The Alpha Who Knelt Too Late

Lachlan helped her up from the floor. The disappointment in his eyes when he looked at me was palpable.

"It was wrong of Cora to covet your necklace. But how could you be so petty? To injure her with silver over such a small matter? If you had just given it to her, none of this would have happened. How can you ever be the Luna of this pack with a heart that small?"

So, the girl who stole from me—and used his Alpha's sigil as she pleased—she was fit to be the Luna of the Sterling Pack?

That day, he ordered me to kneel and apologize to Cora.

I refused.

Even when he compelled me with his Alpha command, I did not bow my head.

He sneered and said, "Letting a petty woman like you into my life was the biggest mistake I've ever made."

His words pierced my chest like a silver-laced blade.

When he banished me back to my own territory, I didn't argue. I packed nothing. I walked out of the headquarters in silence, the guards following behind me.

My heart had already shattered.

The Full Moon Celebration arrived.

Lachlan still hadn't received my gift.

He summoned a messenger and thrust an order into his hand. "Tell Rhiannon to come back. This has gone on long enough. Her birthday is in three days. We'll hold the bonding ceremony then."

The messenger set off for the Sinclair family's territory.

My family's territory bordered Ashenfang, but it was close to the headquarters. He returned in less than half a day, his face etched with unease.

"Alpha, Lady Sinclair refused the order. She said… unless you go to her yourself, she will never forgive you."

My soul floated above them, cold and numb.

I saw Cora's servants intercept the messenger just as he was leaving the headquarters' gates.

They spoke in low voices for a long time.

Then the messenger turned right back around—he never even made it to the Sinclair territory.

If he had gone, he would have seen the manor shrouded in mourning, my funeral already being prepared.

My family's old steward had already brought my body home.

All except for my head.

Lachlan knew nothing of this.

The messenger's lie ignited his fury.

"If she won't come back, then let her stay in her own territory."

The next morning, Cora burst into Lachlan's office, covered in blood mixed with moonpetal herbs.

"Alpha, I failed… I angered Rhiannon. She sent people to kill me. Don't blame her, it's all my fault."

Lachlan's eyes blazed with fire. He pulled her into his arms.

"Where is the healer? Go, now! If anything happens to Cora, none of you will live!"

Then, his face turned to ice.

"Bring me Rhiannon. Immediately. If she doesn't come and beg Cora for forgiveness, I will publicly desecrate the Sinclair family's sacred relic—the 'Ancestral Fang'."

The Ancestral Fang. The relic left by my father, Declan, the late leader of the Sinclair family.

I watched him, hollow.

Even as a soul, a tremor of anguish shook me.

But I was already dead.

How was I supposed to go and beg for forgiveness?

This time, the messenger did not linger. He galloped toward the Sinclair family's territory without stopping.

He returned with my mother, Eleonora.