I Rejected the Alpha Who Killed Me

Five years ago, I tore my inner wolf out of my soul to save Alpha Floyd's life. In return, he treated me like a "Wolfless freak" and made me a slave in my own pack. To please his mistress, he pressed glowing coals laced with silver directly into my palms, burning the hands that had once woven protection spells for him. Then, he watched with cold indifference as I drowned in the freezing Moon Pool, sneering that I was just "being dramatic." It wasn't until the autopsy that he saw the surgical scars on my heart. He finally realized I hadn't lost my wolf—I had given it to him. Consumed by madness and guilt, Floyd sacrificed his own soul in the Silver Dungeon, begging the Goddess to turn back time. He wanted a second chance to worship me. When I opened my eyes, I was eighteen again, back at the Academy. Floyd stood before me, his eyes ancient and filled with tears. "I remember everything," he choked out, reaching for me with a trembling hand. "I came back for you, my Luna." I looked at the man who had murdered me in the name of love. "You think suicide buys forgiveness?" I stepped back, grabbing the hand of the quiet Beta student he used to despise. "I reject you, Floyd Meyers." "And this time, I'm choosing the man who would never let me burn." Chapter 1 Elizebeth POV: The snow wasn't white. Not anymore. It was a slurry of mud and the faint, pinkish smear of my own blood. I knelt in the backyard of the Alpha's mansion. The winter wind in the Blood Moon Pack territory was a physical assault, slicing right through the threadbare cotton of my shirt. As an Omega—the dirt beneath the pack's boots—fur coats were a forbidden luxury. My fingers were stiff, the tips turning a concerning shade of blue as I clutched the bone needle. "Fix it," the butler had sneered, tossing the crimson velvet at my head. "Alpha Floyd's orders. If the Luna's coronation robe isn't flawless by dawn, you starve for the week." I shivered, but the cold was the least of my problems. Beneath my collar sat the Silver Suppression Ring. It was a tight metal choker laced with trace amounts of silver. It burned constantly, a dull, sickening heat that masked my scent and capped my energy. It was the tax I paid to hide the truth. To hide that I was a Wolfless freak. Five years ago, I wasn't this. I was Elizebeth Rice, a prodigy, a White Wolf. But when Floyd lay dying, his soul shredded by a Rogue ambush, I did the unthinkable. I performed the Wolf Essence Sacrifice. I tore my inner wolf out of my soul and poured it into him. I saved him. And in return, I became this. A waste of space. "Look at her," a voice dripped with venom from the balcony. I didn't look up. Jaylah Ryan. The Beta female crowning herself Luna tomorrow. "Looks like a frozen rat," a deeper voice rumbled. My chest seized. Floyd. My Alpha. My Mate. Though he refused to acknowledge the bond with a mute, Wolfless Omega, my soul still screamed for him. His rejection wasn't just emotional; it was a physical ache in my bones. "She ruined the robe on purpose, Floyd," Jaylah whined, draping herself over him. "She's jealous. The Oracle was right—she's a curse." "I... I didn't," I rasped. My voice was like sandpaper. "Silence." He didn't shout. He didn't have to. The Alpha's Command slammed into me like a gravity well. My forehead cracked against the freezing ground, my body locking up in total paralysis. "You will fix it, Elizebeth," Floyd said, his voice devoid of the warmth that used to define our childhood. "And you will do it out here. Stain it, and I'll have you whipped." The glass doors slid shut, sealing away the warmth. I was alone with the wind. I picked up the needle. My hands shook. The tear was jagged—Jaylah's handiwork, obviously—but I had to mend it. Stitch by agonizing stitch. Every movement tugged at the silver burns on my neck. I wasn't just sewing cloth; I was sewing the banner of his union to another woman. I remembered the tapestry I once wove for him, infused with protection spells. He used to sleep with it. Now, I was less than the mud on his shoes. Hours bled into the night. The moon rose, full and mocking. Deep inside, in the hollow grave where my wolf used to be, I felt a phantom twitch. Why do you stay? I finished the last stitch as the eastern sky turned the color of a bruise. The robe was perfect. My fingers were raw meat, but the velvet was pristine. I tried to stand. My legs folded. I collapsed into a snowdrift beneath the balcony. The darkness rushed in, warmer than the Alpha's heart.