Betrayed, Then Fled to the Fated Alpha

Chapter 7 Why Is He Helping Me?

Chapter 7 Why Is He Helping Me?

Tyler's POV

I had been standing in that venue for a while, just watching.

To me, the pomp and glitter of East Coast wolf aristocracy had always looked like one giant, expensive joke. Too much silk. Too much champagne. Too many people mistaking status for power.

Fenrir's Pack controls the largest shadow intelligence network in the world. I run a cross-border underground medical system that reaches places official Pack medicine never touches. I know enough ugly secrets about the major Packs to bury entire bloodlines if I ever felt inclined.

These Alpha elites of the East Coast?

I know every one of them.

Their ambitions. Their scandals. Their appetites. Their weaknesses.

Silver Peak Corporation was nothing more than one piece on one of my many boards.

Caius yawned lazily in the back of my mind.

'Another room full of fools who think they matter.'

He wasn't wrong.

I had met more women than I could count. Alpha daughters from the strongest Packs. Noble beauties raised for alliance marriages. Even heirs from ancient Western European bloodlines who had sought me out personally.

In certain circles, my other name carried more weight than most Alpha thrones ever would.

The Holy Doctor.

Women had looked at me with desire, calculation, reverence, fear. I had seen every version of want there was to see.

And I had let all of it slide off me.

Until her.

Until I stood there watching a woman carry herself with that kind of broken pride while wearing betrayal on her skin and six years of heartbreak in her eyes.

She had paid a terrible price to save a man.

That same man had then turned around and handed her life to someone else.

Watching that, something ignited under my skin.

Anger, maybe.

Possessiveness.

Jealousy, if I wanted to be brutally honest.

That i***t Alpha had been handed the best thing in the room and had not even known enough to hold on to it.

I do not act without a return.

That has always been my rule.

But tonight, I couldn't stay out of this.

'Who are you?' Mrs. Thorne's fingers visibly clenched.

I looked at her coldly. By then, the Alpha pressure rolling off me was already making her uneasy. Mine weighed heavier than Ryan Walker's, and anyone in that room with decent instincts could feel it.

Ryan was staring too, his amber-gold wolf eyes narrowed.

'And you are?'

'Who I am doesn't matter right now,' I said. 'Isn't the real question whether what was done to Miss Elara actually happened? Shouldn't that be where everyone's attention is?'

That redirected the room immediately.

All eyes swung back to Elara.

Good.

That was where they belonged.

At that moment, the Thorne family's butler was brought forward.

The instant Seraphina saw him, something dark flashed in her eyes.

'Butler,' she said sharply, 'you are a member of the Thorne family. Think carefully before you let someone pay you to betray your family and slander us.'

A clean move.

In one sentence, she had already painted him as bought and corrupt.

It was almost impressive.

Almost.

And painfully obvious too: when it came to shamelessness, Elara was nowhere near Seraphina's level.

The butler's face went red with fury.

'Seraphina! For years you used my son's life to control me! I saw it with my own eyes—I saw you use that wolfsbane-soaked leather whip on Elara!' His whole body was shaking. 'I swear on my wolf's soul, every second of that footage is real! When Elara's true identity came out, she came to you herself and asked to leave the Thorne family quietly. It was Seraphina who refused! She was furious over those eighteen years of hardship and locked Elara in that isolation chamber so she could torture and beat her whenever she pleased! Mr. and Mrs. Thorne agreed to it! If Elara hadn't escaped on her own, she would be dead!'

'You're lying!'

Mrs. Thorne rushed forward before Seraphina could speak.

Too fast.

Too controlled.

'You've always paid too much attention to Elara. You're clearly involved with her, and now you've come here to give false testimony on her behalf!'

There it was.

She was cutting off every path the truth could take, terrified Seraphina might say something even worse if she got emotional.

The butler was shaking with helpless rage, struggling to find words.

I laughed softly.

'Mrs. Thorne really does have a gift for language.' I tilted my head. 'In that case, why don't we let everyone see a little more of what the Thorne family looks like at home?'

'What—'

The color vanished from her face.

I snapped my fingers once.

The large screen behind the stage changed.

New footage filled it—interior recordings from the Thorne residence.

On-screen, they looked warm enough. Civilized. A perfect family from a distance.

But what mattered was the audio.

'That little wretch Elara—I'm going to make her suffer for eighteen full years before I'm satisfied!'

Seraphina's voice rang through the hall.

Her face in the footage was the kind people remembered when they tried to sleep.

Then Mrs. Thorne's voice came, cold and almost bored.

'Fine. Do whatever you like. Your father and I won't interfere. Elara is nothing but a bastard child who enjoyed eighteen years under our roof. It's time she became useful. If making you happy is all she's good for, at least her life won't be a total waste.'

Mr. Thorne said nothing.

Not one objection.

Not one word of conscience.

The second the recording ended, the room erupted.

'Are these people insane?'

'You don't treat a stray Rogue this way.'

'The fact Elara survived at all is a miracle.'

Caius howled inside me.

'Make them look. Make every one of them see what these people are.'

I already was.

Elara's POV

I stared at the man who had appeared out of nowhere and was dismantling the entire situation piece by piece with terrifying calm.

Who was he?

Why was he helping me?

And that feeling—

That jolt I had felt the instant I first saw him—

The impossible recognition beneath my skin.

The mate-bond instinct.

Was it real?

Or was I imagining it because my heart was already breaking beyond reason?

The room gave me no time to think.

The extra footage hit the crowd like a physical blow. The whispers spread fast, and for the first time that night, Seraphina looked genuinely shaken.

She grabbed Ryan's arm.

'Ryan. It's not like that. I swear it isn't. You believe me, don't you?'

Ryan stared at her.

His face said he was trying not to believe what his own eyes had just shown him.

But he knew my scars.

He knew them better than almost anyone.

Years ago, the pack medical team had told him the silver-solution exposure was what kept my wounds from going septic and killing me. It had saved my life and ruined my body in the same breath. The only thing that could reverse that kind of damage was a complete wolf-soul healing ritual.

Everything in that footage matched.

Every detail.

Ryan's hand closed around Seraphina's arm. The edges of his eyes had gone deep red.

'Tell me the truth. Was it you?'

'How can you even ask me that?' Tears flooded down her face. 'Do you really think I'm capable of something that vicious? Do you really think I'm that kind of person?'

Ryan's brow tightened.

He wavered.

For one heartbeat, I thought maybe this was it. Maybe he would finally see her clearly.

Then I watched something cross his face.

A calculation.

A fear.

Something.

Whatever it was, it was enough.

The tension in him eased.

He pulled Seraphina behind him and placed himself between her and the room.

Between her and judgment.

Then his eyes found mine.

That look said everything.

You should never have come here.

You should have stayed home.

None of this would be happening if you had just listened.

When he finally spoke, his voice had turned cold and deliberate.

'Elara. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? This is a Silver Peak product launch—a Shadow Pack event. It is not a stage for whatever this is. Out of respect for what has existed between us, I am giving you one chance to walk out right now, and everything can go back to the way it was. But if you push past this point, I will not forgive it.'