I, Alexandra Hale, didn’t know how long I had been lying at the bottom of the stairs. The cold stone beneath me bit into my skin, but it was nothing compared to the sharp pain in my lower belly. It was as if something had been ripped from me.

However, my mind was on something else. My hands instinctively moved to my stomach. I truly hoped that my worst fears weren’t true. But deep down, I already knew.

My legs had slipped on the last step, sending me tumbling forward. It happened so fast that I couldn’t even react. The baby I had longed for so many years felt … as if they were gone.

‘N-no … this can’t be happening,’ I told myself.

I tried to mind-link my fiance, Alpha Charles Hummell of the Black Rose Pack.

My voice was trembling as I hoped against all odds that he would come while I was trying to contact him through the mind-link, ‘Charles, I need you.’

His response was immediate, but not in the way I had hoped.

‘Not now, Alexandra,’ he eventually responded through the mind-link.

His tone sounded distracted, which hurt me even more.

‘I’m busy,’ he continued through the mind-link.

When I heard the Alpha’s response, I was even more heartbroken.

‘Please listen to me, Charles. I … I fell from the stairs. I think something’s wrong,’ I told him through the mind-link as my breath hitched because of how panicked I was.

‘I told you I’m busy,’ the man replied through the mind-link, more forcefully this time.

Before I could say anything, he talked again through the mind-link, ‘Handle it yourself.’

The coldness in his voice cut deeper than the pain I was already feeling.

This was the man who was supposed to be my mate, my Alpha, my partner in everything. For ten years, I had stood by his side, loyal and devoted. Yet, in my moment of need, he couldn’t be bothered.

I ended the mind-link, severing the connection with him. What was the point? I was alone in this. Slowly and painfully, I dragged myself up from the floor as I leaned against the wall for support.

Each movement felt like hell for me, but I knew that I couldn’t stay there helplessly. I had to get to the clinic. After all, I had to confirm what I already knew in my heart.

As I stumbled down the hallway, I caught faint traces of a scent that made my stomach churn. It was Beta Hailey Barret’s scent. Her scent was everywhere in the castle these days. In fact, her scent became more intense.

Hailey had only recently become Charles’ Beta, but it was clear to me and to anyone with eyes. There was something more between them than just duty. Something inappropriate happened between them.

For months, I had suspected that Charles was drifting away from me. The Alpha had grown distant, cold, dismissive. Our conversations became very short. He rarely touched me.

At first, I told myself it was the stress of being Alpha, the burden of leading the Black Rose Pack.

However, I realized that Hailey’s presence was everywhere. The truth was too obvious to ignore. I desperately tried to contact him through the mind-link. I hoped that I was really wrong. Hopefully, this was all in my head.

Eventually, I asked what I had in mind through the mind-link I had severed earlier, ‘Charles … are you with Hailey right now?’

Silence. My heart pounded as I waited, hoping he would deny it. I truly hoped that he would tell me I was being ridiculous.

Then, his response came, ‘Why does it matter, Alexandra? Now, I have something more important to do.’

Not long after that, I could hear a hitched female breath before he severed his mind-link again. Only the Moon Goddess knew what had happened. They surely were frolicking, weren’t they?

My chest tightened as I fought to keep my composure. Still, there was no other response. In the end, the silence in my mind echoed louder than any words could. He didn’t care. He didn’t even care enough to say something, anything.

Instead, I felt the mating bond between us that had once been so strong weakened with every second that passed.

‘Is there even love for all of these 10 years?’ I couldn’t help but ask myself.

When I finally arrived at the infirmary, I stumbled. Before I collapsed, I barely made it to the nearest chair. The pack doctor, Lady Greta Howell immediately rushed over to me. Her eyes widened in concern.

“Alexandra, what happened?“ she asked, her hands gently guiding me to lie down.

“I fell … and … I think…“

I couldn’t finish the sentence. Saying it out loud made it all too real.

Greta didn’t need me to finish. She understood immediately, her expression softening with sympathy. She worked quickly, examining me with a careful hand. After a few minutes, she stepped back, her face confirming what I already knew.

