My Mate is the Broken Alpha

Chapter 2

"A way out?"

A bitter, hollow laugh bubbled up my throat. I slipped the rusty iron key into the pocket of my faded dress, my fingers curling tightly around its jagged edges. "When I walked out of this hall three years ago, didn't you already burn every bridge I had left?"

Arthur's expression darkened, a muscle ticking in his jaw.

Lydia swirled the wine in her glass. Her voice dropped to a sickly sweet purr, though every word was designed to draw blood. "Oh, Winnie, stop playing the victim. You only survived in Silver Pine because Arthur was merciful. If any other Alpha had been cursed by the Moon Goddess with a wolfless mate, you would have been thrown to the rogues at the border before sunrise."

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the Elders' seating area.

"The Alpha has been more than generous," an old wolf muttered.

"And yet she dares to drag the Council Enforcer into this."

I turned my gaze toward the Elder who had spoken, my eyes burning. "Generous? Is that what you call it? So generous that when the severed bond made me cough up blood, you all just complained that I was ruining the Persian rug?"

The Elder abruptly looked away, suddenly finding the floor very interesting.

He had been there. They had all been there.

The memory crashed over me—the night of the Mating Ball. Arthur standing at the top of the grand staircase, his voice echoing over the applause and laughter as he publicly rejected me. I had been forced to press my bloodied thumbprint onto the reassignment decree while the agonizing backlash of a shattered fated mate bond crushed my chest. Blood had dripped off my chin, staining the pristine white carpet.

Arthur hadn't even offered me a hand. He had just watched me bleed.

And Lydia? She had used the tip of her designer stiletto to push the parchment away, sneering that my blood might splatter her gown.

Aiden had been dragged in by the guards later. He was wearing a threadbare coat, his left leg dragging painfully behind him. But when Arthur had thrown me at him like garbage, Aiden hadn't sneered. He hadn't lashed out in humiliated rage. Instead, he had painfully lowered himself to his bad knee and picked up my dropped handkerchief, pressing it gently into my trembling hand.

Even then, as the entire pack jeered at the "crippled wolf," his spine had remained perfectly straight.

A sharp tap of Arthur's fingers against the throne snapped me back to the present.

"Are you bringing up ancient history to beg for sympathy, Winnie?" Arthur asked, his voice dripping with disdain.

I swallowed the sharp, acidic burn in my throat. "No. I'm just proving my memory works perfectly fine."

Lydia leaned into Arthur, tracing a slow circle over his chest with her manicured fingernail. "Arthur, don't waste your breath. She only dared to crash the audit today because she knows the Enforcer won't allow executions in the hall."

At the side table, the Council Enforcer finally looked up from his ledger. "Silver Pine is under audit," he stated, his tone rigidly neutral. "Extrajudicial punishments are strictly prohibited during this period."

Lydia flashed the Enforcer a dazzling smile. "Of course. I was merely speaking hypothetically."

She turned her attention back to me, her eyes glittering with malice. "Winnie, if you're so desperate to play the Alpha's sister-in-law, why don't you ask Aiden if he even dares to claim you?"

Beside me, Aiden lifted his head. His eyes met Lydia's.

"I claim her."

The two words were quiet, but they hit the room like a physical blow.

Then, the hall erupted.

Laughter bounced off the stone walls. A few younger wolves mimicked his pronounced limp, while others mockingly howled, "All hail the crippled prince!"

Aiden's face was deathly pale, his jaw locked tight. Yet the hand gripping his wooden crutch didn't tremble once.

Lydia's smile stretched into something predatory. "Claim her with what, exactly? You can't even hold a full wolf shift, Aiden. Winnie has been stuck with you for three years. No title, no pups, just playing nursemaid to a broken runt."

Aiden spoke slowly, the rasp in his voice heavier now. "She isn't playing nursemaid. She's saving my life."

Lydia arched a perfectly plucked brow. "Saving you? A wolfless omega saving a runt? Oh, that's hilarious. They should write that one down in the pup's history books."

Arthur had heard enough.

