The Alpha's Biggest Regret

CHAPTER 4: Thrown to the Wolves

Delroy did not flinch. He did not drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness. The guilt I expected to find in his bright blue eyes simply did not exist. Instead, his features hardened into a mask of cold, sharp stone.

He closed the distance between us in three long strides, his heavy boots thudding against the woven rug. He reached out and snatched the birth record from my trembling hand.

"You broke into my desk," he said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble.

A harsh, disbelieving laugh ripped from my throat. "I broke into your desk? That is your concern? You let Schuyler die on the border thinking that boy was his blood. You let me cry in your arms, begging the Moon Goddess to fix my broken body, while you were raising a bastard in the human towns!"

"Watch your mouth," Delroy snapped, his Alpha aura flaring so violently it made the heavy air in the study taste like ozone and sharp pine. "He is my blood. He is the future of this pack."

The sheer audacity of his words struck me like a whip. "He is the product of deceit! You slept with your best friend's mate!"

I did not think. I simply reacted. I raised my hand and swung with every ounce of Lycan strength I possessed.

My palm connected with his cheek. The loud, sharp crack echoed off the walls of the study. The impact sent a burning shock up my forearm, turning my skin bright red. Delroy’s head snapped to the side.

He stood completely still for a heavy, breathless second. A red mark bloomed across his jaw. Slowly, he turned his face back to me. He did not strike me back. Instead, his large hand shot out, wrapping around my wrist with a grip tight enough to bruise bone.

"I did what I had to do," Delroy hissed, stepping so close his cold breath brushed my forehead. "A pack dies without an heir, Evie. I carried the burden of securing our lineage because you could not. You are barren. I needed a son."

My heart stopped beating. The words pierced straight through my ribs, tearing apart the last remaining shreds of my soul. He was not sorry. He felt justified. He had twisted his vile betrayal into an act of noble sacrifice.

He released my wrist and stepped back, smoothing the front of his jacket. "Wash your face. Go to the grand hall. I am calling a pack meeting."

"Delroy," I whispered, my voice cracking. "Don't do this."

He did not look at me again. He turned the key, opened the study door, and walked down the hallway.

A moment later, a deep, rumbling howl vibrated through the floorboards of the packhouse. It was the Alpha’s summons. It carried a frequency that commanded every wolf within the territory to drop whatever they were doing and gather immediately.

I stood alone in the study. My wrist throbbed. My chest felt hollowed out, scraped raw by the man I had devoted my entire youth to serving. I looked down at my hands. They were shaking. I forced them into tight fists, digging my nails into my palms until the pain grounded me.

We will not cry, I told my inner wolf. We will not let them see us break.

I smoothed the front of my navy dress, lifted my chin, and walked out of the study.

The grand hall was already packed. Hundreds of wolves pressed together, their anxious murmurs creating a low, buzzing hum that bounced off the vaulted ceilings. The air was thick with the smell of damp wool, nervous sweat, and burning firewood.

The crowd parted the moment I stepped into the room. They cleared a wide path for me, their eyes darting away, refusing to meet my gaze. The silence that followed my footsteps was heavy with pity and confusion.

I walked straight to the front of the hall, stopping at the edge of the raised wooden dais.

Delroy stood at the center of the platform. Beside him stood Elder Cedric Vaughn, the gray-haired leader of the Silver Moon Council. And standing slightly behind Delroy, wrapped in a heavy white fur cloak—the traditional mantle of the Luna—was Róise.

She held Rowan in her arms. The sweet, rotting scent of jasmine drifted down from the stage, settling over me like a shroud.

Delroy raised his hand, and the remaining whispers in the hall died instantly.

"Silver Moon," Delroy began, his voice projecting easily over the massive crowd. "We are facing harsh winters. The rogue attacks on our southern borders have increased. Trade is thinning. To survive the coming years, a pack must project strength. We must have a secure lineage. We must have a future."

The crowd listened, spellbound by their Alpha's commanding presence.

"For seven years, I have served as your Alpha," Delroy continued, his blue eyes sweeping over the room before finally dropping to look at me. "And for seven years, the Luna's womb has remained empty. A pack cannot survive on hollow hope. It survives on strong bloodlines. Evie is barren."

A collective gasp rippled through the hall. Several Omegas near the front covered their mouths. Beta Bradley, standing near the staircase, clenched his jaw, his hands curling into tight fists.

My cheeks burned. The humiliation was a living, breathing thing, crawling over my skin and searing my flesh. He was exposing my deepest, most private shame to hundreds of people, weaponizing my trauma to pave the way for his mistress.