“I’m so sorry, Alexandra,“ she said quietly.

I closed my eyes, the weight of her words crashing down on me.

It was gone. The baby was gone. The child I had longed for, dreamed of, for so many years, was gone.

Charles didn’t even know. Even worse, the Alpha didn’t even care. Tears quietly fell from my eyes.

My wolf, Lydia, howled sadly inside of me. Clearly, she wished to take over my body, making me shift into my wolf form. However, she knew that I wasn’t strong enough after my miscarriage.

‘That man is supposed to be our mate, Alexandra! He betrayed us!’ Lydia shouted in rage.

As for me, I just stayed on the bed in silence, my mind racing. For so long, I had tried to ignore the signs as I tried to convince myself that Charles still loved me. I still tried to think to myself that we could still have the life we had planned. But the truth slapped me harshly.

Charles had moved on. The Alpha had chosen to be with Hailey. I was nothing more than an afterthought to him. It might seem like a duty that he had grown tired of fulfilling. With the loss of our child, I realized I had no reason to stay.

“Thank you,“ I responded to the pack doctor calmly, but I was sure that she could hear how hollow my voice was.

Even though my body was aching and my heart broken, I left the infirmary. After all, I had made up my mind for one thing. I wasn’t going to stay here any longer, waiting for Charles to notice me, waiting for him to care.

It was time for me to go home.

‘I’m going home,’ I told myself.

For weeks, I couldn’t even sleep a wink. I had lost the baby that I had been waiting for. Why was fate so cruel to me? What did I do to deserve this kind of fate?

Charles hadn’t even known about the pregnancy, so he didn’t even know about the miscarriage. The Alpha had no idea about the burden I had been carrying. Besides, there was no point to it. After all, the man I thought I loved wasn’t the same man anymore.

Lydia, my wolf, had been saying the same thing over and over again, ‘Let’s leave this pack, Alexandra! The Alpha doesn’t deserve us for abandoning us!’

I knew from the deepest part of my heart that I agreed with her. The truth was that I had been thinking of going back to my pack, the Silver Arrow Pack. However, would they accept me? I was a female who couldn’t even inherit the Alpha position of my father, Alpha Addison Hale.

Yet, I knew that my place was no longer here. I had to leave this place permanently. The Alpha no longer loved me, so what was the point of staying here? He already had the Beta who might be turning into his Luna even though I had spent 10 years working hard to help this pack grow.

“I miss my pack,” I muttered quietly.

As I was deep into my train of thought, the door to my room was creaked open.

Charles entered my room. The Alpha looked tired with his dark hair damp with sweat from training. Yet, he still carried that air of authority even in his exhaustion. After all, this man was the Alpha who could command a room with a single look.

“Alexandra,“ he said, his voice softer than usual.

However, that wasn’t something I cared about.

The man talked again, “I haven’t seen you around much these past few days.“

I straightened my back as I refused to let him see how much his absence had affected me, so I responded coolly, “I’ve been busy taking care of things.“

He raised an eyebrow, clearly not convinced as he kept asking, “Too busy to watch my training? You always come.“

“I had other things to do,“ I said curtly, moving to the window and pretending to be interested in the view.

There was a pretty long silence. I could feel him studying me, trying to figure out what had changed. What he didn’t realize was that everything had changed.

‘The moment you betrayed me, Charles. You’ve changed everything between us,’ I told myself.

“You’ve been distant. Is something wrong?“ Charles asked with a harsher voice as if he was testing me.

I turned to face him, my hands clenched at my sides, as I asked him back, “Why would anything be wrong, Alpha Charles? You seem to be doing just fine with Beta Hailey, aren’t you?“

His eyes narrowed slightly, seemingly noticed that I was upset.

The Alpha coldly said, “I don’t like the way you’re talking to me, Alexandra. Hailey is my Beta. I need her to be by my side.“

When I heard his response, I almost laughed. Charles never liked it when things weren’t going his way. For years, I had been careful because I was betrothed to him as a promise of alliance between my pack and his pack. But those days were over.

