Too Late
545 Words
Chapter Eight: Too Late
Kaiden's POV
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
I stood at the center of the celebration as warriors congratulated me on becoming Silvercrest's future Alpha.
Music filled the square.
The pack celebrated.
Selena stood proudly beside me, accepting compliments as though she were already Luna.
Everything was exactly as I had planned.
So why couldn't I breathe?
A sharp pain stabbed through my chest.
I staggered.
"Kaiden?"
Selena grabbed my arm.
My vision blurred.
The pain grew worse.
Not physical.
Something deeper.
Something inside my soul.
I grabbed my chest.
"What..."
A violent pulse shot through my body.
Then another.
The crowd around me went silent.
Alpha Ronan stepped forward.
"Son?"
I couldn't answer.
All I could smell was moonlight.
Jasmine.
Rain.
Elara.
The scent that had haunted me since the ceremony.
Then...
It disappeared.
Not faded.
Disappeared.
Like it had never belonged to me at all.
"No..."
I whispered.
The bond.
The rejection.
It was finally complete.
Then another scent invaded my senses.
Pine.
Cedar.
Power.
An Alpha.
A powerful Alpha.
A growl escaped my throat before I could stop it.
Not mine.
My wolf's.
"Someone touched our mate!"
My eyes widened.
Mate?
I rejected her.
She wasn't—
My wolf snarled furiously.
"She was ours!"
"No."
"You threw her away!"
The words echoed inside my head.
"You don't understand."
"YOU DIDN'T DESERVE HER!"
The force of the growl nearly dropped me to my knees.
I had never heard my wolf sound so angry.
So disappointed.
Then Beta Mason came running into the square.
Out of breath.
"Alpha!"
He looked from my father to me.
Then hesitated.
"What happened?"
Mason swallowed hard.
"Nightshade warriors have entered our territory."
The crowd erupted into whispers.
Nightshade?
Here?
Tonight?
Alpha Ronan frowned.
"How many?"
"About twenty."
"And Alpha Draven?"
Mason looked directly at me.
"He's with them."
A strange feeling settled in my stomach.
Something cold.
Something I didn't understand.
Then another warrior burst into the square.
This one looked terrified.
"Alpha!"
"What now?"
The warrior struggled to catch his breath.
"We found Elara."
Relief washed over me before I could stop it.
Then the warrior finished speaking.
"She's with Alpha Draven."
The world stopped.
Every sound disappeared.
Every face blurred.
Only those words remained.
"She's with Alpha Draven."
Selena laughed softly.
"So what?"
Nobody answered her.
Because every Alpha present understood exactly what that meant.
Alpha Ronan slowly looked toward me.
Disappointment filled his eyes.
Deep.
Heavy.
Then, for the first time in my life...
My father slapped me.
The crack echoed across the square.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
"You fool."
His voice shook with anger.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?"
I stared at him.
Speechless.
Confused.
"I rejected an omega."
Alpha Ronan's eyes blazed.
"You rejected a gift from the Moon Goddess."
Silence.
Then he spoke the words that sent fear through my soul.
"And another Alpha was wise enough to claim what you threw away."
My wolf whimpered.
Not from the slap.
From the truth.
Far away in the forest...
A new mate bond had formed.
One stronger than the broken bond I had destroyed.
One I could never reclaim.
And for the first time...
I realized I hadn't lost an omega.
I had lost everything.
- Writer