"I could not let our pack weaken," Delroy declared loudly. He reached back and pulled Róise forward. "I made a difficult choice. A sacrifice for the good of Silver Moon. This child, Rowan, is not the late Schuyler’s son. He is mine."

The silence in the hall turned deafening. The shock was palpable, a heavy tension that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I looked at Elder Cedric. The old man did not look surprised. He simply nodded, his face stern and composed.

The Elders knew. They had always known. They helped him hide the affair because Róise came from a wealthy, influential family that offered political stability. My adoptive father, the former Alpha, had chosen me for Delroy. But the moment my father died, the Elders had started pulling the strings to replace me.

"Evie Santana Payne has served this pack to the best of her limited abilities," Delroy said, his voice void of any warmth. "But I need an heir. And my pack needs a true mother."

He looked directly down at me. The final blow was coming.

"I, Alpha Delroy Brooke," his voice boomed, carrying the heavy, magical weight of the Alpha command, "reject you, Evie Santana Payne, as my mate and Luna of the Silver Moon Pack."

The mate bond snapped.

It did not fade. It did not break cleanly. It felt like a rusted, jagged hook had been driven through my chest and violently ripped out, taking a piece of my beating heart with it.

I gasped, my knees buckling. A blinding white pain flashed behind my eyes. Fire surged through my veins, boiling my blood. I tasted copper in my mouth as I bit down hard on my lower lip to keep from screaming.

Stand, my inner wolf snarled, pushing through the blinding pain. Do not kneel for him.

I forced my legs to straighten. My spine locked into place. I stood tall, staring up at the man who had just destroyed my life. A drop of blood rolled down my chin from my bitten lip. I did not wipe it away.

Delroy stared at me, a flicker of surprise crossing his features. He expected me to collapse. He expected me to beg.

I drew a slow, trembling breath, keeping my silver-gray eyes locked firmly on his.

"I, Evie Santana Payne," I replied, my voice carrying clearly through the dead-silent hall, refusing to shake, "accept your rejection."

The last remaining thread of magic between us severed completely. The warmth I used to feel from his presence vanished, leaving behind a freezing, hollow void. He was a stranger.

Elder Cedric stepped forward immediately, not allowing the crowd a single moment to process the cruelty of the rejection.

"To secure the lineage and the future of Silver Moon," Cedric announced, holding up his hands, "we welcome Róise Reilly as our new Luna."

Róise smiled. It was a wide, beaming smile that reached her bright green eyes. She leaned into Delroy, resting her head on his shoulder.

I did not wait for the pack to bow. I turned around.

The crowd parted for me once more. I walked down the center aisle of the grand hall. I did not look at the faces of the warriors I had trained, the Omegas I had protected, or the pups I had fed. My boots struck the floorboards in a steady, unbroken rhythm.

I pushed the heavy iron-bound doors open and stepped out into the freezing winter morning.

The snow was falling heavily, coating the pine trees in a thick blanket of white. The biting wind whipped through my thin wool sweater, but the cold could not pierce the numbness wrapping around my mind.

I had no bags. I had no money. I had nothing but the clothes on my back and the silver blades strapped secretly to my thighs.

I walked away from the packhouse, my boots crunching softly against the fresh snow. I headed straight toward the dense treeline that marked the edge of the residential territory. Beyond those trees lay the deep woods, and beyond that, the steep drop of Moon Cliff.

I walked for miles. The grand estate vanished behind the snow and the thick trunks of the ancient pines. My breathing grew shallow, the icy air burning my lungs. The adrenaline of the rejection began to fade, leaving behind a heavy, crushing exhaustion.

I reached the rocky incline leading up to Moon Cliff. The wind howled through the narrow mountain pass, whipping my ebony hair across my face.

A sharp snap echoed through the quiet woods.

I stopped. The sound of a breaking branch did not come from the wind.

I closed my eyes and flared my senses, pushing past the dull ache in my chest.

Footsteps. Five sets of them. They were moving in a spread formation, flanking me from the left and right. The scent of pine and sweat drifted through the freezing air. Silver Moon wolves. But beneath their familiar pack scent was the sharp, unmistakable tang of drawn blood-steel.

Assassins.

Delroy had his heir. Róise had her crown. The Elders had their political alliance. A rejected Luna wandering the continent was a liability. It was an embarrassment they could not afford to leave breathing.

I opened my eyes, the hollow void in my chest filling with a sudden, freezing focus.

I reached beneath the hem of my sweater, wrapping my freezing fingers around the leather hilts of my hidden daggers.

They thought they were hunting a broken woman. They were about to find out exactly why the Silver Moon pack had survived the last seven years.