“I’m just tired. Please excuse me now. I’m going to bed,“ I said, brushing past him toward the door.

“Wait. You’ve been avoiding me. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but this isn’t like you,“ he said as his hand caught my wrist.

At that moment, I froze. The warmth of his touch became a cruel reminder of the man I thought I knew. For the first time in 10 years, I chose to go against him.

I jerked my wrist off from his touch before I responded to him nonchalantly, “Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.“

The words hung in the air between us. After that, something surprising happened. I saw a flicker of doubt in his eyes. But Charles quickly masked it with that Alpha arrogance that he always wore so well.

“I know you better than anyone,“ he said with his voice low and commanding as if he tried to scare me like what happened in the past.

Alas, the Alpha had no idea that I would no longer wish to serve him.

The man then said in a rather moving tone, “Whatever this is, it’s just a phase. You’ll get over it.“

When I heard his response, I could only step back as I shook my head slightly. Charles would never understand. The Alpha had no idea how his betrayal of me, my wolf, and our baby had changed me. At this point, I made up my mind.

‘He’ll pay the price of his betrayal,’ Lydia said what I had been keeping in my heart.

I agreed with my wolf wholeheartedly. Soon, this man would pay the consequences of his betrayal. Then, he would realize that it would be too late.

“I’m going to bed,“ I repeated, turning away from him.

This time, I didn’t wait for a response from Charles. I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him for another minute. Before the Alpha could respond, I closed the door.

My mind was made up. I had to leave. Charles might not notice it, but we were already over. There was nothing left for me here, nothing but pain and betrayal.

Eventually, I decided to wander through the pack grounds as I tried to clear my head. After all, I needed the courage to go back to my pack after 10 years of leaving them. Would they accept me again?

“I hope they would,” I muttered again as I kept walking.

The autumn air was crisp, carrying with it the scent of fallen leaves and earth. But even the beauty of the changing season couldn’t lift the heaviness in my chest. Everywhere I went, I heard the whispers.

Even as I passed a group of she-wolves, they abruptly stopped their conversation. Their eyes were focusing on me. I could feel their pity even when they greeted me with facades of respect.

“Poor Lady Alexandra … she has been serving here for 10 years, but Alpha Charles hasn’t even married her,” a she-wolf whispered.

Another she-wolf added, “Yeah, it seems the Alpha has been spending time with the Beta. I think they’re having an affair! Poor Lady Alexandra.”

While they thought I couldn’t hear them, I could hear them very well. It really upset me. After all, I wasn’t some fragile lady.

Somehow, there was a part of me that wanted to prove that I was strong. Without further ado, I walked to the training ground. However, I quickly stopped when I smelled a familiar scent.

It was Beta Hailey’s scent. Then, I was proven correct. Hailey was there with my fiance, Charles. Both of them were looking more like a couple compared to me and the Alpha. The view really broke my spirit, but I knew that I had to stand tall.

Lydia immediately got upset as she said inside me, ‘Alexandra, let’s show that woman her place! She’s a Beta yet she dares to think that she’ll be the Luna.’

I told her, ‘Calm down, Lydia. We need to keep our composure.’

After that, I walked to meet Charles and Hailey. These two people had torn my life apart, so I would never let them think that they were free of consequence. In fact, I wanted to tell them that I wasn’t afraid of them. They were the ones who needed to be afraid of me.

“Alexandra, you finally come here. It’s been a while since I saw you,” Charles said after he looked shocked when he saw me, his own fiance.

“Of course, Alpha. I’m busy taking care of things. Besides, the Beta seems to keep you busy, right?” I responded nonchalantly.

Hailey responded defensively, “Mind your tongue! The Alpha and I have been busy taking care of things instead of someone who has been staying inside for weeks.”

“And you should mind your tongue too, Beta, when I worked much harder for 10 years,” I coolly retorted as I looked at her with disgust.

The Beta quickly shut her mouth because she knew that she was being watched. Nevertheless, the slick woman knew that she could get the Alpha to pick her side. As I expected, my own fiance looked at me angrily.

