My Alpha Mate Chose His Adopted Sister Over Me, So I Left Him

To help Rex Blackwood claim the Alpha title, I was forced to keep our relationship secret. As his mate, I waited for seven years, finally seeing the day Rex became Alpha. Only then did he announce he would hold the mating ceremony for me. At the ceremony, bonfires blazed high and everyone howled in celebration, but my heart plummeted. Just as we were about to be bonded, his adopted sister, Lilia Voss, shifted into wolf form and lunged at us. With one swipe of her claws, she knocked over the sacred fire basin, shredded the ceremonial wreath, and clamped her teeth onto the hem of his coat, whimpering. "Rex, you promised you'd only ever protect me." Rex immediately pulled his hand back and stroked the fur bristling along her spine, his eyes full of concern. Only then did he look at me. "Wendy, Lilia lost control of her shift again. "Let's put the ceremony on hold. We'll continue once she calms down." He said it as though it were the most natural thing in the world, as though I would always be standing right there, waiting for him. A sharp pain lanced through my chest. I fought down the wolf threatening to break free inside me and stared at him coldly. "Rex, tonight you either finish this ceremony or we're done for good. "Choose." Chapter 1 The year I turned eighteen and awakened my wolf, I saw Rex for the first time. He emerged from the depths of the snow forest, and the silver wolf inside me suddenly opened her eyes. The scent of pine flooded my senses, and a resonance deep in my soul shot through every nerve straight into my heart. My silver wolf growled with excitement in my mindscape. "It's him. "The fated mate the Moon Goddess chose for us." Rex's black wolf recognized me too. That night, our two wolves called out to each other through our bodies, and the mate bond connected us. But to help Rex secure the position of Alpha, we kept our relationship hidden. The former Alpha and the Council of Elders believed that revealing a mate would give his rivals a weakness to exploit. Rex promised me that once he had secured his place as Alpha, he would hold the mating ceremony in front of the entire pack and complete the mark. In seven years, we never did. Every full moon, the instinctive restlessness of our wolves and the longing born from the mate bond would peak. Several times, Rex had pressed his fangs to the side of my neck. His black wolf screamed at him to bite down, but every time, he forced himself to stop. "Just a little longer, Wendy. "I want every member of the pack to know that you're my only mate." Because of that promise, I waited seven full years. The day Rex claimed the Alpha title, he finally announced that he would hold the mating ceremony for me. The full moon hung high overhead. Pack members filled the sacred grounds with moonflowers and offered the first kill of the spring hunt to the Moon Goddess. Bonfires blazed. Warriors shifted into wolf form and howled at the sky, their voices rising and falling in chorus. Healer Martha Ellis stood beside the sacred fire, ready to witness the marking. Rex walked toward me in his ceremonial robes. His black wolf slammed against his mindscape with excitement, and through the mate bond, even I could feel its urgency and joy. Rex stopped in front of me and leaned toward me, his gaze fixed on the side of my neck. The black wolf kept urging him on. "Now. "Complete the mark. She's waited seven years for us." Rex leaned down, his hot breath brushing my skin. But just as his fangs were about to touch me, Lilia lunged forward. She released her gray wolf and shifted into partial wolf form. Claws tore through her skin, fangs jutted from her lips, and gray-brown fur sprouted wildly along her spine. She knocked over the sacred fire basin with one swipe, shredded the ceremonial wreath, and clamped her teeth onto the hem of Rex's coat. "Rex, you promised you'd only ever protect me." Rex's body visibly stiffened. His stance was still angled toward me, and his fingers instinctively reached for me. The black wolf crashed against his consciousness in a frenzy. "Don't turn around! "Complete the mark! "She is our fated mate!" But Lilia let out a strangled whimper. She trembled all over, her eyes rimmed with red, every strand of fur on her back standing on end, looking as though she might completely lose control at any moment. But between gasps, she darted a glance at Rex. Only when she saw his resolve wavering did she cling even tighter to his leg. "Rex, it hurts... it hurts so much..." Rex's clenched fingers slowly uncurled. He had already taken half a step toward me, but in the end, he forced himself to turn around and walk to Lilia. The black wolf roared with fury inside his mindscape. "Go back! Complete the mark! "That lunatic ruined our ceremony!" But Rex forced the black wolf into submission. He wrapped his arms around Lilia and smoothed