Her Pack Betrayed Our Fated Bond

Stepping out of the forbidden territory, I cradled Lucia firmly in my arms, her body limp and cold against my chest. My expression remained stoic as Nixon recounted the events of the past three months in my absence.

It turned out that shortly after I left the pack, Alpha Sophie had brought a young girl named Jasmine into the fold. Sophie claimed she felt a strong connection with Jasmine and decided to take her under her wing as her protégé. Being chosen as the Alpha’s protégé was no small honor, and it was clear Sophie held Jasmine in high regard.

Not long after Jasmine joined the pack, she began to accuse Lucia of targeting her. She claimed that during pack training, Lucia had intentionally injured her shoulder during a sparring session. Then, a piece of clothing Sophie had gifted to Jasmine mysteriously appeared in Lucia’s room. The final straw came when, during a pack run, Jasmine returned in a disheveled state, claiming Lucia had pushed her into the path of a rogue wolf.

Sophie was furious. She ordered Lucia to be confined to the pack’s disciplinary cells, a cold and desolate place meant to teach a lesson through isolation. But that wasn’t the end of it. Jasmine later visited Lucia in her cell, only to emerge with a severe injury to her abdomen. The pack whispered that Lucia had attacked her in a fit of rage.

I cut Nixon off mid-sentence, my voice icy. “Such clumsy manipulation. Are you seriously telling me no one saw through it?”

Nixon hesitated, his voice tight. “Alpha Kaeli, I know you’re close to Lucia, but these are the facts as everyone witnessed them. You can’t just—”

I didn’t let him finish. “So, everyone’s blind, is that it?”

Nixon fell silent, his expression uneasy.

I adjusted Lucia’s body in my arms, brushing a strand of hair from her pale face, my expression hardening. “What happened to her strength? Her wolf? Where is it?”

Lucia had always been spirited, and though she had a playful streak, I had made sure she trained rigorously. Her wolf, Daisy, had shown immense promise. But now, her body felt hollow, as if something vital had been ripped out of her.

A sickening suspicion took root in my mind.

Nixon’s voice was matter-of-fact, as if he were stating the obvious. “She injured Jasmine, Alpha. It was only fair that Lucia’s wolf was killed to punish her. It’s what she deserved.”

His words ignited a fury in me that I could no longer contain. In one swift motion, I kicked Nixon with enough force to send him sprawling across the ground. The impact left him gasping for air, unable to rise.

“Alpha, why—” he choked out, his voice laced with pain and confusion.

But I wasn’t done. My eyes snapped to the figure who had just appeared behind him.

Jasmine.

The girl stood there, her expression a mix of fear and defiance. It seemed I wouldn’t have to seek her out after all—she had come to me.