He Took Her Side, I Rejected My Alpha

Chapter 2

"You gave your Healer the access code to our private chambers."

"On the one night I'd taken the wolfroot draught and was sinking into ritual sleep to mend a wound I never got to mend."

"You let her walk into our den. Into my sanctuary. To rummage through your belongings."

"And when I dragged her ass to the Pack Tribunal, you didn't even ask if I was alright. You shoved a waiver in my face and ordered me.Alpha-commanded me.to sign it."

"Kael."

"That was the night we ended."

I was furious. I had wanted, badly, to keep my voice low. To hold what little Luna-poise I still had.

I lost it.

I saw his face change.shifted toward guilt. Then I felt him do the worst thing he could have done: he released a wave of calming Alpha-pheromone, as though my anger were a fever he could chemically soothe.

"I didn't know you were back from patrol tonight."

"I couldn't not attend the Western Pack's banquet. Sending Elara to grab my materials was my only option. Why did you have to escalate it to the Council?"

"Leah."

The disappointment in his face was unbelievable.

"When did you turn into the kind of woman who picks fights out of jealousy and clings to baseless suspicions like a child."

"Leah. No Alpha would tolerate this for long."

I had honestly thought I was past the point of being able to cry.

From the moment I'd signed the waiver to the moment I'd climbed into the SUV beside him, I had held every inch of Luna composure I had left.

In the car, I'd even gone over our entire history together. Start to finish. Ten years of memories.

I had come to one conclusion.

I wanted to end this Moon-Goddess-cursed bond with dignity.

But his reproach, his blame, his sheer disappointment.it broke through. Tears came down my face like a string of broken pearls. Once they started, I couldn't stop them.

"Right. No Alpha would tolerate this."

I forced the words out around the sob in my throat.

"So I don't need your tolerance anymore."

I wiped my face. Turned to leave. Felt Elara grab the hem of my coat.

She started sobbing harder than I was. Apologizing in great, dramatic gulps.

"Luna Leah."

"I really didn't mean it. Please don't take it out on Alpha Kael."

"I'll leave the Pack tomorrow. I'll declare myself Rogue. Please. Alpha Kael loves you so much. Don't break his heart. Please."

I had always hated Elara most when she pulled this routine.

Watching her now, sobbing herself stupid in the dirt, my own tears dried up in real time. I shook her hand off my coat without ceremony. A low growl came up out of my chest.

"Get out of my way."

She tumbled backward onto the road. Looked up at me with shocked, glittering eyes.a frightened pup begging the wider world for pity.

"Elara."

Kael lunged for her. Helped her up like she was made of glass. Saw the small scrape across her palm where the gravel had broken her skin.

He whipped around to me. His voice was thunder.

"Are you out of your mind? Did your wolf lose control? Apologize to Elara. Now."

"Don't hold your breath."

"You want me to apologize?" I looked at Kael. Looked at the small, triumphant glint that had crept into Elara's eyes. I let my voice go cold. "If you don't agree to dissolve the Mate Bond, we go straight to the highest Council arbitration."

I didn't look back.

I left him there in the middle of Moonshade Boulevard with Elara's sobbing and his alpha-pressure clawing at my spine.

I pushed past the pain singing through my blood and ran straight into the depths of the forest. Straight to my best friend Kaya.

Kaya was a Warrior to her bones. Stronger than half the men in our Pack.

She watched me crash into her territory without a word. Led me inside. Pulled from her cold cellar an entire crate of stout black ale and dropped it on the table. She asked me one question.

"Enough?"

I looked at her. My eyes flooded.

She didn't speak. She just opened her arms.

"Hug?"

I broke. I collapsed against her chest and wept until my throat shredded, until my whole body shook, until Anya was whining inside me in tiny, broken sounds.

Until I crawled to her sofa and was sick over the side of it.

When the last of the tears were gone, I told her.

"I want the Mate Bond gone."

"I want that damn cord severed."

"I want Kael and his Healer to die slow."

What does the end of a fated bond look like?

It looks like two wolves who once stood back to back against a charging Rogue pack.now staring at each other across a clearing with poisoned daggers in their fists.

It looks like two souls who once prayed at the foot of the Moon Goddess for a blessing on their union.finally realizing that even what the Moon arranges can rot from the inside out.