The Beta's Blood: Rewritten

Chapter Two

Morning training bled into monotony. Ace’s muscles burned, her breath ragged in the frigid air, but her mind was far from the sparring field. Every strike, every dodge was mechanical. A rhythm learned long before her heart had been torn from her chest. The whispers followed her even here, coiling like ghosts around the edges of every conversation.

They all knew. The rejection had spread through the pack like wildfire. She could feel their stares, the pitying ones, the curious ones, the cruel ones. Whispers chased her down every corridor, hushed tones that dissolved into silence when she passed. No matter how straight she stood, no matter how blank her face, she was a fragile thing barely holding together, one deep breath away from collapse.

When lunch finally came, she fled. The rooftop called to her. A place untouched by judgment, where the cold wind could bite at her cheeks without malice. She sank against the metal door, eyes tracing the endless blue above. It was too bright, too calm. The sky shouldn’t be so beautiful when everything inside her was breaking.

The door creaked open suddenly, brushing against her shoulder. She flinched, then froze as a familiar scent wrapped around her. Warm cedar and something faintly sweet.

“Hey,” Felix murmured, stepping into the light. His auburn hair caught fire in the sun, the breeze tugging playfully at it. “I thought you might be up here… though I didn’t mean to ambush you with a door.”

Ace gave a soft, brittle laugh. “I’ve been through worse.” He dropped down beside her, stretching out his long legs, gaze fixed on her profile. “You haven’t called,” he said gently. “Or texted.”

Her fingers toyed with an orange peel, curling the rind into neat spirals. “I haven’t even turned my phone on since… that night.”

Felix grinned, easy and teasing. “Ah, the famous social-media detox. Does wonders for one's social life, I hear.”

That earned a faint smile. Small, but real. “On a scale from my birthday party to 10? Maybe an eight,” she said, bumping her shoulder into his. “I’m sorry, Felix. About us... about the mate bond...”

He shrugged, leaning back against the wall. “It’s not your fault, Ace. None of this is. It’s just… what we are.”

His hand came to rest on her knee. Steady, familiar, kind. Once, that touch had set her pulse racing. Now, it barely stirred a whisper inside her. The mate bond had rewritten her heart, and no amount of will could undo it.

“Come on,” Felix said after a moment, rising and offering his hand. His smile was sunlight in the midst of her storm. “We’ll be late for gym.” She took his hand, letting him pull her up. “Thanks, Felix.” “Always,” he said softly. “I got your back…”

The rest of the day passed in uneasy rhythm. Felix’s quiet loyalty kept her afloat, a lifeline amid the stares and whispers. Still, her phone remained dark in her bag. Sealed away like a dangerous relic. She would have it replaced, the number changed. She couldn’t risk Jameson calling her. Not anymore. The thought sliced through her resolve. Because even now, part of her wanted him to try.

She knew Emily and Jameson’s fate had been sealed long before the mate bond had tangled its threads around her. They had been promised to one another since childhood. An alliance forged by duty and bloodlines. Emily had grown up beside him, the perfect Luna-in-training.

Emily would make a fine Luna one day. She was kind, strong, everything the pack would need. Ace knew this, even as jealousy twisted inside her like a knife. She didn’t hate Emily. How could she? In fact, they were the best of friends. The girl’s life had been decided before she’d ever even had a choice. None of this was her fault.

But even still, Ace had felt what it meant to be loved through the bond. Completely, unconditionally, with a ferocity that stole breath and thought alike. The echo of it still hummed beneath her skin, a low, unrelenting ache she couldn’t silence.

To act on that pull would be death. Not just for her, but for her family. Alpha Kaine’s cruelty was a weapon sharpened by years of tradition. Her father’s loyalty kept them safe, but that safety came with chains. Love and reason clashed inside Ace like opposing storms.

The days that followed fell into rigid order. Training, study, patrol, repeat. Her father’s structure was both punishment and protection. And though she tried to obey, there were moments... at lunch, in the hallways, on the training field... when she felt Jameson’s eyes on her. A pull across the distance. His pain mirrored her own, restrained but impossible to ignore. So, she pretended not to see. Pretended not to feel.

Her salvation came in pieces: her brother’s jokes, Felix’s unwavering presence, Max’s blunt honesty, Emily’s cautious kindness. Together they built a fragile normalcy, patchwork comfort over the hollow place inside her.

Felix still teased her, still smiled in that easy, effortless way that had once melted her heart. But the spark was gone, replaced by quiet understanding. She cared for him deeply, but it wasn’t love. Not anymore.

Her brother’s words echoed through her mind whenever the ache grew too sharp. Fake it till you make it.

So she did. She smiled when she was supposed to. She trained until her body ached. She laughed when Felix said something ridiculous. And slowly, painfully, the pieces of her heart began to knit together. Not perfectly, but enough to keep her standing. For now, that was enough.