He stood up.

The moment he did, his Alpha aura exploded into the room. It was thick and suffocating, smelling of ozone and raw, predatory aggression. The sheer pressure of it slammed into my chest. The severed mate mark over my heart flared into a white-hot agony, forcing the breath from my lungs in a ragged gasp.

Aiden immediately shifted, dragging his ruined leg to step halfway in front of me, trying to shield me from the crushing weight of Arthur's aura.

That tiny act of defiance sent Arthur over the edge.

"You think you can shield her?" Arthur snarled.

He stalked down the marble steps, closing the distance until he towered over Aiden. "Three years ago, you begged me on your knees not to banish you from the Pack House. I let you stay on the fringes because we share a father's blood. And now you bring this trash into the audit hall to rebel against me?"

Aiden's skin was translucent, sweat beading at his temples from the strain of standing under the Alpha's aura. "I never begged you."

Arthur's hand shot out.

Before I could blink, he snatched the wooden crutch out from under Aiden's arm.

Without his support, Aiden's ruined knee instantly buckled. He pitched forward.

"Aiden!" I lunged, wrapping my arms around his torso just in time to stop him from hitting the marble floor. The sudden dead weight of his body nearly dragged me down with him, my shoulder screaming in protest as I braced my stance.

The laughter in the hall died for a split second, only to be replaced by vicious whispers.

"Said he didn't beg, but look at him bowing now."

Arthur tossed the crutch to a nearby guard. It clattered loudly against a stone pillar.

"Without my permission," Arthur sneered, staring down at his brother, "you can't even stand."

My arms were shaking, my muscles burning under Aiden's weight, but I held him tight against my side.

Lydia glided down the steps, holding a fresh sheet of parchment. She practically shoved it into my face.

"Sign it," she demanded. "An annulment of the mate bond. You come back to the Pack House to work as a healer, and Aiden gets to keep rotting in the hunting cabin. Arthur is doing you a massive favor."

I stared at the parchment.

Voluntary termination of all mating rights.

At the bottom, a blank space waited for my blood seal.

"How long have you had this prepared?" I asked, my voice trembling with suppressed rage.

Lydia offered an innocent shrug. "You two don't deserve to be on the audit registry. We had to clean up the paperwork."

Aiden's fingers dug weakly into my arm. "Winnie," he rasped, his breath hot against my neck. "Don't sign it."

Arthur shot him a lethal glare. "Shut your mouth."

I didn't let go of Aiden. I looked straight at Lydia. "And if I refuse?"

Lydia let out a theatrical sigh. "Then I suppose we'll just have to ask the Council Enforcer to investigate you for illegal medical practices."

My blood ran cold.

"Who gave you permission to treat the runts and the wolfless outcasts in the slums?" Lydia continued, her voice echoing in the hall. "Without a Pack House medical license, touching their wolf marks is a felony."

On cue, a group of border patrol guards stepped forward, slapping a stack of signed testimonies onto the table.

I recognized the names instantly.

The people I had saved. A pup whose mind-link had shattered during a fever. A runt beaten half to death by the patrols. A wolfless mother bleeding out after a horrific labor.

I had traded my own food for herbs to save them.

Yet the testimonies claimed I had extorted them, practicing dangerous moon-magic that permanently damaged their inner wolves.

Lydia leaned in close, the sickeningly sweet scent of her perfume making my stomach churn. "The people in the slums want to survive, Winnie," she whispered for my ears only. "If you're smart, you won't force them to dig their own graves."

I stared at the stack of forced testimonies, ice crawling up my spine. They were holding the lives of the innocent hostage just to break me.

Arthur shoved a heavy silver fountain pen into my free hand.

"Sign."

Aiden's hand slid down to grip my wrist. "Winnie... don't. Not for me."

I lifted my head, meeting Arthur's emotionless gaze. "You're using the outcasts to blackmail me?"

Arthur didn't even blink. "I'm teaching you a lesson. The most important thing a wolfless omega needs to learn..." He leaned in, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "...is to know your place."