the bristling fur along her back until her breathing steadied. Only then did he finally look at me. "Wendy, Lilia's wolf lost control again. "Let's pause the ceremony until she settles down." He said it as if it were obvious. As though I would keep standing in place and waiting for him, the way I had for the past seven years. I forced down my silver wolf's anguished cry and looked at him coldly. "Alpha Rex, tonight you either complete the mark, or we're finished for good. "Choose." Rex's expression darkened instantly. "Wendy, you know what Lilia's going through. Do you really have to back me into a corner right now?" I looked into his eyes, searching for even a trace of the warmth that used to be there. He wasn't entirely unmoved. His fingertips were still trembling, and the black wolf was still crashing against his consciousness. But in the end, the look that settled in his eyes was still one of reproach, aimed at me. Over the past seven years, things like this had happened countless times. According to Rex, Lilia had been abandoned by her original pack as a child. Once, he hadn't caught her in time, and she had fallen down a slope. Ever since then, whenever Lilia clutched her head and said she was in pain, he would think of that accident. Lilia also claimed that her gray wolf had been traumatized by the fall and frequently lost control. Rex's guilt over that accident had long since become an invisible shackle. Whenever Lilia cried out in pain, he forgot everything else. Including me. Chapter 2 In our third year together, Rex brought back a moonstone from the full moon ceremony and gave it to me. Lilia burst in, jabbed a finger in my face, and screamed: "You're nothing but a woman using my brother to climb the ranks. You think you deserve a keepsake from him?" She smashed the moonstone against my forehead. Before the stone even struck, the mate bond had already sent a warning to Rex. His face went white, and the black wolf howled inside his mindscape: "Wendy is in danger! "Go protect her!" But when he arrived, the first person he shielded was still Lilia. "Her wolf is unstable. Don't hold it against her." I pressed my hand to my bleeding forehead and stared at the moonstone shattered across the floor. No one noticed that while Rex was making excuses for Lilia, she quietly bent down and tucked one of the bloodstained fragments into the pouch at her waist. As though it wasn't evidence of what she'd done to me, but a trophy worth keeping. On the day of the Spring Hunt Festival, I roasted a snow hare, hoping to share it with Rex. When Lilia came to the bonfire, she didn't make a scene right away. She studied the position of the coals for a long time, then glanced down to estimate the distance between me and the grill. She waited until I reached for the hare before slamming into the grill. The scalding coals landed squarely on my legs. My werewolf healing stopped the burns from worsening almost at once, but the blackened, blistered flesh still left me shaking with pain. Far away, the mate bond drove a sharp pain through Rex's chest. When he arrived, the black wolf kept urging him to check my wounds, but all he did was brush the ash off Lilia's hands. "She couldn't control her wolf. It wasn't on purpose." I was in too much pain to speak. Lilia stood behind him, her head bowed to hide the smile that hadn't quite faded from her lips. The worst time was on the anniversary of my parents' death. Lilia slashed their portrait with her claws and laughed. "Good riddance! "You're next!" My silver wolf slammed against my mindscape with a furious roar, nearly forcing me into a full shift right there. Rex's black wolf was howling too. "She's insulting our mate! "Throw her out!" But Rex still held me back. "Don't provoke Lilia. She can't control herself right now." While he blocked my view, Lilia secretly tore a small piece from the lower right corner of the portrait, where the hem of my mother's dress appeared, and slipped it into her sleeve. She thought no one had seen. But the memory crystal by the window, used to record ceremonial proceedings, had captured every move. Every single time, Rex could sense my pain through the bond. But he chose, again and again, to ignore the warnings from the mate bond and the protests of his black wolf. Even now, he still had Lilia in his arms. "Wendy, if you really loved me, you wouldn't force me to make this kind of choice." I looked down at the shattered wreath and the extinguished sacred fire, and suddenly, everything felt absurd. "I gave you seven years. "For seven years, your black wolf urged you to complete the mark, and you chose to put it off every single time. "Today is the deadline. "Me, or her?" Lilia burrowed into his arms. "Rex, please don't leave me..." Rex was silent for a long time. His body was still facing me, but his arms around Lilia didn't loosen. Finally, he answered in a cold voice, "If