“You should be careful with what you say, Lady Alexandra,” he coldly told me using his Alpha voice.

While everyone might seem to be scared when he used his Alpha voice, I was an Alpha’s daughter. Not to mention, my pack’s status was more powerful compared to this pack. So, his Alpha voice didn’t really affect me.

“And you should be careful with what you say, Alpha, when I’m helping you to expand this pack,” I coldly said, brushing off his Alpha voice despite the pressure in my head.

Charles seemed to be shocked when I didn’t respond to his Alpha voice. When the Alpha was about to stop me, I calmly walked away. I could feel everyone’s intense gaze all over me as I walked away.

Initially, I would be scared of them because I wanted to preserve the alliance. This time, it was different. Frankly, I didn’t care what anyone thought. After all, I was done pretending.

Charles could think whatever he wanted, but this was no facade. I was leaving this pack no matter what. There was nothing he could say or do that would stop me.

‘I’ll never let them win over me,’ I told myself, which was responded by Lydia who agreed wholeheartedly as she howled loudly.

I sat by the window in our quarters, staring out at the darkening sky. A storm was coming, I could feel it in the air. But the storm inside me had already begun.

On the table before me was a letter that was still unopened. However, I knew the writer very well. After all, the writer was my father. I had recognized my father’s handwriting the moment I saw it.

For the past few weeks, I had written to him, pouring my heart out onto paper.

I hadn’t given him the full truth about what happened, especially the thing regarding Charles being unfaithful to me with Hailey and my miscarriage. But I had told him enough to make him know what I had been feeling. So, I hoped my father would be happy to receive me back.

‘What if my father refuses to accept me, Lydia?’ I asked my wolf as I looked at the unopened letter sent by my father.

Lydia responded to me calmly, ‘No, he’s your father. He knows what you’ve been going through. Open the letter now, Alexandra. Let’s face it together.’

My wolf’s response had given me the courage that I needed. After a pretty long time, I finally braced myself to open the letter. I couldn’t help but hold the letter with trembling hands. To be frank, a part of me was terrified to read it.

My father had always been a man of few words. However, his words carried weight when he spoke,. What would he say? Would he tell me to stay? Would he advise me to hold on, to fix what was broken? Or would he confirm what I had been too afraid to admit for years?

Eventually, I broke the seal and unfolded the letter. Then, my eyes scanned the whole letter. I quietly read them.

[My dearest Alexandra,

I have received your letters. My dear, I can feel your heartache with each word you’ve written. You are my daughter, so I know you better than anyone. I know your strength, your spirit, and I know when something is wrong.

If the betrothal is no longer what it was meant to be, if Charles no longer values the woman I raised, then I will not stand by and watch you suffer. The doors of the Silver Arrow Pack are always open to you, Alexandra.

You are my daughter, and your place is with those who love and respect you.

Come home, if your heart tells you it is time. I will be waiting.

With love,

Your father]

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

Although the words were simple, they hit me harder than I had expected. My father, who was always the pillar of strength, told me that I didn’t have to stay. The Alpha of the Silver Arrow Pack told me that I didn’t have to keep pretending.

The relief was overwhelming to me. For the first time in weeks, I felt the weight on my chest begin to lift.

‘Thank you, Moon Goddess,’ I quietly prayed in my mind.

I folded the letter carefully before placing it back on the table. My father would be waiting for me. The Silver Arrow Pack had always been my home and it would welcome me back with open arms.

Still, doubts appeared in my mind.

Could I really do it? Could I really leave the Black Rose Pack, leave Charles, after all these years? I had given him ten years of my life. But what had he given me in return? Betrayal. Neglect.

Yet, what convinced me to finally leave was the final straw.

The rogue attack came at dusk. It happened so fast that I barely had time to react. One moment, I was walking across the courtyard, trying to clear my head after reading my father’s letter, and the next, the warning bell rang through the air.

For a second, I froze before I snapped back into reality. I could see that the pack members were already rushing toward the gates for protection while warriors shifted into their wolf forms. We had to prepare for the worst case.

