The Alpha's Regret: Rejecting His True Luna

I sat in the Alpha suite, convincing myself I had done the right thing.

I had just rejected Alex, my fated mate. She was a weak Omega, and my pack needed a strong Luna like Iliana.

But then, I overheard my twin children whispering in the backseat of the car.

"My tummy hurts, Kenny," my daughter whimpered. "It's the special juice Auntie Iliana gave us. It tastes like fire."

My blood ran cold. I demanded a toxicology report immediately.

The results nearly brought me to my knees: Wolfsbane.

The woman I had placed on a pedestal, the woman I broke my bond for, had been slowly poisoning my heirs to clear her path to power.

I executed Iliana’s punishment and immediately turned the convoy around, racing toward the Silver Moon territory where Alex had taken refuge.

I clutched the old silver engagement ring in my sweating palm. I was the Alpha. We were fated. I could fix this. She would forgive me once she knew the truth.

But when I arrived, I didn't find a broken woman waiting for her savior.

I found a Goddess.

Alex stood on the dais, her skin glowing with the legendary bioluminescence of the White Wolf bloodline. Standing protectively beside her was Daniel Sosa, the most ruthless Alpha in the region.

I rushed forward, falling to my knees and holding up the ring.

"Alex, please! I made a mistake! Come home!"

The crowd went silent. I waited for her to cry, to run into my arms.

Instead, she looked at me with eyes devoid of love.

"You didn't just break my heart, Gavyn," she said coldly. "You broke the sacred law."

Then, she turned to Daniel.

"Watch, Gavyn," she whispered, her voice carrying on the wind. "This is what real love looks like."

She pulled Daniel down and kissed him, and the world exploded in silver light, sealing a new bond right before my eyes.

Chapter 1

Gavyn POV

The silence in my head was louder than any scream I had ever heard.

I sat on the edge of the bed in the Alpha suite, pressing the heels of my hands against my throbbing temples. It had been hours since Alex had walked out of the Pack House-hours since she had turned her back on me with that infuriatingly calm, detached expression.

I reached out for the bond, desperate for contact.

Alex.

I pushed the thought through the Mind-Link, expecting the usual warm, golden hum of her presence. I expected her to answer, perhaps with a sharp barb of annoyance or a wave of hurt, but present nonetheless.

Nothing.

It was like shouting into a void. The Mind-Link, the sacred telepathic connection that binds every wolf in the pack-and especially Mates-was dead silent. It wasn't just blocked; it felt severed. Hollow. Like a limb had been amputated without anesthesia.

"She's just throwing a tantrum," I muttered to the empty room, trying to convince myself as much as the walls.

The air smelled stale. It used to smell like her-vanilla and fresh rain. Now, Iliana's cloying rose perfume was seeping into the fibers of the carpet and the sheets, masking the fading scent of my true Mate.

I stood up, pacing the room like a caged animal. Why wasn't she answering? An Omega, even a Luna, cannot simply shut out her Alpha. It goes against our biology. Unless she was too far away. Or unless...

No. I refused to finish that thought.

The door creaked open. Iliana slipped inside, her face a mask of carefully constructed worry. She was wearing one of Alex's silk robes. It hung loosely on her frame, the fabric looking foreign and wrong against her skin.

"Gavyn?" Her voice was soft, trembling with a practiced fragility. "Is she back yet?"

I stopped pacing and looked at her, my eyes narrowing. "No."

Iliana sighed, walking over to wrap her arms around my waist. She rested her head against my chest, seeking comfort, but my wolf didn't purr. My wolf was pacing inside my chest, agitated, scratching at my ribs, rejecting her proximity.

"I'm so worried about her," Iliana said, sniffing delicately. "But... maybe it's for the best, Gavyn. She said she wanted freedom. Maybe the responsibilities of being a Luna were too much for her. She is just an Omega, after all."

Her words were poison wrapped in honey, designed to soothe while they rotted me from the inside.

"She is the mother of my children," I snapped, recoiling and pulling away from her.

Iliana stumbled back slightly, a flash of hurt crossing her eyes. Or was it annoyance? It was gone too fast to tell.

"I know, baby," she cooed, reaching for me again, undeterred. "I just hate seeing you in pain. She left you. She abandoned the pack. If she truly loved you, would she have walked away just because of... us?"

