Chapter 1 Rejecting My Alpha

• POV: Chloe
• The residual tearing pain in my chest still felt like it was ripping through my nerves.
• I bit down hard on my lower lip, looking down at my legs. They were straight, whole, humming with a healthy, predatory vitality. Hot tears finally smashed against the cold tile floor.
• Careless whispers from a few pack guards drifted from around the corner.
• "Look at that. The low-ranking half-blood is delivering her little bone broth to the Alpha again."
• "The Alpha saved her life on a border patrol, and now she actually thinks she's the future Luna. Pathetic."
• "Heh. If she knew the Alpha never even pops the lid off those thermoses before his Beta tosses them into the incinerator, her face would be priceless."
• My knuckles went white, the metal handle of the thermos digging deep into my palm.
• In my past life, accidentally overhearing this conversation made me snap. I went feral in the hallway. I shredded their uniforms with my claws and screamed hysterically in front of the pack's upper echelon.
• The Shadow Pack turned it into a running joke. Everyone mocked Damian for being chained to a crazy, classless she-wolf.
• In the end, Damian used his Alpha Command to ban me from the Pack House forever.
• But now? I raised my hand and calmly dropped the thermos into the recycling chute next to me.
• *Thud.*
• The heavy thud made the two guards freeze. They snapped their heads toward me.
• "You don't need to whisper anymore," I said, my face completely blank. "Your high-and-mighty Alpha will be a single man today."
• The two warriors stood frozen, their pupils dilating. They didn't look embarrassed about being caught, nor did they look happy.
• Instead, their beast instincts kicked in. They smelled something profoundly dangerous rolling off me—a chill that seeped into their marrow.
• The next second, a voice dripping with absolute, bloodline-crushing authority dropped behind me.
• "Leaving your post during a shift to gossip about your Alpha. Go to the border mines. Thirty lashes."
• The air in the hallway instantly froze. The warriors went pale as sheets, dropping to one knee before scrambling away like frightened pups.
• A cold, strong hand clamped down on my wrist, dragging me straight into the top-floor Alpha's office without a word.
• The heavy soundproof door clicked shut, and Damian let go.
• His face was shuttered. He expertly pulled a wet wipe soaked in cedar-scented neutralizer and meticulously wiped the fingers that had just touched me.
• "Patrol guards are crude and have loose lips. Don't take it to heart."
• I took a half-step back, my gaze landing on his deeply sculpted face. The face I had once willingly died for.
• A numb ache rippled through my chest.
• It had been far too long since I'd seen Damian this cold, restrained, and judging me from his pedestal.
• When we first met, I was a dying rogue, exiled by an enemy pack. He saved my life on a snowy patrol. I treated him like the only light in the dark, following him like a moth to a flame.
• Even after we established an unspoken courtship, his scent always carried a layer of unapproachable frost. I naively thought it was just the nature of a pureblood Alpha.
• Until that attack. Until I took the fatal silver shrapnel for him, losing my legs and my healing ability forever. From that moment, he became a different person—attentive, gentle, feeding me with his own hands.
• But the more careful he was, the more the darkness inside me grew.
• *Was it guilt? Or was it actually love?*
• That question chewed at my sanity every night. But in my past life, he never showed a hint of annoyance. He even bit his own wrist on a full moon, feeding me his precious Alpha blood. *"Chloe, the Moon Goddess is our witness. I will never abandon you."*
• I believed him. Until Vivian sent me that photo.
• Now, the gears of fate had reversed. It was time to wake up.
• I took a deep breath, meeting his dark, storm-gray eyes. "Damian, cancel our mating application. We're done."