Rejected by the Alpha

Alone with the Alpha

"Alone," Kade said again, when nobody moved. "Now."

The hall emptied slowly, pack members throwing confused glances over their shoulders as they filed out. Freya lingered the longest, her eyes narrowing as she looked between Kade and Elena, clearly trying to understand what she had missed. Mia squeezed Elena's hand once before she was pulled out with the rest of the crowd, mouthing the words "are you okay" as she went.

Elena wasn't sure how to answer that, even to herself.

Within a minute, the hall was empty except for the two of them. The doors closed with a soft, heavy thud. Elena stood near the center of the room, her hands clasped tightly in front of her, trying to look calmer than she felt.

Kade did not say anything at first. He simply looked at her, the same way he had looked at her back at the camp, like she was a puzzle he could not solve and it frustrated him deeply.

"Do you know what a mate bond is," he finally asked.

Elena's throat felt dry. "I have heard stories about it. Everyone has."

"Then you understand what I felt earlier." His voice was flat, controlled, but there was something underneath it that sounded almost like anger. Not at her. At the situation itself.

"I felt something too," Elena admitted quietly. "I didn't know what it was. I still don't."

Kade walked closer, slow and deliberate, the way a predator moves when it isn't sure yet whether to trust what's in front of it. He stopped a few feet away from her, close enough that she had to tilt her head back to look at him.

"You're my mate," he said.

The words hit her like a physical thing. Elena's breath caught in her chest.

"That's not possible," she said, shaking her head. "I'm nobody. I'm an omega. I can't even shift properly. There has to be some mistake."

"There's no mistake." His jaw tightened. "Do you think I wanted this? Do you think I came here hoping to find some untrained omega from a pack half the size of mine?"

Elena flinched at the harshness in his voice, and something in his face shifted immediately, like he regretted the words the second they left his mouth.

"That's not," he started, then stopped, running a hand through his hair. "That's not what I meant."

"It's fine," Elena said quietly, even though it wasn't. "I understand. I'm not what you expected."

"You're not what anyone would expect," Kade said, his voice lower now. "That's the problem."

They stood there in silence for a moment, the space between them thick with something neither of them wanted to name. Elena could feel that same pull again, stronger now that they were alone, like her whole body wanted to close the distance between them even though her mind screamed at her to stay still.

"What happens now?" she asked.

Kade's eyes searched her face for a long moment before he answered. "I don't know."

It wasn't the answer she expected from someone as powerful and certain as him. It made him seem, for just a second, like an ordinary man standing in front of a problem he could not fight his way through.

"I have responsibilities," he said, more to himself than to her. "My pack is being pressured by Blackthorn Pack raids near the border. My mother has been trying to arrange an alliance with Cross Pack for months. There are things happening that are bigger than," he paused, "than this."

"Than me," Elena finished quietly.

Kade didn't correct her.

She felt something in her chest tighten painfully, though she wasn't sure why. She barely knew this man. She had met him only hours ago. But the rejection in his silence still stung, sharp and immediate, like she had already lost something she never even had a chance to hold.

"I understand," she said, straightening her shoulders. "You don't have to explain anything to me, Alpha Kade. I'm just an omega from a small pack. I'm sure this bond is more of an inconvenience to you than anything else."

She turned to leave, but his hand shot out and caught her wrist before she could take a step.

"Wait."

Elena froze. His grip wasn't tight, but it was firm, warm in a way that sent a strange shiver up her arm.

"I didn't say that," Kade said quietly.

"You didn't have to," Elena replied, refusing to look at him. "I could hear it in the way you stopped talking."

Kade was quiet for a long moment. Then, slowly, he let go of her wrist.

"Tell no one about this," he said, his voice returning to its cold, commanding tone. "Not your friends. Not your pack. Nobody."

Elena turned to face him, surprised. "Why?"

"Because it complicates things that do not need to be complicated right now," Kade said. "I need time to think."

Elena wanted to argue, wanted to ask him what exactly there was to think about when the bond was clearly real for both of them, but something in his expression stopped her. He looked tired in a way that had nothing to do with the hour. Tired in a way that came from carrying too much, for too long, alone.

"Fine," she said quietly. "I won't say anything."

"Good." Kade stepped back, putting distance between them like he needed it to breathe properly again. "You should go back to your friends. They'll be wondering what happened."

Elena nodded and walked toward the door, but she paused just before opening it, glancing back at him one last time.

"For what it's worth," she said, "I didn't ask for this either. But I'm not going to pretend it didn't happen just because it's inconvenient for you."

She didn't wait for his response. She pushed the door open and stepped out into the crowd waiting outside, leaving Kade standing alone in the middle of the empty hall.

Mia rushed toward her immediately, eyes wide with worry. "What happened? What did he want?"

Elena opened her mouth to answer, but Freya's voice cut through the crowd first, sharp and dripping with false sweetness.

"Yes, Elena. Do tell us. What could the great Alpha possibly want with someone like you?"

Elena looked at Freya, then past her, toward the closed doors of the hall where Kade still stood.

"Nothing," Elena said quietly. "He just wanted to know where he could find someone who actually knows how to run this pack properly."

Freya's smile dropped instantly, and behind her, Mia hid a laugh badly.

But as Elena walked away, she could still feel that invisible pull tugging at her chest, and she knew, without any doubt at all, that nothing about tonight had been nothing.