I gritted my teeth, the muscles in my jaw jumping. "We didn't do anything wrong, Iliana. We are fated. The Moon Goddess made a mistake matching me with her first."

"Exactly," Iliana smiled, tracing a finger down my chest. "She's just an obstacle to our happiness. Let her go. You have me. And I will love Kennith and Kaelynn like my own."

I looked at her-really looked at her. For a second, the image of Alex standing firm in the face of my rejection flashed in my mind. Her eyes hadn't been wet with tears; they had been cold. Dead. A mirror reflecting my own cruelty back at me.

"Get out," I said, my voice low and dangerous.

Iliana blinked, stunned. "What?"

"I said get out. I need to think."

She bit her lip, looking like she wanted to argue, but the Alpha aura radiating off me hit her like a physical wave, forcing her to submit. She dipped her head and scurried out of the room.

I turned back to the window, staring out at the dark forest line.

Alex, answer me! I roared into the Mind-Link, putting the full weight of my Alpha command behind it.

Static. Just cold, empty static.

Alex POV

The wind whipped my hair across my face as I trudged down the side of the highway. I had left the car miles back. It belonged to the pack. I didn't want anything that belonged to Gavyn Dunlap.

My finger felt light. Too light.

I stopped walking and looked down at my hand. The ring was gone. I had tossed it into a muddy stream three miles back-the silver band that had symbolized my slavery, not my marriage.

My chest ached. It wasn't a sharp pain anymore; it was a dull, throbbing bruise where the Mate Bond used to be. He had rejected me. And I had accepted it. The bond was shredding, slowly dying, bleeding my energy dry with every step I took away from him.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a burner phone Elara, the Elder who helped me escape, had slipped into my bag.

I answered it immediately. "Elara?"

"Luna... Alex," Elara's voice was breathless, frantic. "You need to see this. I sent you a file. Don't let anyone see you watching it."

"What is it?"

"Just watch. I have to go. Iliana is watching the communication lines."

The line went dead.

I ducked into a small, greasy roadside diner, the neon sign buzzing overhead, and slid into the back booth. I ordered a coffee just to keep the waitress away, then opened the file on the phone.

It was a video recording. Grainy, taken from a hidden angle in the pack nursery.

My breath hitched. Kennith and Kaelynn. My babies. They were sitting on the floor, playing with blocks. They looked smaller, thinner than when I had last seen them only two days ago.

Then, she walked in. Iliana.

In the video, Iliana kicked over Kennith's tower of blocks.

"Stupid brat," she hissed. The audio was crackly, but the venom in her voice was unmistakable.

Kennith looked up, his little lip trembling. "I want Mommy."

Iliana grabbed his arm, yanking him up so hard I saw him wince. "Mommy isn't here! Mommy left because she doesn't love you! She hates you!"

"No!" Kaelynn screamed, rushing to her brother's defense. "Mommy loves us!"

Iliana backhanded Kaelynn.

The sound of the slap echoed through the tiny speaker of the phone like a gunshot. Kaelynn fell back, clutching her cheek, silent tears streaming down her face.

"If you mention that useless Omega one more time," Iliana snarled, leaning down into their faces, "I will have your father throw you in the dungeon. Do you hear me?"

The video cut to black.

I sat there, frozen. The coffee in front of me had gone cold. My hands were shaking so violently I nearly dropped the phone onto the Formica table.

She hit them. She told them I abandoned them.

And Gavyn? Where was Gavyn?

A new clip played automatically. It was audio only.

"They are crying for her again, Gavyn," Iliana's voice whined.

"Just buy them new toys," came Gavyn's voice-dismissive, cold, and utterly damning. "I don't have time for this. I need to find Alex. She can't just disappear with pack secrets."

"She's not worth it," Iliana pressed. "Besides, the twins are annoying. They remind me of her."

"They are my heirs, Iliana. Deal with it. Just keep them quiet."

Keep them quiet.

I threw up. Right there on the floor of the diner.

The waitress rushed over, towel in hand. "Miss? Are you okay?"

I stood up, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. A fire was igniting in my belly, burning away the grief. It wasn't the warm spark of a mate bond. It was an inferno of pure, unadulterated rage.

"I'm fine," I rasped, my voice sounding like grinding stones.

I wasn't running away anymore. Not without my children.

I was going back. And I was going to burn their world to the ground.