Claimed By The Alpha, I Tried To Forget

1. One Mistake

*Claire POV*

Some people were born to be seen. I was born to be invisible.

But standing there on the edge of the summit grounds, I couldn’t help wondering what it might feel like to take up space just once, to be more than a quiet shadow behind my family’s name.

I know it’s wishful thinking.

The night buzzed with power, laughter, pine, and polished stone. Everything felt too big for someone like me, and yet, for the first time, I didn’t want to disappear. I wanted to be a part of all this as much as everyone else here.

I had waited years for this. Astrid, my older sister, told me countless stories about the annual summit. My elder brother, Edward, found his mate, Lyla, here last year. They were a match like no other. A fairytale couple.

I wondered if I’d run into my mate tonight as well. Now that I had gotten my wolf last week on my eighteenth birthday, it was finally my turn to experience it all for myself. I was excited to find out how my story was going to unfold.

“Speed up, Claire. At this rate, we’ll miss the performance,” my brother Gregory complained, hooking my arm with his and dragging me through the overcrowded streets.

He had made it his life’s mission not to miss Lilly Walker’s live performance. Tonight, she was performing here.

“Oh, don’t be dramatic, brother. Let the little one have a moment. We still have time before the show starts,” Joe, my other brother, said what I couldn’t.

Thank you, Joe, I said to him with a look.

Gregory scoffed. “I don’t want to risk it.” There was no point arguing with him.

Gregory and Joe were twins, but with personalities from opposite universes.

Since Edward had to accompany Father to the meeting of Alphas, the twins were assigned to watch over me. Usually, I hated it, but tonight, after seeing this wild crowd, I didn’t complain.

After the show, we ran into some of the twins’ college friends. They invited us for drinks and to watch some fights happening later.

I had zero interest in watching people beat each other half-dead in the name of sports.

Luckily, I was saved by my best friend Magnus, who showed up at the perfect moment like some chaotic guardian angel and saved me.

Joe reminded me that I had to return to the hotel before curfew. I promised him I would and told him he had nothing to worry about, but I wouldn’t have been this confident if I’d known what was going on inside my friend’s head.

“Tada!” Magnus bounced like an excited cat, flipping a black envelope in my face.

I narrowed my eyes. Something about this was intense.

“How can you not be excited? It’s the coolest party of the year! Come on, Claire, we’re eighteen. We deserve to have some fun,” she made her case.

Fun wasn’t the problem here. Her methods were.

“Please tell me we’re going. Pleaaaase,” she begged with those dramatic puppy eyes, emotionally blackmailing me.

“Fine. Just this once,” I sighed, surrendering.

I might regret it later, but after everything she had been dealing with lately after learning about her mother’s illness, maybe that’s what she needed. A night of doing silly things.

Although the moment we stepped into that ‘party,’ I wanted to take my words back. This was not what I signed up for.

The music blasted like it owed no one an apology, and the floor was crawling with people doing drugs under the neon lights, half-naked bodies rubbing against each other, chasing pleasure like there was no tomorrow.