Jasper
The past few weeks had been nothing but numbers and signatures. etings. Contracts. Endless paperwork.
On the surface,Stone Lake Pack was thriving again. Trade agreents were solidified,disputes resolved,finances stabilized.
From the outside,I was the Alpha who had everything under control.
But inside? I’d never felt more hollow.
Every eting without Freya was an echo. Every report she used to prepare felt heavier in my hands. I caught myself turning to her empty chair too often,expecting her calm,steady voice to cut through the noise,only to be t with silence.
Mia filled the space with perfu,drama,and shallow comntary. But she wasn’t Freya. She never would be.
That emptiness gnawed at —until Timothy slid a flash drive across my desk one evening.
"Alpha," he said quietly. "You should see this."
Security footage. Clear. Unmistakable.
Mia. Reed. The betrayal laid bare.
I stared at the screen,the truth burning through every fra. My chest clenched,not with surprise,but with fury. Because deep down,I’d known. I’d felt it every ti Freya looked at with those eyes full of things she never said. And I’d ignored it. I’d chosen wrong.
Regret sank its claws into . Sharp. rciless.
I had driven Freya away. I had let Mia poison against the only person who had ever been real.
That regret curdled into sothing darker. Sothing hotter.
Hatred.
Hatred for Mia’s lies. For my own blindness. For every mont she had stolen from and from Freya.
I would not be played again.
I’d never felt so cold inside.
So hollow.
And yet,rage seared through my veins like wildfire,relentless and scorching.
As I stared at Mia—the woman I once believed was fated for —all I saw now was a stranger. A venomous parasite,wrapped in silk and lies,who had systematically dismantled everything good in my life.
The security footage Timothy had shown looped endlessly in my mind. Her fake tears,her whispered manipulations,the way she’d slithered between truths and twisted them into weapons.
"Jasper,baby,this is all a misunderstanding," Mia cooed,tears shimring in those blue eyes I used to find so captivating. "That footage was doctored. You know Freya hates —she’d do anything to co between us."
I almost laughed.
My knuckles turned white as I clenched my fists. The wolf inside was a razor’s edge,snarling,ready to tear through the skin. This woman had made doubt Freya—Freya,the one person who never asked for anything in return. She’d turned into the very thing I despised: a weak,blind fool.
"Stop. Talking." My voice cut like ice,quiet and lethal. Mia recoiled as though the words had slapped her.
She’d never seen this version of before. The real Alpha—not the man she’d dressed in pink and dragged around like a prize.
Then she broke character.
Her gaze flicked toward the door Freya had exited earlier,and the hate that twisted her face made my stomach churn.
"This is all her fault," Mia spat,voice dripping venom. "That plain little nothing’s been obsessed with you since day one. She’s jealous. She’ll never have what we do—a true mate bond."
A chilling smile curved my lips as the truth slotted into place.
"What we have," I said,voice as still as death,"is nothing."
I stepped closer. She flinched.
"There never was a mate bond,was there,Mia?" I whispered,each word laced with contempt. "You rejected . Rember that?"
Her pupils contracted. Her mouth opened,closed,but no sound ca.
"All these years," I went on,"I thought I was broken. That I was weak for feeling the pull,for chasing a bond that wasn’t there. But the only thing I was—was manipulated."
I bared my teeth,not in a smile but a snarl.
"You played . And I let you."
Her face lost all color.
"Ti for so karma."
I seized her arm,fingers digging into soft flesh. She squealed,heels skidding uselessly across the polished floor as I dragged her toward the door.
"Jasper! Stop! You’re hurting !"
"Funny how you suddenly care about being hurt." I didn’t loosen my grip. "Did you care when you humiliated Freya? When you made her serve drinks at her own damn birthday party? When you poisoned everyone against her just because she outshone you by existing?"
She whimpered. Pathetic.
We reached the doors. My guards—loyal,stone-faced—were already waiting.
"You enjoy making people kneel,don’t you?" I said,thinking of the day Mia forced Freya to scrub spilled coffee in front of the board. "Then you can spend tonight on your knees."
I shoved her forward. The guards caught her roughly.
"She stays outside. All night. On her knees. If she moves,tries to leave,tries to call anyone—restrain her."
"You can’t do this!" Mia shrieked. "I’m your Luna!"
I turned,stared her down one final ti.
"No. You never were."
Then I stepped back inside and shut the door on her screams.
But the mont the silence fell,rage gave way to sothing worse.
Regret.
It hit like a collapsing building.
Freya’s face rose in my mind,uninvited and all-consuming. Those steady,intelligent eyes. The quiet strength behind every decision. The way she never once asked to be chosen,but always showed up anyway.
God,what a fool I’d been.
Eight years. She’d been the constant behind every success. She’d handled crises,balanced the board,protected the pack—and . And all I’d done was take.
I stalked to my car and slamd the door shut. The interior slled like Mia. Looked like Mia. Pink seat covers,cutesy plushies,her favorite snacks in every damn compartnt.
All the things Freya had sat beside in silence.
I let out a feral growl—and began tearing it all out.
The plushies,the snacks,the seat covers—I hurled them onto the concrete like garbage. But it wasn’t enough.
We’d spent nights in this car. Kisses stolen beneath the moonlight. Her breath fogging the windows. Her lips on mine. Her body curled into .
Now,it was just a hollow shell.
She’s gone. And you let her go.
Sothing inside cracked. I beat the dashboard until it split. Tore the leather from the seats. Shattered the mirror. When I was done,the car was unrecognizable.
But the ache inside was untouched.
I grabbed another vehicle from the pack garage and drove like a man possessed to my penthouse.
When I stepped inside,the final knife twisted in my chest.
Gone was the sleek,masculine interior Freya had helped design. In its place: floral drapes,pink candles,soft lighting,a pastel-colored nightmare.
She erased her. Mia had wiped every inch of Freya from my life.
Desperate,I tore through drawers,closets,shelves. Looking for sothing. Anything.
A mug. A hairpin. A scarf. Sothing to prove she’d been real.
Nothing.
Then,just as I turned toward the kitchen,sothing rolled from beneath the couch—a single,black hairpin. Simple. Sleek. Hers.
I sank to my knees.
Clutching that tiny piece of tal like it was sacred.
She’d left quietly,taken her dignity with her,and never looked back.
I had watched her pack. And said nothing.
And now I would have to live with that.
By the ti the sun began to rise,I was sitting amidst shattered glass and torn photographs,completely numb.
My assistant arrived,stepping carefully over the wreckage.
"Alpha Kane... we should head to the office. Luna Mia is still waiting."
His words barely registered.
Mia.
The source of all this rot.
If not for her,Freya might still be here. If not for her poison,I might have chosen better. Earlier.
"Take to the office," I said,my voice so raw it sounded like soone else’s.
And this ti,I wouldn’t stop until I made things right.
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