My attention was on Charles who was focusing on protecting the pack. For a moment, I felt that old familiar pang of pride. The Alpha looked like the Alpha he was meant to be, commanding, strong. But that feeling quickly dissipated when I saw her.

Hailey.

The Beta was standing beside him, so close that their arms brushed as they moved. I clenched my fists as my anger bubbled to the surface. There was no reason for her to be there. She wasn’t a warrior as she was the Beta. Her place was with the others, strategizing, and organizing.

Instead, there she was with Charles.

But I knew that this wasn’t the time for jealousy.

The first wave of rogues crashed through the gates. Chaos erupted. Charles charged into the fray with the warriors as he shifted into his wolf form, Gerion.

Meanwhile, I was focusing on directing children, pregnant she-wolves, and the elderly to our shelter. Unfortunately, the fight had gone very badly. Everyone panicked.

Just when I was about to help a young she-wolf, I saw one of the rogues’ wolves charging straight toward me. Immediately, I sent the young she-wolf to safety by directing the wolf to chase after me instead of her.

Without further ado, I shifted into Lydia as I ran as fast as I could. However, this rogue was even faster than me. Not long after that, he already cornered me.

I couldn’t help but howl, hoping that Charles would see me. That he would come to my aid. He had to.

We were mates, weren’t we? Even after everything that happened and even after all the distance between us, surely he wouldn’t let me be killed by some rogue while he stood by.

As I howled at him, his wolf finally came. When I thought that he had come for me, I quickly realized that I was wrong. The Alpha didn’t turn to me. Instead, he turned to Hailey.

After that, I watched in stunned silence as he rushed to Hailey’s wolf form, Dyana, and pushed her out of another rogue who attacked her. His body shielded hers. They tumbled to the ground together. Then, I saw the way he held her as his eyes went wide with concern.

Unfortunately, it made my protection loose. The rogue that had targeted me attacked me when I loosened my protection. His claws pierced my arm.

It was painful, but it wasn’t nearly as deep as the pain I felt watching Charles who chose to protect Hailey instead of me. Seeing him choose her over me right in front of my very own eyes was the final confirmation I needed. I had no place here. Not anymore.

The rogue lunged again, but one of the warriors came to my rescue this time. The warrior, Lucas Dunwell, was someone I knew. He often came to me to seek medication when I helped Greta. Surely, it was him trying to repay the favor I had done to me.

Yet, I barely registered the fight around me. My focus was on Charles and Hailey. Without a second thought, I turned and fled back to the castle.

As soon as I reached the castle, I shifted back into my human form. Even though my arm throbbing with pain, I didn’t care. I would never give Charles the satisfaction of seeing my tears.

I didn’t hesitate once I was back in my quarters. Without further ado, I grabbed a bag and began throwing my things into it. There were clothes, a few keepsakes, and the letters I had written to my father. Frankly, there was no time to pack carefully.

After all, I needed to leave before anyone realized what I was doing.

As I packed my belongings, my eyes landed on the engagement ring Charles had given me all those years ago. I pulled it off my finger quickly before placing it on the table beside a piece of parchment. Then, I sat down and began to write. I wanted to pour out the last of my heart to him.

[Charles,

This is the last time I will write to you. I am breaking off our engagement.

I cannot continue living a life where I am second to someone else, where I am nothing but an afterthought behind you and Beta Hailey. You may not notice or pretend not to notice that the whole pack knows about you and Hailey. But I know well. I deserved someone better. I deserved your love, your loyalty, and your protection. But you gave all of that to someone else.

By the time you read this, I will be gone. I am returning to my father’s pack where I know I will be valued.

Do not come after me. I wish you all the best. Goodbye.

Alexandra]

After I finished writing the letter, I folded it and left it beside the ring. As I stood and grabbed my bag, a strange sense of peace washed over me. This was it. This was the end.

Without looking back, I left the room quietly. The fight was still going on. After I made sure the weak ones had been left safely with Greta, I left the Black Rose Pack behind.