Alpha's Betrayal Omega´s Revenge

7

Ethan’s POV

I lay on the cot in the cell, the taste of Nellie’s last kiss still on my lips, until I heard Serena’s shouting.

“What do you mean he let her go?! No! That has to be a mistake! She tricked you, you idiots! You need to stop her now and bring her back!”

“What’s going on?” I barked as I stepped into the hallway where the shouting was coming from.

Serena looked stunned to see me.

“Dar— I mean, Alpha, please tell me it’s not true. The prisoner, the ex-Luna Nellie Moore, tricked the guards and said you gave her permission to leave.”

Everyone waited for my answer. I stepped forward heavily and nodded.

“It’s true. I let her go. I decided to pardon her.”

I had never seen Serena so pale—not even when we confirmed we weren’t mates.

“What? Then… then she must be sent to the labor camps. She needs to be recaptured!”

The guards looked ready to act, and I saw them about to move. I growled with fury and released my Alpha aura, forcing them to stop immediately.

“No one is going to do anything of the sort!”

The effect was instant. Even Serena froze.

“I’ve granted her full freedom, and anyone who dares lay a finger on her will deal with me personally. Is that clear?”

I looked straight at Serena, the one my warning was most aimed at. She nodded, but as soon as the effect of my aura faded, she recovered her nerve.

“What are you saying, dear?” she asked as she approached me. “You know you can’t just let her go free.”

I didn’t respond and kept walking toward the exit.

I still felt like the world was spinning. Like none of this was real. Like at any moment, I’d see Nellie again, running toward me, and after embracing each other, we’d forget everything that had happened.

But I knew that wasn’t going to happen.

I got into the car, and Serena climbed in immediately. She repeated her warning as I started the engine.

“Are you insane, Ethan? If you let her go, she could run to the press, go public about what happened, tell her side of the story. She could even… expose us. Have you even thought about any of that? How it could affect us? Your mother warned you. She said—”

“I know exactly what she said,” I growled, cutting Serena off. “But she’s not the Alpha of this pack—I am. And her word holds no more weight than that of any of my advisors.”

“But love, darling, what I’m about to say… for the first time, I agree with your mother. And as your Beta, I share her opinion. Nellie could be dangerous. Remember—she’s an omega. She might try to blackmail us, demand money, or ask for a position in the pack house in exchange for her silence. She knows a lot—starting with…”

“With us, yeah, I know.”

I saw her again, in the cell, right after that last kiss. I remembered the look in her eyes—how determined she was to leave me, to leave the pack and get as far away as possible.

The pain gripped my chest again.

“I’m sure she won’t do anything you’re suggesting.”

“But how can you be sure? Don’t tell me she promised you and that you trust her word.”

I looked at Serena. I loved her—yes, I did—with the same force and devotion I had felt since the first time I saw her in high school, back when we fantasized about the life we’d share once we were confirmed mates and our wolves bound us together.

Nothing had turned out the way we imagined.

“Nellie is my mate,” I said with difficulty, knowing how much those words hurt Serena. “I know she’ll keep her word. She won’t do what you and my mother fear. She’s gone, Ser. She’s not coming back into our lives. Isn’t that what you wanted most?”

Serena clenched her jaw and folded her arms across her chest.

“I’m not so sure we can trust her, like you say,” she finally said. “We’re talking about an omega.”

I frowned.

“What are you trying to say?”

“They’re not like us, Ethan. Omegas aren’t honorable. They’re practically rogues. Being at the bottom of the pyramid makes them unpredictable. They envy us—they’re always watching, waiting for a chance to take us down or match our status. And the moment they find an opportunity, they’ll try to take advantage of it. Of us. Do you understand?”

As much as I loved Serena, her words began to offend me.

She was talking about Nellie—my mate.

“That may be true of other omegas. But not Nellie. She’s different. I know her—”

“Do you really?” Serena interrupted. “You only spent a few weeks together. You can’t possibly say you know someone in that amount of time.”

“But she’s my mate. It’s different. When the bond exists, you feel it—you know everything about them. It’s like time doesn’t matter because the connection—”

“Ethan, are you listening to yourself?” she interrupted again. It irritated me—I hated being interrupted—but it was Serena, so I let it go.

“If what you say is true—that the mate bond allows you to know someone so deeply—then why didn’t Nellie know… about us? Why didn’t she sense it, or suspect it?”

I didn’t have an answer.

“You see what I mean, love? Just like Nellie didn’t know everything about you, you don’t know everything about her either. So you can’t say you truly know her.”

I gripped the steering wheel tightly. I knew Serena was wrong.

Nellie wouldn’t do what she was suggesting.

I just… couldn’t explain it.

“Nellie may be your mate. But before that, she was an omega—and she still is. That’s what she’s been her whole life. And that has to be stronger than a mate bond, don’t you think? It’s in her blood, her upbringing, her culture… her essence.”

“I get what you’re saying. But I know Nellie isn’t like that.”

I didn’t know if Serena truly believed what she was telling me—or if she was just trying to poison me against Nellie.

It was something I needed to figure out.

“I don’t know how to explain it. I just know.”

My words brought a heavy silence between us. It lingered until the gates of the pack house came into view.

“I understand too, sweetheart,” Serena said in a much softer tone. “And I know none of this is easy for you right now. But what if your mother and I are right?”

The gate started to open, and I nodded to the guards.

“What if—for now—you just keep an eye on her?” Serena suggested as we drove in. “Just as a precaution.”

I parked the car before answering.

“Do you really think that’s necessary?”

Serena nodded.

“It’s just a precaution.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to authorize what Serena was asking—but as she herself had said, it was just in case I was wrong. In case Nellie was capable of something I hadn’t foreseen.

“Fine. I’ll authorize it.

But the surveillance ends the moment Nell leaves the pack.”