The Beta's Blood: Rewritten

Chapter Eighteen

Kai had never looked so human. Not when she’d seen him fighting. Not when he’d teased pups in the square. Not even when he’d let himself smile at her over the rim of Jean’s car seat. Here, in the stillness of his office, with the door shut and no audience, he looked like a man standing on the edge of something he couldn’t take back.

“I don’t want you to look at me differently,” he said at last. His voice was low, guarded, the kind people used when they were trying very hard not to bleed. Ace sat back down slowly, the leather chair cool against her arms. Her own chest felt tight, pulse a steady drum in her ears. She could’ve joked, could’ve teased him out of it like she always did, but something in his eyes told her he didn’t need jokes. He needed honesty.

“I won’t,” she said, steady. “I told you, if I’m going to be your Beta, we can’t play at being strangers. We have to be able to say hard things. Hear hard things. Even when it burns.” He held her gaze. Really held it. Searching. Measuring.

“You’re asking me to give you something very few people in this pack have, Ace,” he murmured. “My truths.” “I am,” she replied without hesitation. Because she meant it. Because this wasn’t just power for her. This was belonging. And you couldn’t belong to people whose shadows you didn’t know.

His lips parted on a shaky exhale. For one suspended moment, she thought he was just going to spill it out, just like that. But then she saw it, the practiced habit of an Alpha. Walls slamming back into place. The mask of command snapped over his features and for a heartbeat she thought he might shut down again.

So she did the thing no one else would’ve dared. She reached across the desk and laid her hand over his. Warm. Solid. Anchoring. “Give me the chance to decide for myself,” she said softly. “Don’t decide for me what I can or can’t carry.”

Silence wrapped around them like snowfall. No movement, no sound, except the distant hum of the heater and the faint ticking of the wall clock. Then Kai dragged a hand through his hair, a motion half-frustrated, half-defeated. “Alright,” he muttered, more to himself than to her. “Alright.”

He looked up again, and this time he didn’t look like the Alpha of Winter Moon. He looked like a man with a broken bond. “My mate is Lycan,” he said quietly. Ace blinked. That… she had not expected.

“She’s beautiful,” he continued, voice roughening. “Extravagant. Compelling. The kind of woman the Goddess would give to a man like me so the world would make sense.” A humorless huff escaped him. “Only it doesn’t.”

Ace didn’t interrupt. Didn’t flinch. Just kept her hand there. “She has no interest in being Luna to werewolves,” he said. “Not to this pack. Not to me. She likes what I provide... protection and extravagant gifts... but not what I am.”

The words were laced with a weariness she recognized all too well. The ache of being chosen… but not kept. He swallowed, throat bobbing. “So I had my Gamma follow her under the guise of security,” he admitted, shame and anger twisting together. “For three years. I had him report back to me.”

Ace’s heart dropped. “Just to find she is also unfaithful to me,” Kai finished, voice low and raw, “shamelessly so.” The confession landed like a stone in the room.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. The pain in his eyes was naked now. No swagger, no smirk, no Alpha polish. Just a man who’d been humiliated and had to pretend he wasn’t. He let out a hollow laugh, one with no joy in it. “That is why, as much as I want to, I can’t mark her...” he said, eyes dropping to the desk. “It would only cause me more pain.”

Ace’s throat tightened. In an instant, memories rushed back. Jameson’s desperate eyes at the lake house, the sound of her name breaking in his throat, the harsh reality of a bond that could be weaponized. She had thought she was alone in carrying a mate-shaped wound.

She wasn’t. She wasn’t at all.

“Kai,” she whispered, her voice thick. “That’s… a lot.” “I told you,” he said, mouth pulling tight. “You’d never see me the same.” “You’re wrong,” she said immediately. “If anything… I see you more now.” His head snapped up.

“I know what it’s like to love someone you can’t have. To try to move on from a bond that doesn’t want to let go,” she said, eyes shining with something fierce and understanding. “I know what it’s like to be punished for someone else’s choices.”

