Bleed Me Dry, Alpha

Chapter 5

The pain of rejection is a singularly unique experience. It feels like someone pulls your heart out through your chest, lying on the table before you, and smashing it while it is still connected.

Is Logan feeling this too? Does it hurt him as badly as it is hurting me, or does being alpha spare him this discomfort.

My neck begins to burn and reaching up, I find that the mark at my neck, the one he gave me the only time we ever made love, has started to bleed again as the last of him is pulled off my system. I can’t think, all I can do is feel and cry as everything slowly stops and my heartbeat returns to normal.

It is done. Finally and completely done.

Once I am able to stand on my own feet again, a server comes to me and as politely as they can, requests that I leave. Just moments after my rejection, I’ve become a rogue in their eyes–a packless wolf.

Taking a deep breath, I contain my newly budding anger, not sure if I should cry, or laugh, or scream. I want to rage at Logan Skye every hurt and pain he has given me. I spent so much of my time worrying about what he thought, and how he felt, that I forgot how to think or feel for myself.

I never thought I’d say this, but I can’t wait to return to my father’s pack. There was a time when I thought there couldn’t be any place worse than where I grew up, but these last three years have proven me wrong. The sooner Crimson Sky and its alpha become a distant memory, the better.

Just one more trip back to the packhouse.

I make it in record time, packing my things and leaving my ill-fitting rings for Logan to find on his desk. Maybe he’ll give them to Eloise as a trophy. I don’t really care anymore. He can do whatever the hell he wants once I’m gone.

Free of my last ties to him, I pull out my old passport and place it in my coat pocket. Starting tonight, I’m saying goodbye forever to Mrs. Annalise Skye as I return to who I was before, Ms. Annalise Monroe.

***

The immigration office smells like sweat and longing. So many wolves travel between packs, some for business, others for vacation, and some, like me, requiring special clearance as I pass my pack membership from one pack to another. Requests like mine aren’t unusual, they happen often enough in the event of marriage, or in my case divorce, but rarely are they for a luna leaving their alpha. Especially not an alpha of such high rank.

I emailed my father this morning and I have yet to hear anything back. My father is Moonstone Pack’s beta. Having a note with his official seal would be enough to grant me instant passage.

“Ma’am, what is your name?”A man with thin hair and a thinner voice looks up at me through a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. “Passport or ID.”

“Annalise Monroe, Passport,” I declare reaching into my pocket as my phone begins to ring. Looking down I see Delta Thomas’s number and my spirits lift. Maybe he has my clearance, with that I won’t have to deal with this bureaucratic nonsense. Excusing myself I hop out of line and answer my phone.

“You need to get out of there, now!” His words are rapid and abrupt, cutting me short with no chance to catch up. “Your brother and father were just arrested for bribery and illegal dealings at an underground casino. Now the Alpha of Moonstone Pack is hunting your family one by one.” He gasps, pausing to take a breath. “Where are you?”

“The immigration office,” I look over my shoulder at the clerk who is now giving me a suspicious side eye, his head tilting to the side anxiously as he looks over at security. One of many officers along the walls places his hand on his earbud, listening intently, before lifting his gaze to scan the room.

“Have you given your name yet?” Mr. Thomas inquires, and when I tell him no, his voice calms slightly as he becomes a little less agitated. “Good. Say nothing. Leave now. You can’t come back to Moonstone, you’ll be tried as an accomplice. I’m sure it’s what he’s expecting you to do.”

“But this doesn’t make any sense! My father has dedicated his entire life to the pack, and my brother is the most righteous person I’ve ever known. How could they possibly be involved in anything illegal?”

I whisper into the phone as I walk towards the exit. A few security guards start heading towards the main door, looking down at their phones and then up at the crowd. I overhear someone saying something about them checking IDs as people pass in or out and I veer sharply to the right, heading towards the bathroom. “Who could…?”

“The wolf behind this investigation is Logan Skye.”

I almost drop the phone, his words echoing in the back of my mind creating ripples through my thoughts like a pebble dropped in a pond. How long has been planning this? Why is he doing this?

“…Logan Skye. Are you sure?”