The Alpha's Desperate Regret

RA's

d, but as my fated mate looked at me with

st a blank space. And everyone here is happy to fill that emptiness with their hate. They call me 'Scent

ms already burning, still waiting for my wolf to decide I was worth sho

NG-A

e of it, tilting it slowly until the bones slid into t

l the stale ale on his breath. "That's the saddest part. You carry these trays aro

d a strand of hair behind my ear before

pen. You're just a ghost that refuses to leave. Why don't you

a sharp shove, watching

urn started behind my eyes, the one that meant t

e Elder Mara, the Alpha's mother standing a few feet away. She didn't just look at

ing it like a weapon, her eyes fixed on me with a hatr

e more than

turned and walked toward the castle, but

nes with tremblin

t the communal grounds for the ceremony. Shifts. Mate bo

't shifted. I'm twenty-two. Most wolves got the

oken. Call it whatever w

from the communal grounds, a small

e up whatever was supposed to be i

od from my palms. I didn't even have time to change my

Torches flashed light everywhere and the pack f

omegas like me pushed

ped into the circle an

ght, eyes sweeping the crowd like he

must say

ifted, a weird smell hit me. Something bitter under his usual Alph

t through ca

alls. Those who are

ring so hard. Then, a

f. Then the fur came, thick, black and swallowing every scrap of torchlight around me. My fingers curle

I was s

r than any wol

lence broke in a

scent I never thought I had exploded from my skin so powerfu

t only bloom in the dark. Midnight O

the man who had spent years making me feel like nothing and I didn't feel afraid. I saw the wa

growl rolled up

ed around iron. My wolf. But along with h

pered. The word spread like

to me so hard I almost staggered. His scent drowned me, pine smoke and r

AT

e he would cross the circle, cup my face and whisper

silently. Please

e bond flared between us, a sudden, beautif

e you could ne

ed at me like I was a disease he

y father wasn't killed in battle. He was hunted like an animal by a Shadow Wolf. Your kin

d. "Kill her! E

, sharp enough to bruise b

rward with a satisfied, vi

d eventually show its face" she said, loud enough for the stars to hear. "The moon has finally shown us

with fear, but with the cold eyes of a p

pleading silently.

Eclipse Pack," Kairos said.

ce. I hit the ground on all fours, p

the bond, even though he cou

ness back at me as tears soaked my fur.

ally tell the world they were wrong about me. But as he sto

found the man who was going t

"Why?" but my throat clos

e itself. Insults chased me "freak," "killer," "cursed bitch"-but

me up. Branches lashed my face, my flanks. My lungs burned. Tear

one person mean

r. Instead, a new soun

hirsty. They weren't just letting me go. Jax and the warriors had shifted. Th

hunting

the m

let it

urse before

ad prayed to my whole life was n

ate. And in this dark, I