The Alpha Who Chose Her Over Me

I don’t smoke.

Kyson does.

I used to think about getting the Alpha to quit, but that morning, I found myself in the living room at dawn, glaring at the ridiculous spiced honey cake on the table, topped with two adorable little figures. I picked up a cigarette from the coffee table and lit it.

Smoking is awful. I barely took a puff before I was coughing my lungs out, tears streaming uncontrollably down my face.

The sound of my coughing woke Kyson. He emerged from the bedroom, his broad frame filling the doorway, his pale face shadowed with exhaustion. His dark eyes narrowed at the cigarette butt on the coffee table. "Kalani, are you smoking?"

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Hair a mess, face ghostly—a picture of a woman on the edge. Maybe that's what I was becoming. An Omega, broken and discarded, clinging to the remnants of a bond that was unraveling.

Turning to the Alpha, I asked, "Where were you last night?"

"One of my pack members fell ill, and I took them to the hospital," he said, his voice flat, commanding, the way an Alpha’s should be. But it lacked the warmth it once held for me.

"Did it take all night? Don’t they have family or friends?"

Kyson was silent. His classic move when he didn’t want to lie but didn’t want to tell the truth either. The silence of an Alpha who knew his word was law, who knew I had no right to question him.

I pulled out my phone and opened a video. "This pack member?"

He glanced at the screen, his muscular frame tensing visibly. After a moment, he nodded. "Yes."

My mind went blank, a dull hum filling my head. Unsteady, I stumbled backward, hitting the wall.

Kyson reached out to steady me, his grip firm, but I pulled away. I looked at his long fingers—the same ones that once led me down the aisle, but last night, they held on tight to someone else. Someone who wasn’t his mate.

Tears slipped silently down my cheeks, landing on his hand.

"Alpha," I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself, "when did it start?"

He stayed silent. Once again, that silence. The silence of an Alpha who didn’t owe me an explanation, who held all the power in our bond.

I looked up, searching his face, but he avoided my gaze. We stood there, frozen in the harsh bathroom light, the tension between us as thick as the Alpha’s aura.

It wasn't until I swayed again, nearly losing my balance, that Kyson moved to support me. "Nothing happened; you’re reading too much into it," he tried to assure me, his voice softer now, but still edged with authority.

Kyson had never lied to me before, so his attempt was awkward and unconvincing. An Alpha’s word was supposed to be absolute, but even he couldn’t mask the cracks in our bond.

I closed my eyes briefly. "Alpha, from day one, I told you I couldn't handle being deceived. You can hurt me, but don’t lie to me."

The tears wouldn’t stop falling as Kyson reached out to wipe them away, his fingers cold against my skin.

After a while, he nodded. "A year ago," he admitted, voice raspy. "A year ago, I felt something."

"I'm sorry, Kalani. I couldn’t control it."

His apology hung in the air, heavy and hollow. The Alpha, the man who was supposed to protect me, to cherish me, had betrayed the bond the Moon Goddess had forged between us. And now, in the dim light of our home, I felt the weight of his betrayal pressing down on me, crushing the last remnants of the love I had for him.