One Luna, four alphas

Episode2

COLDREY

I wasn’t even given the opportunity to say a word after the most unexpected words struck me like a rock thrown against a wall. It somehow found a way to kick the air out of my lungs, making me as numb as ever.

The guards lets her walk out of the hall, and somehow, that led to the end of my event.

“Drey, the bond isn’t complete yet…” Lisa reached for me. Usually her voice would be all soothing and all. But this time, it only worsened the feeling that was brewing within me. I couldn’t quite place my hand on what it was, but I knew there was something coming.

It took me minutes to get to my room and realize that it was a storm—growing from the deepest part of my wolf.

The mate bond.

It was broken, and it left me feeling like an empty man. A man without purpose—a man who just learnt to live and breath.

It was hard, and I struggled.

Two knocks landed on my door, and Lisa whom was I’d suspected was following my trail walked in. She was one of the least people i wanted to see right now.

I thought I loved her better than I did Ravenna.

But this rejection made me see and feel things from a different perspective.

“You left the ceremony. Who’s gonna finish what you started?”

“We can reschedule,” I turned away, pouring myself a glass of whiskey to down the rising conflict between my decision and my wolf.

“Reschedule?” Lisa snapped.

Great. I just pissed the goddess of the pack.

“What do you mean ‘reschedule’ like this is some f*****g naming ceremony. This is a bonding ceremony, Drey. And….”

“And I said we should reschedule,” I cut her in.

There was a beat of silence between us, and just as she was about to speak, the door burst open.

“You asked for me,” Alfredo, my beta, cut the tension in the air.

I’d sent a message across to him through my mind, and I felt happier than ever that he came at the right time.

“Arrange the trackers. We’re going hunting,” I ordered with an unintentional aggressive bang of the glass cup on the table. The tumbler cracked,and when I pulled my palm off, it shattered.

“Hunting?” Lisa’s question carried a tone of mockery and anger.

“Instead of standing here asking questions, why don’t you go gather some women who will attend to Ravenas corpse when I return with her,” that was the lie I told myself from the beginning. The same lie I never believed I’ve been living in.

Lisa swallowed, fear crossing her eyes for a second. “You’re gonna kill your mate, for me?”

She needed an answer, I could tell from the way she stared into my eyes. The way her eyes begged for assurance.

“Ex-mate,” I muttered, cupped her jaw and kissed her gently. “Stay indoors until I return,”.

*********

I set out of the pack with the trackers, bearing a weight of rejection, anger, pain, and shock on my shoulders.

How dare she reject me?

After all we’ve been through?

“You’re really going to hunt down Luna Ravena?” Alfredo broke the silence that had stretched for hours.

“Whatever it takes,” I responded quietly.

My senses were spread across the woods like the branches of the trees, ready to identify anything that would lead me to her.

We journeyed further, and it was until we arrived at a small river which marked the borders of my pack that I knew we were on the right track.

Ravenas scent serenaded the atmosphere like she owned the entire place. The water, the air, the sand—it all smelled like her.

“She’s close. We need to keep moving,” I ordered.

Alfredo didn’t move, and I only noticed after moving some distance away.

“I’m sorry to break it to you alpha, but we can’t go any further than this. Your brother…”

“My brother leads a pack he barely understands outside these borders. He cannot stand up for himself, let alone his pack. So we keep moving!”

“Its against our laws.” He pressed.

I was forced to return to his zone, staring him dead in the eyes as I approached.

Now rage was eating from within, and I was more than ready to punish him for disobedience when the bushes at my right shuffled.

A stick snapped, followed by light footsteps racing off.

“Ravena,”

I sprang towards the woods, feeling the rest of my pack behind me as I ran after her. It didn’t take long before I caught to with her struggling through the dirt.

“Surround her! Don’t let her escape!” I dished theories out while still in pursuit.

The wind howled as we pushed deeper into the woods, our paws pounding the damp forest floor. Ravena was fast, but she was tiring. I could hear the unevenness in her breath, the weakness in her stride. She wasn’t going to get far.

My wolves obeyed, forming a crescent shape, closing in from all sides. I could already see her—just ahead, stumbling through a patch of thorns. Her clothes were torn, her hair matted with leaves and sweat. But her spirit… it still burned. That damn fire that once drew me in was now what I wanted to extinguish.

Alfredo flanked right. Two more trackers pushed from the left. The circle was tightening.

Then… a sound.

Branches cracked, but not from her.

Wolves—dozens—emerged from the opposite side of the clearing. Silent. Controlled. Deadly. Their eyes gleamed with one intention: protection.

My men froze.

Ravena spun to face them but didn’t run. She didn’t have to.

A large gray wolf stepped forward, shifting mid-step. His muscles flexed as he took human form, and he stood taller than any Alpha I’d met in the region. His cold eyes met mine.

“She’s under my protection now,” he said, voice sharp as steel.

My breath left my mouth with a chuckle as I signaled my men to stand down.

“You sure do know how to make an entrance, Ethan,” I sighed, glanced at Ravena before counting the number of wolves he came with. I could take them if I wanted to and still leave untouched with Ravena. But Ethan seemed more peaceful than I’d ever encountered him. “What do you want with my mate?

“She rejected you few hours ago if I’m not mistaken,”

“What’s all this?” Ravena chirped in.

“Quiet!” Ethan and I chorused. I was harsh, but he sounded more—protective, and it had me more curious than I was. “What are you up to?”

“Protecting the one person you neglected, brother.” He moved closer to Ravena with a hand stretched. “You never know what you have until you lose it,”

“Step away from my mate!” I barked, claws and fangs shooting out.

“I’m not your mate!” Ravena fired, and I felt the broken bond shatter into a million more pieces.

*************