Winterblood Wolves
1132 Words
Jason ’s POV
The celebration was a blur of meaningless congratulations and empty chatter. My mother’s voice, sharp and demanding, still rang in my ears.
“She’s holding you back, Jason . A weak Luna is a weak Alpha.” She said for the second time today.
I didn’t reply, rather my jaw tightened. ‘Weak.’ That word had clung to Brielle like a second skin ever since she stepped foot in this pack. It wasn’t her fault—it wasn’t entirely mine either.
But the idea of letting her go felt… wrong. Unsettling.
The world slowed the moment I saw Celeste by the fire, her smile brighter than the roaring flames behind her. She approached me like she always did—confident, poised, knowing. Her dress clung to her every curve, her laughter spilling into the room like a siren’s song.
On the other hand, Celeste looped her arm through mine, I didn’t pull away. I couldn’t.
Everyone was watching. And that included my mother, her eagle eyes scanning for any sign of weakness. Weakness, in this case, meant Brielle .
“She’s left,” Celeste murmured when she finally reached my side, her voice low enough for only me to hear.
I froze. “What?”
“You heard me.” She leaned closer, the scent of her perfume wrapping around me like a noose. “Your Luna isn’t here tonight. Or… ever again, I suppose.”
I didn’t react, as I kept my expression neutral.
Meanwhile, Celeste’s gaze roamed my face, searching for any crack in my composure.
If I had shown anything—a flicker of worry, a twitch of guilt—I’d lose.
“She finally gave up,” Celeste continued, her voice curling with amusement. “How tragic.”
Hearing that, my chest tightened. She didn’t know Brielle like I did. Weak was the wrong word for her, despite what everyone liked to say. But something held me back.
Perhaps, my pride. My mother’s lectures about appearances. And my confusion about what I really felt.
I poured another drink, silent as Celeste continued talking about nothing important. But I couldn’t ignore the sharp pang in my gut—Brielle , gone? It didn’t sit right.
It didn’t feel right at all.
Shortly after, Celeste arched towards me with a probing look, “You’re distracted.” She said.
I didn’t even bother looking up. Celeste’s voice grated at the edges of my consciousness, as irritating as the pack politics my mother constantly pushed into my lap.
“She’s not important,” I muttered, swirling the amber liquid in my glass.
A Bold-faced lie. Brielle had clawed her way into my mind the second I learned she was gone.
Upon hearing that, Celeste laughed softly, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Of course not. A man like you doesn’t waste his time on weakness.”
Weakness. That word again. It stuck in my throat like a stone. Brielle wasn’t weak—she was stubborn, maybe too much for her own good, but not weak. The fire in her eyes when we first met told me as much.
So why had I treated her like she was disposable?
“I said she’s not important.” My voice was sharper this time, silencing Celeste’s needling remarks. She smirked but didn’t push further, retreating into idle chatter about alliances and pack dynamics.
But I wasn’t listening. Not really. My thoughts were miles away, chasing shadows of a woman who had somehow slipped through my fingers.
The next afternoon…
The first inkling that something was wrong came when I walked into the pack meeting and saw my mother’s expression.
Poised and sitting with the air of authority as always, her gaze was cold as ice, her lips pressed into a thin line. But the tension in her shoulders betrayed her composure.
“What is it?” I asked, stopping beside her.
“The Winterbloods.”
I paused as the name made my chest tighten, though I didn’t immediately understand why. “What about them?”
“They’re looking for someone,” she said, her tone sharper now. “And I’ve just learned that someone was here, right under our noses.”
A shiver of unease crawled down my spine. “Explain.”
“Your ex wife,” she spat the word like venom. “She’s connected to them. There are whispers that she’s their lost heir.”
The room swayed for half a second before I regained control of myself. Brielle —my Brielle —connected to the most mysterious and feared dynasty in our world? It was absurd.
“You must be mistaken.”
She looked at me with a glare sharp enough to cut steel. “If you’ve allowed their princess to slip through your fingers, you’ve invited more trouble than you could possibly comprehend.”
My mind whirled. Brielle had been mine—my Luna, my wife—even if I’d kept her at arm’s length. She was supposed to stay quiet, in her place, not stir up alliances that could destabilize everything.
Without thinking, I barked, “Send someone after her.”
“You don’t command me.” My mother’s voice was low and venomous. “This isn’t about you or your wounded pride, Jason . The Winterbloods will come for her now. You’d do well to think about the survival of this pack instead of chasing what you lost.”
Her words sank like stones into my gut, leaving behind anger I didn’t want to feel. Brielle wasn’t a prize to be retrieved—but she also wasn’t someone I could let go.
Not anymore.
By the time the sun crept over the horizon, the command center was alive with activity. Reports filtered in from scouts who had tracked Brielle ’s trail. She hadn’t gone far, but there was something strange about her disappearance.
The tracker from last night, one of my best, stood stiffly at attention in front of me. His face was pale, his hands trembling. I narrowed my eyes.
“What did you see?” I demanded.
“I… I think I saw one of the Winterblood wolves,” he admitted reluctantly. “It crossed her path.”
“Winterbloods don’t cross pack lands without warning.”
“That’s just it,” he said quickly, his voice cracking slightly. “The wolf… it wasn’t hostile. It—it was like they knew her.”
His words hit like a sledgehammer to the chest, knocking the air out of me. My hands clenched into fists. The images of Brielle —broken yet unyielding as I cast her aside—clashed with the absurd notion of her standing among a dynasty feared by even the most powerful Alphas.
‘What the hell was I missing?’
- Writer
