Page 42 of Chained By the Alpha (Claimed Duet #1)

“No, you aren’t,” Zayn declares, his gaze locking onto Lydia with enough intensity to set the grass ablaze. “Cleo hasn’t shifted.”

Lydia’s hands fly up, her exasperation clear as day. “There’s nothing in the rules that says an unshifted Alpha can’t challenge a shifted one,” she retorts.

“Did you challenge her, Cleo?” Zayn asks, turning his piercing silver eyes on me. I open my mouth, but no words come out—only silence. Yet as his gaze runs over me, I see the flicker of anger in it at my bleeding face.

“Thought so. This isn’t happening,” Zayn concludes, about to turn away when my father’s voice invades my mind, commanding me to speak.

“Tell them you challenged her, Cleo. I will not be made to look like a fool by this prick.” I glare at my father when he speaks again. “Or you step down,” he warns.

Seriously, his ego is bigger than his care for his daughter. I grit my teeth.

The weight of their stares squeezes the air from my lungs. I step forward, my resolve faltering under the heavy expectations of everyone.

“I… I challenged Lydia,” I admit, my voice barely a whisper and Zayn’s entire body tenses and he stops, turning back to me.

“See? All settled,” Samuel says with a nod, and Lydia practically leaps toward the ring.

“Wait,” Zayn interjects, his eyes burning into mine. “You challenged her?” he knows I’m lying.

I stand mute, my heart pounding in my chest, betraying the truth without uttering a single word. Zayn growls storming toward me and grabbing my arm, my father moves to intervene, Alpha Greyson becomes a wall between Zayn and him.

Zayn’s grip on my arm is firm, his eyes searching mine for any sign of surrender. “It’s suicide, Cleo,” he says through clenched teeth. “You don’t have to lie for him.”

“Admit it, and we can put an end to this madness,” Alpha Greyson adds, coming over to us while Vance keeps my father back.

I yank my arm away, frustration boiling over. “Stop interfering! You’re making things worse,” I snap at Zayn.

“Cleo, your mother wouldn’t want this,” Greyson persists, and I cut him off.

“Maybe that’s exactly why I’m doing it!” My voice breaks as I speak, the weight of my mother’s absence is like a stone in my chest. Everyone is hellbent on using her against me lately.

“If I step into that ring, at least my father can’t banish me.

I’ve done what he wanted.” The image of my pack—my home—slipping through my fingers if I refuse this fight makes me stubborn.

I won’t let that bitch get her hands on my mother’s pack.

As I turn to leave for the ring, Zayn’s hand finds my arm again, pulling me back. “Don’t expect me to stand by and do nothing if you’re losing,” he warns, his gray eyes stormy.

“That’s exactly what you’ll do,” I retort, my heart pounding in a fierce rhythm of defiance. “I am not your problem.”

His next words hit me like a physical blow. “I’ll pull my men from your borders if you do this.”

We had a deal—his protection in exchange for… something else, something I haven’t actually delivered on yet. “Consider it broken if you step into a title fight,” Zayn growls, the muscle in his jaw ticking.

“You’re all the same,” I mutter, shaking my head, my insides twisting with anger and betrayal. “All of you just want to control me.” Zayn’s gaze hardens and his eyes flicker.

“Control this, Zayn. Go fuck yourself,” I spit out, the words laced with venom. I storm off, leaving him standing there, his expression unreadable.

“Last warning, Cleo,” he calls after me, steeling myself. I ignore him.

“Pull them, then!” I throw the challenge over my shoulder without stopping.

“I’m not talking about my men this time, Cleo,” Zayn replies, and I hesitate, confusion momentarily breaking through my resolve.

“What are you talking about then?” I ask, worriedly.

“Get in that ring, and you’ll find out,” he says, a note of dark promise in his voice.

My father’s call slices through the tension, demanding my presence. I turn away from Zayn, ignoring the mix of disappointment and anger in his eyes. I march toward the makeshift ring—a simple dirt circle of onlookers that feels more like an arena than ever now.

Lydia has already shifted, her wolf form sleek and menacing. The surrounding Alphas and their packs form a tight circle, their attention fixed on the impending fight.

“Let’s get this over with,” I mutter under my breath, stepping into the circle that’s about to kick my ass.

Before I can brace myself for her attack, Zayn is beside me, his presence a wall against the chaos. Our eyes lock, a tumultuous storm of emotions swirling between us.

He’s close enough I can feel the heat radiating from his body, smell the vanilla and sandalwood scent that is uniquely his.

Zayn leans down. “I warned you,” Zayn whispers, his lips so close that they brush against mine with every word. “This is on you. I warned you not to get in this ring.”

