitation. No denial.
The honesty hit harder than it should have. “Why?” I asked before I could stop myself.
His gaze held mine for a long moment. “Because when I want something,” he said quietly, “I make sure it’s ready for me when it arrives.”
The words wrapped around me like a threat disguised as seduction. I should’ve pushed back. Instead, my pulse skipped traitorously. Darius’s eyes dropped briefly to my mouth before he straightened.
“There’s a ceremony tonight,” he said, voice rougher now. “An official celebration for your return and your appointment as chief doctor.”
“I read about it in the schedule.”
His jaw tightened slightly. “That wasn’t an invitation, Leah.” He took a slow step closer. “It was a request.” The way he said request made it painfully clear it wasn’t one.
I crossed my arms. “You always this controlling?”
A smirk tugged at his mouth. “Only when something important belongs to my pack.”
Belongs. My breath caught.
Before I could answer, he spoke again. “I know Killian Draeven made you an offer.”
There it was. The temperature in the room dropped instantly.
A cold knot tightened low in my stomach. The sound of Killian’s name scraped against old memories I’d spent years trying not to revisit. I lifted my chin carefully. “I received a lot of offers.”
Something dark flashed behind Darius’s eyes. Not jealousy. Possession. He moved closer until barely a breath separated us. Close enough that I could feel his body heat.
Close enough that I caught the faint sharp edge of wolf beneath his scent.
“Yeah,” he said softly. His gaze locked onto mine. “But you still came home to me.”
And God help me—the worst part was how much my wolf liked the sound of that.
