The Alpha Who Wronged Me

The Price of Rejection

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Kael’s Alpha aura was a physical weight, pressing down on the forest floor until the dry leaves crinkled under the sheer force of his suppressed rage. His warriors had retreated several steps, their heads bowed. They knew better than to be caught in the splash zone of an Alpha’s fury.

"My mate," Kael repeated, his voice a low, dangerous vibration. "She was my mate, Lucien. The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes."

Lucien didn't flinch. He didn't even shift his stance. He simply stepped closer to Ava, his shoulder brushing hers in a claim that was silent but deafening.

"The Goddess provides," Lucien countered smoothly. "But she also recognizes a broken bond. You severed yours. You threw the gift away, Kael. Did you think the universe would just let her bleed out in the dirt?"

Kael’s eyes shifted—flashing between his human blue and the glowing gold of his wolf, Fenris. He looked at Ava, his chest heaving as if he’d just run a hundred miles.

"Ava, tell me he’s lying," Kael demanded. "Tell me you’re doing this to get back at me. To hurt me."

Ava felt a lump form in her throat. The bitterness she had felt earlier was being replaced by a strange, hollow coldness.

"To hurt you?" she whispered, her voice trembling but gaining strength. "Kael, you stood in front of the entire pack. You called me weak. You called me a burden. You told me to run and never look back."

She took a step toward him, stepping out from the shadow of Lucien’s protection.

"I didn't choose to find another mate tonight," she said, gesturing to the silver-eyed Alpha beside her. "I chose to survive. The bond with Lucien... it saved me when the bond with you was killing me."

Kael reached out, his fingers twitching as if he wanted to grab her, to pull her back into the Blackwood territory where he could lock her away.

"I can fix it," Kael growled. "The rejection... it hasn't been finalized by a full lunar cycle. I can take it back. I can bring you home."

Lucien let out a sharp, mocking bark of laughter.

"Home? To the pack that watched you exile her? To the house where you broke her heart?" Lucien’s silver eyes flared with a sudden, predatory light. "She is no longer a Blackwood, Kael. Look at her scent. Look at the air around her."

Kael froze. He inhaled deeply, his wolf catching the trail.

The scent of pine and winter—Lucien’s scent—was already beginning to weave into Ava’s wild cedar aroma. The claiming hadn't happened yet, but the souls were already stitching together.

"She’s turning," Kael whispered, horror dawning on his face. "She’s becoming a Nightfall wolf."

Kael’s warriors shifted, their claws extending. The threat was clear: they weren't going to let a "stolen" mate leave without a fight.

Lucien’s hand dropped to the small of Ava’s back.

"We are leaving," Lucien stated, his voice booming with the authority of an Alpha King. "If you cross into the neutral zone to follow us, it is an act of war. Choose wisely, Kael. Is one 'weak' wolf worth the blood of your entire front line?"

Kael looked at his men, then back at Ava. His jaw was clenched so tight it looked ready to snap. The regret in his eyes was a living thing, dark and jagged.

Ava didn't wait for his answer.

She turned her back on her old Alpha, her old life, and her old heart.

"Let's go," she told Lucien.

As they walked into the deeper shadows of the trees, Ava didn't look back. But she could still feel Kael’s gaze burning into her spine—and she knew, with a sinking feeling in her gut, that a Blackwood wolf never truly lets go of what he thinks belongs to him.