Alpha Regret: The Luna I Rejected Has A Son For Me

chapters 9

Chapter 9

Iris

I stood on the sidewalk, my feet still vibrating from the long walk away from Mark’s apartment.

When Finn stepped out of his car and threw those words at me, I didn't feel the usual fear. Instead, looking at him, I chuckled for a second. It was a dry, hollow sound that seemed to catch him off guard.

He really did know how to keep an eye on me, following my every move like a hunter stalking prey. And yet, he had the nerve to stand there and ask what I was doing in a hotel as if he were a concerned husband rather than a man who had made my life a nightmare.

"What is the Alpha angry about? Is it because he saw me in a hotel?" I asked.

I tilted my head, looking at him with a fake curiosity that I knew would grate on his nerves.

"Why are you trying to look so serious, Finn? Anyone who sees you right now would think I was actually important to you. They might even think I am going to be the future Luna of this pack."

Finn did not move. He stood by the open car door, his silhouette tall and imposing against the morning light. He was silent for a moment, his jaw tight as he stared at me.

He didn't look like a man in love; he looked like a man who had lost control of a puppet.

"Come back with me and stop acting this way," he said finally. His voice was low, trying to sound authoritative, but I could hear the frustration bubbling underneath.

I laughed again, and this time it was louder. I pointed at myself, at my tired eyes and my simple clothes.

"How am I acting, Finn? This is the life I want. I want a life where you and your so-called mother will leave me alone. I just want to be left in peace so I can enjoy myself for once without looking over my shoulder."

I didn't wait for his permission. I turned my back on him and tried to walk away, my heart thumping against my ribs.

But I didn't get very far.

I heard his heavy footsteps behind me, and then his hand clamped down on my wrist, spinning me back around to face him. He held my hands in a grip that was far too tight.

"I am so disappointed in you, Iris," he said. His eyes were dark with a cold, biting judgment. "Grandpa must have felt ashamed for raising a slut like you. He gave you everything, and this is how you repay him? By sleeping around in hotels?"

The mention of Grandpa felt like a physical blow to my chest. It was the one name he knew could still hurt me. The grief and the anger boiled over inside me all at once.

Before I even realized what I was doing, my hand flew up.

I slapped him hard across the face.

The sound of the impact was sharp in the quiet street. Finn’s head snapped to the side, and a bright red mark began to bloom on his cheek. I looked at him, my finger trembling as I pointed it at his chest.

"What I do with my life has nothing to do with you anymore," I said, my voice shaking with rage. "Leave Grandpa out of this. You don't get to use his name to shame me. And for the record, I am not a slut."

I took a breath, my eyes narrowing.

"I am not like Fiona, who spends all her time acting like she is innocent and pure. I know very well how many men have gotten into her pants, Finn. I know exactly who she is, even if you are too blind to see it."

The air between us seemed to turn freezing. I saw the flash of pure, unbridled rage in Finn's eyes.

Before I could even blink, I felt his hand collide with my face.

He slapped me back, and the force of it was so great that my head spun. My cheek burned with a fire that made my eyes water, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

"How dare you speak that way about Fiona?" he shouted. He took a step toward me, his chest heaving. "She is nothing like you. She knows the value of family and tradition. She is not a girl who doesn't know the value of anything, wandering the streets and throwing herself at strangers."

I forced myself to look at him, even as my face throbbed. I touched the corner of my mouth and felt the sting.

I laughed, a bitter, wet sound.

"This slap... you should just consider it as a way of respecting Grandpa," I said. "I'll take it this time because of his memory. But let me make this very clear, Finn: next time, I will hit back. And I won't stop at one."

I didn't give him a chance to respond. I turned and walked away, my legs moving as fast as they could. I could hear him growling behind me—a deep, animalistic sound of a wolf losing his patience.

As I walked along the edge of the road, I heard the roar of an engine. I didn't have to look back to know it was his car. The sound grew louder, closer. I heard the tires screaming against the pavement.

