REJECTED BY MY MATE CLAIMED BY THE BILLIONAIRE ALPHA

IRETON

---

*CHAPTER 8: IRETON*

The text came at 4:12am and it was red.

`Round 1 to you. But Ireton has more rooms. -E`

The cuff on my wrist flared hot against my skin, like it was trying to brand me.

Kade was already out of bed.

Shirtless. Bare feet. Pacing the length of the bedroom with his phone pressed to his ear. The moonlight cut across the scars on his back and made them look fresh.

“No, I don’t care if it’s 4am,” he said, voice low and dangerous. “Wake the head of security. Wake the pilot. We leave in 20 minutes.”

Click.

He turned to me. His eyes were gold. Not the soft gold. The Alpha gold.

“Pack a bag,” he said. “Now.”

“Where are we going?” I asked, already pulling on jeans.

“Ireton,” Kade said.

The word hit me like ice water.

“That’s the prison,” I whispered. “The black site. The place they send people who can’t be killed.”

“It’s where they were going to send you,” Kade said. He wasn’t yelling. That was worse. “After Damian rejected you. I intercepted the transfer order myself.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “If E is threatening you with Ireton, then E has access to Council files. Classified files.”

I grabbed a hoodie. Sneakers.

“I’m coming.”

“Kira—”

“I’m coming,” I said again, firmer. “You said it was meant for me. Then I have a right to see it.”

Kade stared at me for a long beat. Then he nodded once.

“Stay behind me. No matter what.”

---

*6:17am. 4 hours north. The mountains.*

Ireton didn’t look like a prison.

It looked like a monastery carved into the mountain. White stone. No fences. No barbed wire. Just a single iron door with no handle and two Council Elders standing in front of it like statues.

Snow fell in slow flakes.

“Alpha Vore,” the older Elder said. He was 80 if he was a day. Cane. Cold eyes. “You cannot be here.”

“I can be anywhere,” Kade said. Alpha command laced in every word. “Where’s the ledger?”

The younger Elder, maybe 40, went pale.

“What ledger?”

“The one with my name on it,” Kade said. “The one that says Kira Moore was marked for Ireton. Disposition: Rejected. Signed by Damian Black. Witnessed by the Council.”

My stomach dropped out.

The iron door opened with a sound like grinding bones.

Inside it was freezing. White. Fluorescent lights buzzing. Rows and rows of filing cabinets that went up to the ceiling. It smelled like paper and bleach and something old.

Kade walked straight to a cabinet labeled `R`. He didn’t hesitate. Pulled the drawer marked `MOORE`.

`MOORE, KIRA. STATUS: WOLFLESS. DISPOSITION: IRETON.`

Date: The day after Damian rejected me in the square.

Signature: `Damian Black. Witness: Council Elder Rowan.`

Stamp: `APPROVED FOR TRANSFER`

The cuff burned red.

“Kade,” I said. My voice was small.

He slammed the file shut. The sound echoed.

“Who else has a file here?” Kade asked the Elders.

The older one shook his head. “Alpha, these records are confidential—”

Kade grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground like he weighed nothing.

“Who. Else.”

“E-Elara Vore,” the man choked. “A file was opened. Before she died.”

Kade dropped him.

“Show me.”

---

Elara’s file was thin. Three pages.

`VORE, ELARA. STATUS: MATE TO ALPHA. DISPOSITION: OBSERVE.`

Note at the bottom, in red ink: `Compromised. Recommend Ireton.`

Signed: `E.V.`

Evelyn.

Kade’s hands were shaking.

“She knew,” he whispered. “Evelyn was working with the Council to put Elara in here.”

He turned to me. “And they were going to do the same to you.”

Footsteps behind us.

Six guards.

And behind them, a woman in a gray Council suit.

“Council Liaison Reyes,” she said. “Alpha Vore. You need to leave. Now.”

“No,” Kade said. “Not until I get answers. Who is E?”

