The Alpha Rejected Me, But Stole My First Kiss

Lira Ashen Luroux POV I couldn't believe my eyes. From the hilltop just beyond the north ridge, I saw thick smoke rising into the sky from the southern district of my hometown. "This can't be real. This has to be a nightmare..." My voice trembled. I ran very faster than I ever had. I left Maeve, my closest friend behind without a second thought. Flashes of Sorin, my father, and Mia, my mother, haunted every step I took. They're good people, very gentle and patient. But the world only remembered them for what they’d done eleven years ago when the rebellion scorched the northern district and the city’s council locked them and their followers away like animals. Are they still there? Was this really how it would end? My knees nearly buckled when I reached the familiar stone path. There stood an abandoned prison, an old structure of stone and wood. Ivy crept up the walls, but now, it was engulfed in flames. Screams echoed from within. The kind of screams that weren't just pleas for help, but also wails. My chest ached as I stood there helplessly. My voice cracked. “This is inhuman...” Around me, people just stood watching. Some covered their mouths, others whispered behind their hands. But no one tried to help. Have they really forgotten that for the past eleven years, we've done nothing to hurt them? That we've stayed locked away, and rebuilding from nothing? That the so-called traitors were just survivors? Maybe they never cared. “I can't just stand here.” I said aloud. Maybe the heat scorched my face, but I didn't stop. Suddenly, a hand gripped my arm. A tall man, part of the city patrol, blocked my path. "You can't go in there! Alpha Kael has just taken the throne. He's ordered the northern sector to be cleansed." That cursed regime. Kael had always wanted us gone for good. I yanked my arm free. "Then let him try to stop me." I didn't think twice. I ran into the blaze, with 1 determination. “I just have to save one member of my family!” But that determination was only that determination. When I stepped inside, the chaos swallowed everything. “Mom! Dad! Where are you?!” I screamed. The crackling of burning wood filled the air, and in the distance, I could hear screamsraw. “Don’t come any closer! Just go! Save yourself!” “You shouldn’t be here, Lira!” The voices like my uncle and aunt. I smiled, it turns out there are still people alive here. “No, Uncle! I have to save you!” I shouted, forced my legs to move, sprinting toward the sound. When the smoke grew heavier and suffocating, I couldn’t see, and couldn’t breathe. Before I could react A wooden beam crashed into my head. The heat of the fire burned my skin. "Please… someone… help me…” I coughed as I spoke. I didn’t know who it was, but someone came. Strong arms lifted me up with gentleness, and in seconds, I was being carried away from the flames. Around us, chaos reigned. "I'm so worried about your safety!" the stranger said anxiously. I knew he was referring to the man carrying me. Whoever he was… he seems to be someone important. I couldn’t see his face, but everything about him He was nothing like that damned Alpha Kael. Kael, who was cruel and unhinged. This man… was the opposite. If I survive this, And if fate is kind enough to let me live… I hope I’ll meet him again. I’ll never forget the way he pulled me from the fire. Someday… I’ll return that kindness. I promise. When I woke up, I was lying on a stiff recovery bed, the sterile scent of antiseptic stinging my nose. The pain was still there throbbing burn across my body. But it was nothing compared to the ache in my chest. They were gone All of them My parents, my relatives. Everyone we had ever considered family. I hadn’t saved anyone. “I’m a failure! Very worthless” I sobbed, pounding my fists against my chest. Then, I felt a warm hand wrap around mine, and another brushing away my tears. It was Maeve, my best friend. The one I had left behind. “Don’t stop me... I’m some useless daughter!” I cried out, my voice raw with guilt. "It’s not your fault," her voice echoed gently inside my head. "You should be grateful you survived. Your parents asked me to get you out of that prison so you could live. They made me promise." Maeve was mute . She can't speak, but her mind spoke to mine as clearly as if we shared the same soul. “Damn you!” I screamed, slamming my fist into her shoulder with all the strength I had left. “You should’ve let me stay there! I would've rather died with them! At least then I wouldn't be haunted by all this regret!” "That was their final wish," Maeve answered quietly in my mind. "They knew the prison would be destroyed. Helping you escape... it was their last hope. I kept my promise. I couldn’t let it be in vain." “But now you’ve cursed me to carry this pain alone!” I yelled. “I don’t want to live anymore! Everything’s already over!” Maeve didn’t say anything after that. She just pulled me into her arms, held me tightly, and