The Alpha I Refused to Choose Again

The night I faked my death, the Alpha knelt in the charred ruins until dawn.

Later, he pulled every security tape. He watched his first love slap me to the floor, again and again. He watched me throw myself at the iron door he’d installed with his own hands, until my shoulder was a bloody mess. He found the pregnancy report in the envelope, where I’d written: “Happy marking day. I love you.”

At last, he understood. The blood I’d lost when I fell that day had been his pup.

What he didn’t know was that I was still alive, with a new name and a new pack.

In this life, I’m not choosing him again.

——

“Adrian, if you go through with this—if you make her your mate—I'll jump. I'd rather die than live without you.”

I knew that voice. I knew those words, right down to the catch in the middle.

My eyes flew open. Crystal chandeliers. Silk gowns and tailored suits. The whole pack in its finest, every face tilted toward the roof. Somehow, impossibly, I was standing in the middle of my own marking ceremony.

Once, I'd believed this would be the happiest day of my life. Instead, it had been the first day of a nightmare.

Adrian Mercer stood beside me, jaw clenched, watching Brianna Cole sway at the edge of the roof. He didn't say a word. He just took my hand and tried to walk me forward, as if we could finish the ritual and pretend she wasn't up there.

The first time around, that moment had almost made me cry with joy. He'd chosen me. In front of everyone, he'd chosen me.

I knew better now.

His grip was crushing. However calm he looked, his hand gave him away. Brianna's threat had already gotten under his skin.

No pack would follow an Alpha who abandoned his chosen mate in the middle of the ritual, so that night Adrian had turned his back on Brianna. She jumped. And after she died, the guilt ate at him until there was nothing left of the man I'd loved.

He spent his days and nights on his knees before the statue of the Moon Goddess, begging for forgiveness. He was gentle with everyone—everyone except me. For me, there was only ice. His cruelty cost our unborn pup its life.

And the pack adored him for it. They called it devotion. Some of them even decided I was the villain, the she-wolf who'd come between two childhood sweethearts. They looked at me as if I'd committed a crime no one could forgive.

But Adrian was the one who'd fallen for me at first sight. He was the one who'd spent three years chasing me. All I'd done was follow my heart and finally say yes. How had that made everything my fault?

It wasn't fair. None of it had ever been fair.

Now I'd been given a second life, and I wasn't going to waste it repeating the same mistakes. This time, I would cut Adrian out of my life for good.

I planted my feet. “She could get hurt. Go talk her down, Adrian. You're the only one she'll listen to.”

He blinked at me, startled, and then the corner of his mouth lifted. “Nora, do you hear what you're saying? You want to send your intended mate to another she-wolf in the middle of our ceremony? What do you think the pack will say about you?”

I knew exactly what they'd say. I'd heard every word of it before. Next to what Adrian had put me through, a little gossip was nothing.

I shook my head. “I don't care what they say. I care how you really feel about me.”

Then I raised my voice so the whole hall could hear. “I'd stop this ceremony even if she weren't your childhood friend. You're our Alpha. Every wolf in this pack is yours to protect. A life matters more than a ritual.”

A murmur of approval rippled through the guests. They praised my generosity and my sense of duty. Several of them went straight to Adrian's parents to congratulate them on their son's choice. A true Luna, they called me.

His parents had always thought I was beneath him. For the first time since I'd known them, they smiled at me.

Adrian looked moved. He reached for me, but I stepped back before he could pull me into his arms. When he frowned in confusion, I nudged him toward the stairs. “Go. We can't waste any more time.”

He ran for the roof without a single backward glance.

I watched him go, my nails biting into my palms. In my first life, Brianna's death had driven him mad, and I was the one who'd paid for it. This time, I was handing him back to her. Let him have the woman he'd lost.

The ceremony was suspended, not canceled. I stayed exactly where I was and waited for him.

One hour passed. Then two. Neither of them came back.

Whispers crept through the hall. I could feel the pity on my skin. I kept my head down, let my cheeks burn, and pretended not to hear.

When Adrian finally reappeared, he caught my eye and looked away so fast it was almost comical. There was a smear of lipstick on his cheek.

Brianna had her arm looped through his. She was glowing, as if this were her ceremony and I were the guest who'd overstayed her welcome.

I'd barely finished the thought before Adrian proved me right. He stopped in front of me, visibly torn, and opened his mouth twice before anything came out.

“Nora... Brianna promised that if I go through the ritual with her today, she'll stay out of our lives afterward. I—I said yes.”

He rushed on before I could react. “It won't be real. I'll just be going through the motions. I'm not actually going to mark her.”