Reyes looked at me. Then at Kade. Her face was neutral.

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Then I’ll burn this place down,” Kade said. Quiet.

Reyes sighed. “Come with me. Alone.”

She looked at me. “She stays here. With my men.”

Kade looked at me.

“I’ll be 2 minutes,” he said.

He followed her into a back room. Steel door shut.

The guards watched me.

I stood there with my arms crossed, cuff glowing faintly blue now.

My phone buzzed.

Unknown number.

`I see you found the files. Did you like what you read?

Damian signed you away so fast. Didn’t even fight for you.

Check your email.

- E`

I opened my email with shaking hands.

One new message. No subject.

Attachment: `Ireton_Transfer_Order_KiraMoore.pdf`

I opened it.

It was my name. My photo. My address.

And at the bottom, a signature that looked like mine. Forged.

And under that, in handwriting I recognized:

`Dispose of her. She’s a liability. - D`

Damian.

I made it to a trash can before I threw up.

The steel door opened.

Kade came out. His face was white.

“What did she say?” I asked.

“E is inside the Council,” Kade said. “High level. Security clearance. And she has photos of us. From the lake. From tonight. From the Gala.”

He took my hand. His was cold. “We’re leaving. Now.”

---

In the car, Kade didn’t speak for an hour.

Just drove. Fast.

Finally he said, “Damian signed you to Ireton.”

“I saw the email,” I said.

Kade hit the steering wheel with his palm.

“I’m going to end him,” he said. Quiet. Final. “Legally. Publicly. He’s going to pay for every second you were scared.”

“Kade, you don’t have to—”

“Yes, I do,” Kade said. “Because if I don’t, E will use him. And then they’ll come for you again. And next time I might not get there in time.”

---

*Next day. Emergency Gathering.*

The Council Hall. 300 Alphas. Livestreamed to every pack in the country.

Kade stood on the dais. I stood one step behind him.

Damian was dragged in by two guards. In cuffs. No suit. Just a white shirt.

“Kade, this is insane—” Damian started.

“Is it?” Kade held up the file. “You signed an order to send a wolfless woman to Ireton. Because she embarrassed you.”

The room murmured.

“It’s not illegal,” Damian said. “Law 7—”

“Law 7 doesn’t cover attempted murder,” Kade said. “And neither does the Moon Goddess.”

He looked at me. “Kira?”

I stepped forward. 300 pairs of eyes on me. Cameras in my face.

“My name is Kira Moore,” I said. My voice didn’t shake. I was proud of that. “Damian Black rejected me. Called me wolfless trash. Left me to bleed. Then tried to have me imprisoned for it.”

I held up my wrist. The cuff. Blue.

“Kade Vore claimed me. Not because I’m weak. Because I’m his. And he chose me.”

Silence.

Then one Alpha stood. Then another. Then ten.

“Vote,” Kade said.

It was unanimous.

Damian Black: stripped of title. Banished from all territories. Name removed from the pack records.

As they dragged him out, Damian looked at me over his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he mouthed.

I didn’t answer.

---

That night, back at the safehouse.

Kade and I sat on the floor. The ledger between us. Fireplace going.

“The texts stopped,” I said.

“Because Evelyn’s in jail and the Council is scared,” Kade said. “But E is still out there.”

He took my hand.

“Ireton was supposed to break you,” he said. “Instead it made you mine.”

I leaned into him.

“What happens now?”

“Now,” Kade said, “we live. As us. Kade and Kira. No more hiding. No more contracts.”

He kissed me. Slow. Like he had time.

Outside, the moon was full. Not red. Silver.

My phone buzzed one last time.

Unknown number.

`You won this round. But Ireton has a basement. And she’s in it. -E`

Attached: A photo.

A woman. In a cell. White walls.

Blonde.

Elara.

But Elara was dead.

The funeral was 10 years ago.

The cuff went red.

Kade saw it. He went completely still.

“That’s not possible,” he whispered.

---

*END OF CHAPTER 8*