His expression flickered. Pain, surprise, relief, before settling into something softer. “I offered you this position because I trust you,” he said quietly. “Not just to help run patrol or sign paperwork. I need someone beside me when it gets heavy. I don’t have that. Not from my mate. Not from anyone. But you…” he exhaled shakily, “…you made this pack like you’ve lived here all your life. I don’t know how you did it. I just knew the first day I met you, I could rely on you.”

The words hit deep. Ace swallowed hard. “Then I’ll be that person.” His eyes widened just a little. “Not because I have to,” she went on, voice steady now. “Not because you offered me rank. I’ll do it because I want to. Because you’ve been good to me. Because this pack didn’t turn me away. And because you deserve to have someone in your corner.”

Something in him… loosened. The tension in his shoulders eased. His jaw unclenched. A ghost of a smile flickered over his lips. “You have no idea how much that means,” he said, voice softer than she’d ever heard it.

Then, maybe to keep himself from sinking too far into the vulnerability, he straightened and forced a crooked grin. “Well, now you don’t have a choice. You have to be my Beta.”

Ace let out a breathy laugh. “Is that how this works? Emotional blackmail?” “Very effective,” he said, lips twitching. “Fine,” she said with mock solemnity. “Then I will gladly serve you, Alpha Kai, in whatever manner you see fit.” Her eyes gleamed. “Just remember, I already told you, I’m underqualified.”

“You’re not,” he said, voice firm. “And even if you were, I’d train you myself.” His sadness still lingered, a quiet bruise behind his eyes, but this time when he smiled, it reached them. He stood, came around the desk, and for a moment Ace thought he was just going to pat her shoulder.

He didn’t. He pulled her into his arms. It wasn’t a romantic embrace. It was fierce, grateful, tired, like a man who finally let himself lean. Ace folded into him without hesitation.

The scent of pine, winter air, and something uniquely him wrapped around her. Her cheek pressed to his chest, feeling the strong, steady thump of his heart. She had been held by her father in comfort. She had been kissed by Felix in familiarity. She had been gripped by Jameson in raw, feral bond.

But this? This was partnership. “Looks like I got my first job,” she murmured against his shirt. He huffed a quiet laugh over her hair.

She pulled back a little, looking up at him. “This is my home now, Alpha. I’ve been through a lot in a short time, and I finally…” she inhaled hard, emotions catching up to her, “I finally feel like my future is here. With these people. With my grandmother. With you.”

Something bright lit in his eyes. “Then go fetch your grandmother,” he said, returning to his desk, the Alpha mask sliding back on. But this time, not to shut her out. “Dress in something nice. I want you to swear in as a pack member tonight.”

Her mouth dropped. “Tonight?” “Yes, Ace. Today.” She blinked. “I still need to notify my Alpha that I’m-” “I’m your Alpha now,” he said, not unkindly. “I’ll take care of it.” The words should have scared her. They didn’t. They sounded like protection.

“Alright,” she said softly. “Go,” Kai flicked a hand toward the door. “I’ve got work to do before your big moment.”

Ace rose, every inch of her buzzing with adrenaline. This was it. No more halfway. No more keeping one foot in Red Forest and one here. No more waking up wondering where she belonged. She had chosen.

She reached for the door. “Ace.” She paused, turning. Kai stood there, one hand braced on the desk, eyes fixed on her like he didn’t quite want her to go. “I’m glad I met you,” he said. Warmth bloomed through her, slow and sure. “I’m glad I met you too, Alpha.”

She slipped out, closing the door softly behind her. The hallway didn’t feel the same. It felt… different now. Brighter. Like her footsteps had weight and purpose. Wolves passed her and nodded. She nodded back, shoulders a little straighter, smile a little more real.

Outside, the cold snapped at her cheeks, but it only made her feel more alive. The sky over the mountains was a pale winter blue, the sun high in t he sky. Her boots crunched over packed snow as she hurried down the path toward Jean’s cabin.

She could already see it. Her grandmother fussing, crying and telling her she always knew. Ace laughed to herself, breath fogging in front of her. As Jean’s cottage came into view, smoke curling from the chimney, windows glowing warm against the chill, Ace felt it settle in her bones like sunlight: This is home. Finally, this is home.