Bound To The Alpha She Left

Chapter 4

Elena’s POV.

Alpha William closed the door to his inner office, shutting out Biana’s hysterical ranting. He sank into his leather chair, rubbing his temples before looking up at me with a tired, sympathetic sigh. “Elena, sit down.”

“I am not sitting,” I replied, shaking with fury. My mind was racing, screaming at the sheer absurdity of it all. Second Luna? Was he out of his mind? Who did Raymond think he was, tossing my life around like he owned me? “What is the point of this anyway? I am a licensed physician, not some political concubine! I refuse!”

“You don’t have a choice.” Alpha William sighed as he pulled a thick, leather-bound document from his desk and pushed it toward me. “Look at section four of the Inter-Pack Medical Accord.”

I snatched the document, scanning the dense paper until a specific highlighted clause caught my eye:

In times of medical necessity or territory transfer, an Alpha holding chief jurisdiction may invoke the Emergency Transfer Protocol to acquire any certified pack doctor residing within neutral boundaries.

My stomach dropped as the realization hit me. He did this on purpose. He had trapped me. Legally, immovably, trapped me.

Was this his retaliation for me leaving with just a letter? I couldn’t think he would still be brooding over the past, especially when he had clearly moved on with another woman. He had a child, for goodness sake!

“Raymond invoked it twenty minutes before he walked into the clinic,” Alpha William explained. “Legally, as the Alpha of the Moon Pack, he has requisitioned you as their new Chief Healer. Furthermore, Biana’s public smear campaign is already ruining your standing here. The clinic board is panicking. If you stay in this territory, your license will be suspended pending an investigation into the scandal. Transferring under the treaty is the only legal protection you have right now.”

I gripped the edge of the mahogany desk, the truth hitting me excruciatingly hard.

Raymond didn’t seem the least bit bothered over the fact that Biana posted those photos. He hadn’t fought the scandal because he clearly had wanted it. He had played Biana’s jealousy and used an obscure, ancient legal treaty to corner me.

He wasn’t joking when he said he wasn’t going to let me go so easily.

How dare he weaponize my hard work just to exact revenge? He had to be doing this out of pure, arrogant spite because his Alpha ego had taken a hit when an Omega dared to walk away from him.

Well—I had news for him!

***

That night, I didn’t sleep.

By 2:00 AM, I had thrown my essentials into a leather backpack. I was done playing his game. If he thought five years of separation made me weak enough to accept this nonsense, he was dead wrong.

I would head south to the human rogue territories this time, off the pack registries entirely. It meant giving up my career at the clinic, but it was better than becoming Raymond’s mistress. I couldn’t endure the psychological warfare of being his second Luna, nor would I subject myself to the ruthless bullying of the pack hierarchy all over again.

I shrugged on my coat, grabbed my backpack, and unlocked the front door of my apartment.

As I pulled the door open, I froze.

Raymond was leaning against the hallway wall opposite my apartment, one leg crossed over the other. He wore a soft black wool sweater and dark jeans, looking way too relaxed. In his right hand, he held a paper cup from the local 24-hour café down the street.

The steam rose from the lid, carrying the distinct, sweet scent of hazelnut coffee—my favorite.

For a second, the familiar pull of his presence was overwhelming. But as he straightened up, the devastatingly handsome smile on his face didn’t quite reach the dark, stormy depths of his eyes. Beneath his composed posture was a rigid tension. Faint, but there was a lingering edge of resentment that cut right through his mischievous facade.

Could it be that he was still furious because I, the Omega who were beneath him, had left?

“You always did hate packing,” Raymond spoke softly, his voice rich and steady.

How could he be this calm around me despite everything? He was so composed that I paused, wondering for a split second if I had imagined his resentment altogether.

He held out the coffee to me. I shook my head, but despite my refusal, he gently pried open my fingers and pushed the cup into my hand. His skin lingered against mine for a beat too long, making my heart erupt in an erratic flutter.

I sucked in a deep breath. “Raymond…”

He finally let me go, lifting the backpack from my other hand. His jaw flexed, a shadow of pain crossing his features. His gaze narrowed on the bag. “Hmmm, heavy.” His eyes flicked back to meet mine, his head c*****g to the side. “Seems you packed enough to flee the country.”

I swallowed, not about to admit what I had planned to do. “A girl needs her things.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I don’t have to carry you out over my shoulder for you to pursue your new duties.” I could tell he knew I had been ready to run from him a second time, despite my evasiveness. He dipped his head to the stairs, before he started walking toward it. “Let me help you. The car is waiting outside.”

I stared after him, my throat tight.

How was I going to get myself out of this situation?

An hour later the dark sleek SUV glided past the wrought-iron gates of the Moon Pack territory just as the sun began to paint the sky in pale shades of orange and pink.

I braced myself for hostile glares from the pack members who had once looked down on me as a low-ranking Omega.

Instead, as the car pulled up to the main estate, a group of familiar faces gathered near the steps. “Elena!”

Clara’s older sister, Martha—who used to work with me in the old pack kitchen—rushed forward with a bright, genuine smile. “Welcome home, child! We heard you were coming back as our Chief Healer. Nothing here has been the same without you!”

More familiar pack members showed up, offering warm greetings, taking my coat, and treating me not like a prisoner or a scandal-ridden mistress, or—like the inferior Omega they used to look down to—but like royalty returning to her court. I stood there numbly, my mind spinning. Was this Raymond’s doing, too? Had he somehow orchestrated this grand homecoming to make me feel guilty for ever running away?

When I was finally able to pull away from everyone, Raymond led me up the grand staircase, down the familiar high-arched corridor of the executive wing, and stopped in front of the massive double doors at the end of the hall.

At first I thought he had taken me to my own room, until I realized I was standing in front of the master suite. As in Raymond’s bedroom.

He pushed the doors open, revealing a breathtaking, sunlit room styled in deep blues and charcoal gray, featuring a plush king-sized bed and panoramic windows overlooking a lush pine forest and the city beyond it.

My shock instantly morphed into cold fury.

“Why am I in your room?” I demanded, turning on my heel to face him. “I am the Chief Healer, Raymond! Not your mistress, and certainly not your Second Luna! Assign me quarters in the medical wing!”

Raymond calmly pulled the doors shut behind him, locking out the rest of the world.

He then closed the distance between us with slow, deliberate steps. I held my ground, refusing to step back, even as his intense gaze locked onto mine. In the quiet isolation of the room, the anger I suspected he had been suppressing all morning finally broke to the surface.

Raymond stopped inches from me. He reached up, his fingers cool and gentle as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. His thumb lingered for a second against the warm skin of my cheekbone.

“The treaty says you are our Chief Healer,” Raymond whispered, his voice dangerously soft, laced with a possessive heat that made my breath hitch. “But my wolf says you belong in my bed.”

My heart slammed against my ribs. He had to be out of his mind. He had moved on—he had Biana, a child, a pack. What right did he have to drag me into his bed now? And why? “Raymond—”

“Our binding ceremony is in one month, Elena,” he cut in, his eyes searching mine with an obsessive, unwavering intensity. “Get comfortable.”

Before I could process the words, he leaned down and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to my forehead.

Without another word, Raymond turned, unlocked the door, and stepped out into the hallway, leaving me standing alone in the center of his massive bedroom—furious, confused, and utterly drowned in his soft, inescapable trap.