“Zayn, don’t— what—” I start, but he cuts me off with a searing kiss, pushing me out of the ring with a force that leaves me breathless. He steps in front of me, facing both Lydia and the other Alphas and my father whose glaring daggers at him for kissing me and so is Alpha Dane.

Zayn strides into the circle, his presence commanding the immediate attention of all.

“Under the Protector’s Right, I, Zayn Holt, head of the council and Alpha of the Black River Pack, invoke my right to stand in this challenge on behalf of Cleo,” he declares, his voice echoing with a power that sends a shiver down my spine.

I’m stunned, my mind racing. This isn’t what I wanted, nor have I heard of this before.

The murmurs around us grow louder as Alpha Samuel steps forward, his disbelief mirrored in his tone, “This is ridiculous. You aren’t even in the same pack.

You can’t possibly mean to— Can he do that?

” Samuel turns to look at Alpha Dane and my father.

Before he can finish, Alpha Dane interjects, his own frustration clear. “This is unheard of, Zayn. The challenge was meant to settle a dispute, not create a spectacle.”

However Zayn, unflinching, meets their protests calmly, “The law exists for this very reason—to protect those who hold the future of our packs in their hands. I will not stand by while Cleo’s safety and leadership are undermined.”

As if on cue, Alpha Greyson steps up beside Zayn, solidifying the gravity of Zayn’s claim. “I stand with Zayn. This isn’t about spectacle; it’s about upholding the very foundations of our society. He has every right to stand in on her behalf whether she is pack or not.”

“You want to challenge my daughter?” Samuel scoffs.

“Yet it’s okay for you to toss your daughter into a fight with an unshifted Alpha, by all means, Samuel take her place.”

The silence that follows is heavy, charged with Zayn’s challenge.

Panic sets in and I try to intervene, realizing the spiraling consequences of Zayn’s actions. “Zayn, no, please. This isn’t what I—”

“Are you really willing to risk your council title for her?” Dane scoffs from across the makeshift arena.

“Step into the ring and find out,” Zayn challenges, a dangerous glint in his eye.

Dane, fueled by ego and the backing of my father, steps forward, ready to escalate the challenge into a full-blown conflict.

“Dad!” I yell seeing him step in next to Dane but he glares at me. “I told you to end things with him.” my father snarls.

The air is thick with the tension of impending violence.

“Zayn, this is stupid,” I protest, reaching for him, he brushes my hands away.

“No, what’s stupid is you thought I would let you get in this ring,” he counters, his voice low, a storm brewing in his gaze.

“Samuel backs out, too chicken to fight Zayn,” someone murmurs from the crowd, and I feel a surge of hope—maybe this madness will end without bloodshed.

But it’s short-lived. Alpha Dane’s voice cuts through the murmurs like a knife.

“You can’t be stupid enough to challenge two Alphas,” Dane counters, removing his jacket and tossing it to his son. The audacity of his move draws gasps from the onlookers, Zayn just chuckles—a dangerous, thrilling sound.

“Zayn, please, for me, don’t do this.”

Before I can argue further, he grabs me, his lips crash onto mine, a searing kiss that leaves me breathless and disoriented. It’s raw and demanding, a claim, a promise.

“You are exactly why I’m doing this,” he whispers. And then I’m stumbling back, pushed out of the ring by his strong hands.

“Stay out of this, Cleo,” Zayn commands, his silver gaze locking onto mine one last time before he glances at Alpha Greyson. “Grab her, she doesn’t step a foot in this ring,” he tells Greyson and before I can even move, Vance and Greyson grab each of my arms.

Zayn sends me a wink then turns to face the other Alphas.

“Last chance to walk away, boys,” Zayn taunts them, rolling his shoulders in anticipation.

“Like hell,” my father snarls, his eyes on me, filled with a mix of fury and disappointment when the mindlink opens and my father’s voice is in my head.

“ You made your bed, chose whose side you’re on, now watch how real Alphas handle their problems.”

“Dad, please,” I beg, tears burning behind my eyes. My heart races, torn between fear for Zayn and the furious desire to jump back into the fray, to stop my father.

I stare at Zayn but he’s focused on Dane and my father, circling him with predatory grace.

“Let them sort it out,” Vance leans down and says when Samuel shrugs off his jacket, tossing it at Lydia clearly sick of being called chicken by the other packs; or maybe because he knows with three of them, they can overthrow Zayn.

“They’ll kill him,” I whimper glancing at Greyson, who has a silly smile on his face.

“There is a reason he is head of the council, love,” My brows furrow.

“Birthright,” I tell him knowing Zayn took that title from his father.

“Yes, but his father had to fight these very same men for that title,” Greyson tells me before his eyes dart to mine. “You forget who took down the Alpha of Alphas in this city,” he nods toward Zayn.