Bound By My Ex’s Alpha Father

Chapter 2

Iris’s POV

The walk back to my parents’ house felt longer than it should have. Every step away from the mansion, away from Theo’s cruel words felt like I was wading through quicksand. The streets of Grave City were empty at this hour with thw the pack territory quiet except for the distant sounds of the party still going on behind me.

I should have shifted by now. Should be running on four legs through these streets in my wolf form carrying me home. Instead, I’m still trapped in this useless human body walking in ruined heels with a broken heart.

My parents’ house loomed ahead which was a large colonial at the edge of the Alpha’s estate befitting the Beta’s family. The lights were off. They were probably still at the mansion making excuses for me as their greatest disappointment.

The daughter who should have been a son. The heir who couldn’t shift. The liability nobody wants.

I let myself in through the side door not bothering to be quiet. If they were home, I didn’t care. What more could they say to me that would hurt worse than what I’d already endured tonight? The silence of the house answered me. It was empty just like always.

I climbed the stairs to my room, each step heavier than the last. My bedroom was exactly as I’d left it neat and organized. I’d never been allowed to make it truly mine. No posters on the walls, no mess and nothing that would suggest a teenager lived here. Just the perfect, sterile room of the perfect Beta heir who never existed.

I peeled off my birthday dress and let it fall to the floor in a heap. For once, I didn’t care about keeping things tidy.

The shower was scalding hot but I didn’t adjust the temperature. I needed to feel something other than the hollow ache in my chest. I scrubbed my skin until it was raw, trying to wash away the shame and humiliation and feeling of Theo’s eyes looking at me like I was nothing.

When I finally stepped out my skin was bright red and my eyes were burning but I still hadn’t cried. I don’t cry. The Magnus family doesn’t cry because we are meant to endure. But enduring was getting harder by the second.

I wrapped myself in a towel and stumbled back to my bedroom, my legs suddenly weak. The room spun slightly and I realized I couldn’t breathe properly. My chest was too tight amd my throat closing up.

Not now. Please not now dammit! But my body didn’t listen. The panic attack hit me like a freight train.

I sank to the floor beside my bed, pulling my knees to my chest trying desperately to remember the breathing exercises I’d taught myself over the years. In for four, hold for seven, out for eight. In for four, hold for seven but I couldn’t do it. The air wouldn’t come.

Black spots danced at the edges of my vision. My heart hammered so hard I thought it might burst through my ribs. This was it. I was going to pass out on my bedroom floor and no one would find me until morning. No one would care if I die and don’t wake up again.

I know them well. Not being accepted in the pack you grew up in takes a toll, even when you pretend not to care. And now even my best friend and the one person I thought would never turn his back on me rejected me without hesitation.

Maybe he never truly liked me. Maybe I was just convenient, the Beta’s daughter who was supposed to be friends with the Alpha’s children. A political arrangement disguised as friendship.

“Calm down or you’ll pass out” Aeris’s voice suddenly filled my head, startling me. She’s back! My wolf is back!!

“Yes just like that, Iris. In and out. In and out. Yes… again. In and out,” Aeris said in a soothing voice that instantly calmed me as I followed her instructions.

“Where did you go?” I whispered once I could breathe again. “Why did you disappear?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted and I could hear confusion in her voice. “Something blocked me and pushed me down. I tried to come through but I couldn’t. It felt like something was suppressing me.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know, Iris. But I’m here now. And I’m not going anywhere.”

Her presence was a small comfort in the overwhelming darkness. I must have passed out eventually because I woke in the middle of the night still on the floor and my body stiff and aching. I dragged myself to the ensuite and took another bath, letting the hot water beat down on me until it ran cold.

When I finally emerged, I’d made my decision. I’m leaving Gravefang Pack.

Not just to heal my broken heart but to escape this suffocating place where I’ll never be good enough never be wanted. If I stay another day, I’ll drown in it.

Theo told me more than once that I was beautiful and amazing, that he valued our friendship. Why couldn’t he want that amazing person as his mate? Why did he look at me with such revulsion the moment the bond snapped into place?

Angry tears rolled down my cheeks as I started stuffing clothes into the large suitcases I pulled from my closet. I grabbed everything I cared about which wasn’t much. Most of my life in this house has been spent trying to be invisible. I don’t even like most of my clothes anywa.

“I won’t stop you but are you sure this is what you want?” Aeris asked after a while her tone uncertain but supportive.

“Yes,” I snapped with more force than I intended but I didn’t apologize.

The sun was already rising painting Grave City in shades of grey and gold. I heard the front door open downstairs probably my parents returning from the mansion. I didn’t want to face them and hear the disappointment in my father’s voice or see the resignation in my mother’s eyes.

After I finished packing, I crept down the hallway to my father’s office. The safe was hidden behind a painting of our pack’s founding ceremony, ironic really. I knew the combination; I’d watched him open it enough times over the years.

