Unwanted By Her Pack, Chosen By The Alpha King

Elara Vance's POV:

I crouched behind a thicket of overgrown ferns, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. The air was thick with the scent of pine and damp earth, but a new smell cut through it, something electric and powerful, like the air before a lightning strike. Ozone.

*He comes. Be ready,* my wolf, Lyra, growled in my mind. Her voice was a low thrum of anxiety and fierce determination.

I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to calm the frantic beat. I could smell him, the Alpha King Alaric Varg. His scent was a force of nature, an oppressive wave that made the Omega in me want to flatten myself to the ground and show my throat. It took every ounce of my will to fight the instinct, to remain upright.

Dust plumed in the distance, a tan cloud rising against the deep green of the forest. Three black SUVs, sleek and menacing, devoured the dirt road, kicking up stones as they approached. This was it. My only chance.

My fingers tightened around the smooth, cool stone in my pocket, a token from my Pack's elder. It was a tangible link to the home I’d left, to the justice I was here to demand.

I took one last, shuddering breath, pushing down the terror that threatened to paralyze me.

The lead vehicle was almost upon me.

Now.

I burst from the trees, a desperate moth throwing itself at a convoy of steel. I planted my feet in the middle of the road and threw my arms wide, a silent, fragile barrier against their unstoppable momentum.

A horrifying screech of tires tore through the quiet forest. The world dissolved into a chaos of noise and flying dirt. The lead SUV swerved, its brakes screaming in protest as it skidded to a halt.

The massive black grille stopped inches from my knees. Dust and grit filled my lungs, and I broke into a fit of violent coughing.

Before the dust even settled, doors flew open. Two men in tactical gear were on me in a heartbeat. One grabbed my left arm, the other my right, twisting them painfully behind my back and forcing me to my knees. The impact sent a jolt of pain through my joints.

"Are you insane?" one of them, a guard with a hard face and a clipped voice, snarled in my ear. "Do you have any idea whose convoy this is?"

I ignored him, craning my neck to see the second SUV, the one I knew would hold the King. I had to make him hear me.

"I demand justice!" I screamed, my voice raw and thin against the idling engines. "By the name of the Moon Goddess, I demand a judgment from the Alpha King, Alaric Varg!"

The guard tried to clamp a hand over my mouth, but I thrashed, my desperation giving me a surge of strength. I twisted my head, shouting the words again and again, a frantic