I turned my head just in time to see the black metal of his car swerving toward me.

He was driving far too close to the curb, intentionally trying to clip me.

I jumped onto the grass, my heart leaping into my throat as the car brushed past, the wind from its speed nearly knocking me over. He didn't even tap the brakes. He didn't stop to apologize or check if I was hurt.

He had wanted to hit me. He wanted to show me that my life was in his hands.

He sped off, leaving a cloud of dust behind him.

By the time I finally reached the house, I was exhausted and shaking. My face was still swollen from the slap, and my mind was a mess of dark thoughts. I pushed open the front door, expecting silence, but the house was full of noise.

Finn was already there, standing in the living room with his arms crossed. But he wasn't alone.

The whole family was present, and they weren't the only ones. There were other people sitting on the expensive sofas, people I remembered very well from my childhood.

It was Uncle Grey and Aunty Lucy.

They were the kind of relatives who had never seen me as part of the family. Ever since I first arrived at the pack house as a child, they had only visited for Fiona. They brought her gifts, praised her beauty, and never cared about me even once. To them, I was a shadow, a mistake that Grandpa had made.

Now they were here, sitting in the center of the room like judges. I could guess why. Finn must have called them, spinning a tale of my "disgrace" to make sure the whole pack turned against me.

"Uncle Grey, Aunty Lucy," I said, my voice tight.

I forced a small, painful smile onto my face as I walked into the room. I could feel the weight of their stares. I saw the way they looked at me—with a mixture of disgust, hatred, and a strange kind of triumph.

"You dare greet us?" Aunty Lucy said. She didn't even stand up. she just looked at me with her lip curled in a sneer.

"How dare you even open your mouth? Don't you know that a shameless person like you should never speak unless they are asked to? You have dragged this family’s name through the dirt."

I looked at her for a second, my hand moving instinctively toward my bruised cheek. I wanted to laugh at the hypocrisy of it all, but I held it in. I wasn't going to let them see me break.

"Aunty, why are you being like this?" I asked. I kept my tone light, almost conversational. "Why wouldn't I greet you? I’m just trying to be polite. Or do you want the whole pack to call me ungrateful on top of everything else?"

She stood up abruptly when I said that, her silk dress rustling. Her face was twisted with a sudden heat.

"You have no right to speak to me that way! How dare you speak back at me? You are a guest in this house, a charity case who has forgotten her place!"

I stayed silent, looking at her. I didn't lower my gaze. I just smiled, though it felt like my face was going to split open.

"Aunty, please don't be mad," I said, my voice dripping with fake sweetness. "I know Grandpa wanted me to lead the pack with Finn. I know that was the dream. But I have already backed off. I’ve given up my claim. Since Fiona seems so fit for the role, why are you now angry? Isn't this what you always wanted? Shouldn't you be happy?"

She looked at me as if she had been slapped, her mouth hanging open, unable to find the right words to strike back.

But Uncle Grey didn't have that problem. He stood up, his face red and his finger pointing directly at my face.

"How dare you speak to your aunty that way?" he barked. "Don't you have any manners at all? You are a disgrace to the memory of the man who took you in!"

I looked at him, and for the first time in my life, I wasn't afraid of him. I knew things. I had seen things over the years that they thought were buried deep.

"Why wouldn't I have manners, Uncle?" I asked. I leaned against the doorframe, crossing my arms.

"Besides, it's not like I told her your biggest secret. It's not like I told her how you sleep around with Fiona all the time, Uncle. I’ve kept that very quiet, haven't I?"

The words hit the room like a bomb.

The silence that followed was heavy and absolute. No one breathed. No one moved.

Fiona, who had been sitting quietly in the corner, went deathly pale. Finn looked like he had been turned to stone.

Aunty Lucy was the first to move. She walked over to me, her eyes wild with a mixture of shock and fury.

Before I could move, I felt a sharp, stinging slap across my other cheek.

"How dare you!" she yelled.