let her silent tears fall alongside mine. *** It’s hard to believe that seven years have passed. And yet, I still can’t stop dreaming about the fire. The screams from that chaotic night echo in my head like a broken record, haunting me long after I’ve woken up. I opened my eyes slowly, glancing around the small, dimly lit room. Only Maeve was there, curled up beside me, fast asleep. I wiped the sweat off my forehead, my chest tightening. That dream again That nightmare always pulled me deeper into a pit of regret… and restless thirst for revenge. I got up, splashed some cold water on my face, and sat down in front of the painting of Maeve. She’d painted all of us my father, my mother, and the rest of our family. Thirty-two people in total, everyone smiled together. I stared at each one of them for a long time. “Wouldn’t it be fun if you were all still alive?” I whispered with a tiny smile tugging at the corner of my lips. We used to laugh a lot, even in prison. Uncle Jimo, Edu, and my dad, those three were the clowns of our cell. Always cracking jokes or doing silly card tricks to keep our spirits up. “Watch this! Boom… sad face card!” “Let me try, Uncle!” I’d giggle, eyes wide with wonder. I still remember the way they taught me how quick fingers and a good distraction could make anything look like magic. And then there were the mealtimes. The guards would toss us leftover meat that was barely edible, but Aunt Teri, Vina, and my mom always worked miracles. Somehow, they turn leftovers into a dish that tastes delicious and filling! “What did you put in this? It’s actually good!” I asked once. “Just a little love and whatever we could find,” my mom replied with a wink. That memory broke me. I cried quietly. My chest ached for them. Every single one of them had taught me something. Like kindness, laughter, survival Even though the world outside called them criminals. I was just a kid, born and raised behind prison walls. I never joined any rebellion. I didn’t even know what freedom felt like. But none of that mattered. In the end, they were all burned alive on the orders of that bastard Alpha Kael. I know what they did in the past wasn’t right. I know they hurt people, and the law was meant to balance that out. But am I pretending they didn’t matter? No. Absolutely not. My mother, the gentlest of them all, always told me, “Be good, sweetheart. Live kindly. The world doesn’t know the whole truth about us.” I clenched my fists. That promise still lives inside me. But it’s hard to keep. How could I live “kindly” when everything has been stripped from me? Honestly, sometimes I dream of rising up to fighting back. But it’s just that, a dream. Nothing more. Because both Maeve and I wear metal wires on our arms, it's a shock cuffs, installed by Gamma officers to prevent any “disobedience.” It’s the law in this territory now. We were caught escaping that fire, and instead of freedom, we earned a deeper punishment. They marked our skin with an X which means traitor in their words. Now we live under constant watch, surrounded by Gamma soldiers. I waved lazily at the guards watching me from a distance. “Beautiful morning, isn’t it?” I called out, with a big fake smile. As expected, they didn’t respond. Not even a nod. Just those same blank, sour Monday-morning faces. The kind of look you give when life kicks you in the gut but you’re too tired to complain. “Fine then. Pretend I’m just the wind,” I muttered to myself. But just as I turned around to head back inside, something caught my eye a guard sprinting toward our house. That wasn’t normal. What do they want now? Panic prickled in the back of my neck. No, they wouldn’t kill me... would they? I’ve been good girl. Eighteen years of my life, keeping my head down, doing exactly what I’m told. I haven’t broken a single damn rule! The soldier stopped about three meters from me, panting slightly. “What do you want?” I asked, trying to sound casual, even as my heart thudded against my ribs. “A letter,” he said. Then he tossed it. Literally flung the envelope over the gate, letting it land in the patchy grass of our isolation yard. “A letter? That’s rare,” I muttered under my breath. “Don’t ask questions!” the soldier barked with venom. “You should be grateful that Alpha Kael still makes excuses for your life!” He turned around and marched off, boots pounding on the dusty path like a warning drumbeat. “I’m not some kind of disease, you know!” I shouted after him. “You’re the daughter of a rebel, girl!” he yelled back without stopping. “You’re a walking curse on all of Bloodridge!” That again. The same label they always slap on me, like a brand burned into my skin. Maybe I’ll carry it forever, always hated. I knelt down and picked up the letter, brushing off the dirt. The seal was still intact. I opened it carefully, “An invitation for all young werewolves across the North Bloodridge territory…” My eyes widened. Wait what? Did that guard hand me the wrong letter?