Inside was cash, documents and my trust fund paperwork. I’d gotten access to it on my eighteenth birthday which was the one gift I’d actually received. I took a thick wad of bills and left everything else.

My father had given me a car yesterday as a birthday present, a sleek black sports car that I’d barely had time to appreciate. Now it would be my escape vehicle.

I loaded my suitcases into the trunk as quietly as possible, my breath fogging in the cold morning air. The city was still asleep. I stared at the house one more time, the place where I’d never belonged and where I’d tried so hard to earn love that was never going to come.

Then I got in the car and started the engine. I pulled out of the driveway with the sole purpose of driving to the farthest city I could find but at the last minute, I changed my mind. I turned toward the Alpha’s mansion instead.

I need to see Theo one more time. I need to accept his rejection properly, make it official and sever whatever pathetic thread still connects us.

If he thinks I’m going to keep crying over him, he’s got another thing coming. I might be weak like everyone says, might be a people pleaser but this time I’m going to stand up for myself. This is what he deserves.

I parked my car in a hidden spot behind the mansion where no one inside could see it then slipped through the side entrance. I’ve been here countless times that I know every hallway and every single room and the people it belongs to.

Before reaching Theo’s room, I passed Liora’s door and stopped. Guilt twisted in my stomach at the thought of leaving my best friend without saying goodbye. She’s going to be so hurt when she realizes I’m gone. But I can’t stay, not even for her.

I pulled out a note I’d written in the car that was just a few words explaining that I needed to leave, that I loved her and that this wasn’t her fault. I slid it under her door. Then I continued to Theo’s room.

I didn’t knock bevause I’d never needed to before. I pushed the door open and froze.

The scene before me shattered whatever pieces of my heart were still intact.

Theo was in bed shirtless witj his lean chest on full display. And beneath him also topless with a satisfied smirk on her face was Kira, one of the pack girls who’d always been friendly to my face while whispering behind my back.

They were tangled together in his sheets and from the marks on her neck and the scent in the air, they’d been at this for a while.

“Hi, Iris!” Kira’s voice was sickeningly sweet. “Are you here to beg him to take you back?”

“As if,” Theo said not even having the decency to look embarrassed. He rolled off her lazily reaching for his phone on the nightstand like I was just an annoying interruption.

I stood there frozen, unable to process what I was seeing. It had been less than twelve hours since he rejected me. Less than twelve hours and he was already in bed with someone else. I was really going to settle for this because I was desperate. f*****g he’ll.

“Well? Are you going to tell us why you’re here or should we continue in front of you? I don’t mind the audience. You can learn a thing or two.” Kira wrapped her arms around him possessively and I noticed the fresh bite mark on her shoulder.

He’d marked her!! He rejected me and marked someone else in the same night.

“I can see why you didn’t want her,” Kira giggled running her fingers down his chest. “She’s really so plain.”

“Yeah,” Theo agreed finally looking at me with cold indifference. “I need a real woman, not a broken little girl playing dress-up.”

“Accept the rejection and leave with your dignity,” Aeris urged in my head. “Don’t give them the satisfaction of seeing you break.”

She was right as hell. I straightened my spine, wiped the shock off my face and met Theo’s eyes with all the coldness I could muster.

“I, Iris Magnus, accept your rejection as mate and future Luna, Theo Gravefang.”

The words came out calm and strong and I watched the surprise flicker across both their faces. They’d expected me to beg, to cry and to fall apart. I didn’t give them the satisfaction.

I turned on my heel and walked out of the room with my head high though my legs shook with every step. I made it down the grand staircase, my hand gripping the railing for support. I need to get out. I need to leave before I -

I crashed into something solid at the bottom of the stairs, strong hands catching me before I could fall.

The scent hit me first whixh was was sandalwood, pine and something darker and more primal than anything I’ve ever smelled. Pure masculine essence that made my insides clench in a way I’d never felt before.

I looked up into the face of Alpha Thorne Gravefang.

At six feet seven, he towered over me with his black hair slightly disheveled like he’d just woken up and his icy blue eyes studying me with an intensity that made me forget how to breathe. Even in a simple t-shirt and sweatpants, he was devastatingly handsome in all his controlled power and authority.

“Are you alright, Iris?” His deep voice wrapped around me like velvet wit genuine concern softening his usually stern expression.

I should pull away. I should make an excuse and run. Instead, I did something I’d never done before. I stepped forward and hugged him.

He stiffened in surprise for half a second then his arms came around me in a warm cocoon. One large hand rubbed soothing circles on my back while the other cradled the back of my head. I felt it in every nerve of my body but chuck it as pain of rejection. Nothing weird about hugging my best friend and ex-mate’s dad.

“It’s going to be alright,” he murmured his voice rumbling through his chest. “Whatever it is, it’s going to be alright.”

For some reason, I believed him and for the first time in eighteen years and in the arms of my ex-mate’s father, I felt like maybe I could survive this after all.