Marked by the Moon—Rejected by my Alpha mate

CHAPTER 12: The Note

[ Elena POV ]

His hand was still on my face when Ambrose found us. I did not hear my brother coming, I was too caught up in a pair of amber eyes and the warmth of a thumb brushing the last of my tears away.

The sound of his voice snapping mid-sentence was what brought me out of the spell.

"Elena where the hell have you—"

A pause.

Then silence.

I stepped back from Nicholas so fast I nearly lost my footing in the heels. Ambrose stood at the garden entrance, eyes moving slowly from my face to Nicholas, then down to the hand that had just been touching my cheek. His expression did the thing it does when he is calculating—perfectly still, giving nothing away and that was somehow worse than anger.

"Ambrose—" I started.

"Who is this."

It wasn't a question, he never asked a question in this tone.

“Don't be ridiculous now, you saw what happened, Ambrose. He caught me when Lucan threw me.”

“And so f*****g what if he did.” He huffed, walking towards where I stood.

“Ambrose?!”

“Just be quiet, OK.” he said, turning to face Nicholas, who still had a cool expression on his face, just that those amber eyes no longer shone bright with emotion, they were now cold.

Ambrose moved closer, sizing him up from head to toe. “I don't care who you are, just stay the f**k away from my sister.”

Nicholas chuckled, “I'm afraid that won't be possible.” Ambrose shot him a glare, and he had this smirk on his face, his hands landed on Ambrose's shoulder, and he squeezed it hard, “see you later, bro,” he said walking out of the garden.

Ambrose stared long at his receding back before turning to face me, “let's go,” he said, already leading the way. This calculated calm attitude was what's freaking me out more than anything. Only the Goddess knows what running in that mind of his.

I had to run to catch up with him. The sound of the car engine roaring to life greeted me as I stepped into the parking lot. Hope he wasn't planning to leave without me. I got into the car, and he zoomed off into the road without uttering a single word to me.

The ride was quiet until Ambrose broke the silence. “I was just trying to protect you, you know that right?” he started

“But I wasn't in danger, or was I?” countered back.

“Elena, I know what I saw.”

“What exactly did you see, huh?”

“I'm not blind, ok, I saw it in your eyes when he touched your face.” he paused and my heart did a little thump as realization hit me. “ And why was his hand on your face in the first place?!” His hands tightened around the steering wheel.

I didn't reply him, just stayed quiet, staring out the windows watching the way buildings blurred as the car sped through.

“Ambrose, slow down, you are going to get us killed.”

“That wasn't the answer to my question.” he fired back.

“No, I'm definitely not doing this with you, not now, not when they're more pressing issues to talk about.”

“Like what?”

“Like dad's council seat being stripped off him right in front of the whole city.”

Ambrose tightened his grip on the wheel so hard his knuckles turned white, his Jaws ticking. The car seemed to slow down a little bit.

“Can we talk about that?” I continued despite his reaction.

“Remember what dad said,” he replied, his voice cold, “it's on you.”

The weight of his words hung low in my stomach. I turned my gaze to the windows, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill out.

And then, none of us spoke a word. Just silence and the sound of the car's engine humming low in the background. Soon we reached the pack house. Ambrose stepped out of the car and slammed the door so hard it shook my core. Moon goddess, what have I done.

I got out of the car and walked out of the garage into the pack house. The air in the house felt thick, the silence pressing down on everything, not even a single sound was heard. The pack house felt different somehow.

On getting to the dining area, I saw a maid clearing the table. She stopped the moment she noticed my presence.

“Where's my father?”

“Upstairs with Luna Sephrina.” she replied, her head bowed slightly.

“OK.”

She nodded and continued to her task.

I pondered for a moment if I should go talk with them, especially dad.

“No, let them be.” Lia who's been quiet all night finally spoke. I didn't reply, just climbed up the stairs to my bedroom.

I slammed the door shut the moment I got in, kicking my heels off without bothering to where it landed. The cold iron door pressed against my back as I slid down it, my legs finally giving out beneath me. The dress pooled around me on the floor, the fabric I no longer had the energy to care about. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

Tonight's events played out in my head like a cruel memory—Lucan and Melissa's entrance, Lucan’s hands on my waist, Melissa's confession, Fathers council seat, Lucan throwing me across the room. My head throbbed, I gripped my hair so tight it might pull out of my scalp.

“fuckkkk!!” I exclaimed. Why is my world falling apart?

My hand hit a flower vase by the side, shattering it into pieces. It was a mistake. I swear, I had loved it, valued it, cherished it, and didn't let anyone touch it because it was a gift from Luna Amira on my 18th birthday.

Now seeing it broken into tiny little pieces calmed my raging heart. I crawled towards the pieces and picked up a strand of the glass, held it up and looked at it, really looked. Slowly my fingers clenched around it then closed tightly till it pierced my palm until blood dripped down my wrist.

I was supposed to feel hurt, but a hollow laugh tore out from my lips. I saw Red. Blood. Revenge. The laugh grew louder till tears spilled down my cheeks. I opened my fist, picked up the piece of glass now coated with my blood and threw it into the trash can.

Wiping the tears with the back of my palm, I stood up and walked to my dresser, sat on the chair and looked at my expression in the mirror. The same girl from earlier this evening stared back at me with that same fire in her eyes.

“Elena.” Lia stirred.

“What.”

“We got this.”

“You sure?”

“I promise, just don't shut me down when you need me.”

My lips twitched into a small smile, “okay.”

I started taking off my earrings when a slight memory of him caressing my cheek came rushing back to my mind, his rough thumb against my smooth skin, damn it felt so….., nothing like when Lucan held my waist, I didn't want him to stop, just wanted to melt into his warm hands.

“Elena.” Lia started.

“Shut up.”

Didn't want to hear any of her BS this night. She snarled back and I rolled my eyes.

“Let's go take a shower.” I said already striding towards the bathroom when something caught my eye—a flash of brown sticking out my window. I paused for a second, then moved closer, it was a brown paper folded neatly.

I reached out and opened it. Just one line — "Meet me at the east border. Dawn. Come alone. — N”