Chapter 2: The Door between us
805 Words
I should have walked away. That was the first thing I told myself. The second was that I didn’t owe him anything.
Not my attention, my curiosity.
Not even the smallest piece of my broken heart, but my feet moved before my mind could stop them.
One step. Then another.
The old wooden floor beneath me creaked, each sound louder than it should have been in the silence of the house.
Behind me, everything I had spent years protecting remained exactly where I left it. The empty space beside my mate.
The room where my voice had slowly disappeared. The life I had begged the Moon Goddess to bless.
Funny how sometimes the thing you pray for becomes the thing you have to escape.
My hand hovered over the lock. I could feel my wolf stir for the first time in months. Not with anger or fear. With awareness, because she already knew. She knew something I refused to admit.
The bond I shared with my mate had not died because someone else came along. It had died because he stopped choosing me. Somehow, the stranger outside the window knew that.
The lock clicked. The moment the door opened, cold air rushed inside. Along with him.
He didn't step forward immediately. That surprised me.
Men like him were supposed to take. They were supposed to demand.
That was what everyone said about rival Alphas. Cruel. Dangerous. Heartless.
But he simply stood there, studying me like I was something precious he was afraid to touch.
"You actually opened it."
His voice held something I couldn't place.
He wasn’t arrogant or victorious. He was almost in disbelief.
I lifted my chin.
"Don't flatter yourself."
The corner of his mouth lifted.
"There she is."
My brows pulled together.
"What?"
"The woman everyone forgot existed."
The words hit harder than they should have because they were true. I hated him for seeing it.
"I don't need your pity."
His expression changed. Softened. Just slightly. Enough for me to know I had struck something.
"Pity?" He stepped closer, and the air shifted. Not because he moved but because my wolf noticed. I noticed.
"No," he said quietly. "I don't pity things that are still alive."
My breath caught. Things. Not people. Not possessions. Things that had been discarded. Things that had been overlooked. Things that still had teeth.
"I don't know what you want," I whispered.
He looked past me, into the home that no longer felt like mine. Then his eyes returned to me.
"I want to know why an Alpha's mate looks more like a prisoner than a queen."
Silence.
There was no answer that didn't hurt. I could lie. I could defend him. I could only do what I had always done. Protect everyone except myself.
But I was tired. So tired.
"My mate made a mistake," I said. The stranger watched me carefully.
"No."
The certainty in his voice made me look up.
"He made a choice." My heart tightened. That was the difference, wasn't it? Mistakes were accidents. Choices were decisions, and every day he chose her.
Every day he chose that pup. Every day he chose a life where I became smaller.
The stranger reached into his coat and pulled out a small black envelope. He held it toward me. I didn't take it.
"What is that?"
"An invitation."
"From who?" His eyes locked onto mine.
"From me."
I almost laughed.
"Why would I accept anything from you?"
Because he was dangerous. Because he was the enemy. Because every instinct I had been taught told me to run.
But then he said the one thing no one else had.
"Because I know what it's like to be replaced."
The words stopped me.
For the first time, I saw something beyond the reputation. Beyond the title. Beyond the monster everyone claimed he was.
A scar.
Hidden.
Old.
Familiar.
"You don't know me," I whispered.
"No." His gaze dropped briefly to my hand, where my mate's mark rested. Then back to my eyes.
"But I know what abandonment smells like."
My wolf moved. Just once. A quiet response. A warning. Or maybe an answer.
Before I could speak, a sound echoed from inside the house. Laughter. Her laughter and his laughter. The sound of a family I no longer belonged to.
The stranger heard it too. His expression hardened. Not with jealousy. With understanding.
"You're standing in a home where everyone has forgotten your name." He stepped back.
"That's the most dangerous place for someone like you."
I gripped the door.
"And what kind of place are you offering?"
His eyes met mine. A challenge. A promise. A warning.
"One where you remember it." Then he turned away.
Leaving me with the envelope. Leaving me with a choice.
A choice that was mine alone to make.
- Writer
