OBSESSED ALPHA

The rope bit into my wrists as they dragged me up the wooden steps. My knees scraped against the rough platform, blood mixing with the dirt already caking my legs. Five years of this life, and it ended here, framed for killing the Alpha’s precious mistress. I lifted my head. There he stood. Kane. My mate. The man the Moon Goddess had chosen for me. His cold gray eyes stared down without a flicker of recognition or pain. Just disgust. “Any last words, traitor?” he asked, voice flat. The crowd cheered. Someone threw a rock that slammed into my shoulder. Pain flared, but I barely felt it anymore. My wolf was silent inside me, broken from the years of rejection, the nights I spent praying he would see me. Love me. I had given him everything. My loyalty. My body. My heart. And he had thrown it all away for her, Lila, the mistress who smiled sweetly while planting evidence in my room. “You’ll regret this,” I whispered, the words tasting like ash. Kane stepped closer, his scent, pine and smoke, still hitting me like a drug even now. “The only thing I regret is ever touching you.” He nodded to the executioner. The lever pulled. The trapdoor opened. For one heartbeat, I was weightless. Then the rope snapped tight. Darkness swallowed me. My eyes snapped open. I gasped, sucking in air like a drowning woman. My hands flew to my neck. Smooth skin. No rope. No broken bones. I sat up fast, heart hammering against my ribs. Soft sheets. My old room. The one I had before Kane moved me into the pack house like a dirty secret. Moonlight spilled through the window. I looked at the calendar on the wall. Five years. I was back. Five years before the framing. Five years before my death. A harsh laugh tore from my throat. The Moon Goddess had given me another chance. Not for love. Not for him. For me. I swung my legs off the bed, bare feet hitting the cold floor. My reflection in the small mirror showed the younger me, twenty-one, long dark hair tangled, green eyes wide with fresh pain. But something was different now. Harder. No more. I would not chase Kane. I would not become his Luna. I would not warn him when the rival packs came for his throne. Let him burn. A knock sounded on the door. “Elara?” A deep voice. His voice. My stomach twisted. Even after death, his presence still pulled at the mate bond like a chain around my heart. I clenched my fists. *Refuse it. Refuse him.* “Come in,” I said, voice steady. The door opened. Kane filled the frame, tall, powerful, midnight hair messy like he’d run his hands through it. His gray eyes scanned me, a flicker of something, worry?, crossing his face before it disappeared. “You were screaming again,” he said. Not soft. Never soft with me. “Nightmare?” I stared at him. This was the man who would one day watch me hang. The man who would choose his mistress over his mate without blinking. “I’m fine.” I turned away, grabbing a robe. “You can go.” He didn’t leave. Instead, he stepped inside, closing the door behind him. The room felt smaller. His scent wrapped around me, making my wolf stir for the first time in years. “You’ve been avoiding me for weeks,” he growled. “What the hell is wrong with you, Elara?” I laughed once, sharp. “Wrong with me? Nothing anymore.” His jaw tightened. He moved closer, towering over me. “You’re mine. Mate bond doesn’t let you just pull away.” “Watch me.” Something dangerous flashed in his eyes. He grabbed my arm, not hard enough to bruise but firm. Heat shot through my skin where he touched me. My body remembered his hands, his mouth, the way he used to take me in secret while pretending I didn’t exist in public. I yanked free. “Don’t touch me.” Kane’s breathing changed. His gaze dropped to my lips, then lower. “You’re playing a game. I don’t like games.” “Good. Then stay away from me.” He stepped even closer until my back hit the wall. His hand came up, bracing beside my head. “You don’t get to decide that. The bond…” “f**k the bond,” I hissed. Raw anger surged through me, the memory of the platform, the rope, his cold eyes as I died. “I reject you, Kane. I want nothing to do with you or this pack’s future.” His eyes widened. Shock. Then fury. And underneath it, something darker. Hungrier. “You think you can reject me?” His voice dropped low, almost a whisper. “You’re mine, Elara. And I’ll make sure you remember it.” He crashed his mouth down on mine. The kiss was brutal. Possessive. Full of five years of future obsession I hadn’t earned yet. My body betrayed me for a second, heat pooling low, wolf howling, but I bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. He pulled back with a growl, thumb brushing the red on his mouth. His eyes burned. “This isn’t over.” He stormed out, slamming the door. I slid down the wall, chest heaving. My lips throbbed. Tears burned but I didn’t let them fall. This time I wouldn’t save him. This time I would watch him fall. And the more I pulled away, the more he would chase. The game had just begun.