Too Late, Alpha: I Am Now Untouchable

Maeve’s POV My life changed because of a digit on a hotel door. I was twenty-two years old, a recent arrival in Houston with a degree in biochemistry and a budding career as a biomedical researcher at one of the city's top labs. But I wasn’t just a woman of science; I was a musician, finding my rhythm in the melodies I played during my rare moments of peace. That night, exhausted after a double shift, a room mix-up led to a one-night stand with a stranger. I was supposed to be in room 420; he was in 402. It was a single night of mistakes that changed everything. The man was Kael, the Alpha of the Frost Rainbow pack and a powerful billionaire. When I found out I was pregnant six weeks later, I was terrified. Kael’s mother, the formidable former Luna, saw the pregnancy as an opportunity to secure the bloodline with a "suitable" match rather than the Omega Kael loved. She forced him to marry me, and as an Alpha still under her thumb, Kael was unable to disobey his mother's orders. He was forced to break up with his first love, Elizabeth, to fulfill his duty to me and the pack. I fell in love with him, but for Kael, our marriage was a cage, a constant reminder of the moment he lacked the strength to stand up to his mother. In a way I was probably a mistake that led him to break up with his first love. Then Leo was born. He arrived two months early with weak lungs and a flawed heart. Between his congenital heart condition, a mitral valve defect, and a life-threatening nut allergy, my life as a researcher and musician ended. I became his full-time nurse, monitoring his heart rate and preparing every meal with chemical care to avoid cross-contamination. For seven years, I was his shadow, while my marriage to the Alpha remained a cold, functional agreement built on the foundation of his resentment. That was when Elizabeth had reappeared in our lives. She had shown up at our door looking pale and fragile, clutching a medical folder and claiming she had stage four cancer with only a year to live. She said she didn't want money; she just wanted "companionship" from the man she once loved before the end. Kael, eaten alive by the guilt of how their relationship ended because of his mother’s oppressive influence, had agreed. He told me it was a "mercy mission," but as a researcher, I saw the inconsistencies in her medical terminology immediately. I saw a gold digger manipulating an Alpha's guilt; Kael only saw a dying woman. Today was Christmas Eve. I had spent the day preparing a safe meal for Leo. I had sanitized the kitchen and bought him a new tablet. Kael was supposed to be home at 5:00 PM. At 7:00 PM, I saw a post on Instägram. It was a video of a fireworks display over the city. The caption read, "The best Christmas surprise. Thank you, Kael, for the private fireworks show, and thank you, little Leo, for my beautiful gift. I feel like the luckiest woman alive." The account was Elizabeth’s. I froze. In the video, there was Leo. My son, who had a fragile heart that could be overstressed by loud concussions and cold weather, was standing there smiling at Elizabeth. They looked like a perfect family. I was the one left behind in a dark house with a cold dinner. I sat at the kitchen island for three hours. The clarity I felt was sharper than any chemical reaction I had ever observed. I was not just a wife being cheated on; I was a mother whose protection had been undermined by an Alpha’s whim. I picked up the turkey and threw it in the trash. The data was in. My husband was gone, and my son had been turned against me. Since I had nothing to do, I scrolled to the comments. "What a gorgeous family!" "You three look so happy together." "Goals! A perfect family of three." A bitter laugh escaped my throat before I could stop it. I sat and waited for my son and husband to come back home like a security guard at work rather than a wife. At 10:30 PM, the front door opened. Kael walked in carrying a sleeping Leo. They both smelled like woodsmoke and expensive perfume. Kael avoided my eyes until he came back downstairs, loosening his tie. "I know you're angry," Kael said, pouring a drink. "Elizabeth really needed the distraction. It’s her last Christmas, Maeve. I couldn't deny her that." "You denied your son safety just to please your first love," I said, my voice flat. "You took a child with a heart condition to a pyrotechnic display in forty-degree weather. And you took him to see a woman who has spent three months telling him his mother is a liar." "Don't start with the medical lectures," he snapped. "Elizabeth makes him feel like a normal kid, not a patient." "Elizabeth is a fraud, Kael. And you are using your billions to fund her fantasy while you dismantle our son’s health." "You're just jealous of a dying woman. It's pathetic." He took a long sip of his scotch. "Go to bed. We have to be at her place for brunch tomorrow." I looked at the man who had been forced into my bed by a dominant Luna and saw the vacancy in his eyes. He didn't want a wife; he wanted a caretaker he could ignore. He didn't want a son; he wanted a legacy. "I’m not going to brunch," I said, standing steady. "And I’m not going to bed and I’m leaving." Kael laughed, a sharp, dismissive sound. "You’re not going anywhere. You have no job and no career left. You’re a Sterling, Maeve. You stay where I put you." I gripped the edge of the marble counter, my knuckles turning white. I looked him straight in the eyes, my voice dropping to a cold whisper. "I was a researcher and a musician before I was a Sterling," I replied. I turned my back on the Alpha of the Frost Rainbow pack and walked toward the stairs. I was done being an observer. As I reached the landing, I looked back down at him. "I want a divorce."