that's how you want it, then we're done." My silver wolf let out a long, keening wail. It was a cry of absolute despair over this fated bond. I was done waiting. I turned to Healer Martha. "Please witness my rejection." Silence fell over the crowd. Once both parties completed the formal rejection, the mate bond granted by the Moon Goddess would shatter completely. Even though we had never completed the mark on each other's necks, our souls would still endure a pain close to being torn apart. But according to the pack's ancient laws, even after the bond was severed, a faint echo would remain from seven years of shared memory between two wolves. This echo was imperceptible in daily life. Only when one wolf faced complete dissolution would it produce a final, mournful resonance. Healer Martha nodded gravely. I stood in front of Rex, but the words wouldn't come. In those few seconds, seven years of memories tumbled through my mind. In the snow forest when I was eighteen, the first time he reached out his hand. The first full moon surge, when he stood outside my door and soothed me in a low voice all through the night. And then the countless full moons that followed, when I curled up in bed alone, enduring my silver wolf's longing for her mate. Every time, I told myself to hold on a little longer. Until he secured his position. Until Lilia got better. Until the next full moon. But seven years passed, and all I ever got was another "just a little longer." Tears fell without warning. My silver wolf asked me sadly, "Are we really giving him up?" I closed my eyes. "Yes. "We can't keep living like this." I opened my eyes and spoke the oath, word by word: "I, Wendy Hart, reject you, Rex Blackwood, as my mate." Rex stumbled back a step. His hand shot up as if to stop me. The black wolf screamed in his mindscape: "Grab her! "Tell her we don't accept!" But out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lilia clutching her head again. Lilia's shoulders shook, but through the gaps between her fingers, her eyes were locked on him. Rex's raised hand froze in midair. As the oath left my lips, silvery threads of soul energy emerged from my chest. Agony ripped through my heart. I stumbled forward a step, instinctively reaching for Rex. But just before my fingertips brushed his sleeve, I slowly pulled back. After choosing to let go, I shouldn't seek comfort from him again. My silver wolf let out an agonized wail in my mindscape, then closed her eyes. Rex let out a pained groan. His black wolf fought desperately to stop him from accepting, howling with despair: "You can't agree! "She's our fated mate! "You'll destroy us!" Veins bulged at Rex's temples. He looked at me for a long time. But when Lilia whimpered again, he clamped down on his black wolf's will one final time. Through gritted teeth, he spoke the formal response in full: "I, Rex Blackwood, accept your rejection." The soul threads snapped. Rex and I dropped to our knees at the same time. From that moment on, I could no longer sense his emotions through the bond. And he no longer had the ability to sense when I was in danger. I braced myself against the altar and stood, then turned to face the pack. "The mating ceremony is canceled. "From this day forward, Alpha Rex and I are no longer mates." Lilia leaned close to Rex's ear and whispered something. Rex endured the searing pain of the rejection, picked Lilia up, and carried her away. Before he reached the edge of the altar, his steps faltered briefly. But he never looked back. After the crowd dispersed, I returned alone to the cabin we had built together and started packing. Before long, a new recording appeared on the pack's communication crystal. The background was the Moonlight Hot Spring, a place only the Alpha and his official mate were allowed to enter. Lilia held up a glass of fruit wine, her arms wrapped tightly around Rex's neck. Rex leaned against the edge of the spring, shirtless. He looked exhausted, the pain from the rejection still etched between his brows. But Lilia smiled smugly at the crystal. "To my brother's freedom. "He finally doesn't have to put up with that woman who thought she could be Luna." Chapter 3 A few minutes later, a message came from Beta Ormond Shaw. "Wendy, Alpha Rex asked me to tell you he only said those things at the ceremony because he was angry. "Lilia is still emotionally unstable. He had to sound firm to calm her down. "Once things settle, Alpha Rex will petition the Council of Elders to recognize you as mates again and hold a new mating ceremony." My answer was two words. "Don't bother." From the moment of the rejection, a severed bond could never be restored. Rex was no longer my fated mate. The communication crystal hadn't even finished dimming when hurried footsteps sounded outside the door. "A new mating ceremony?" Lilia's shrill voice came through the wooden door. She had clearly overheard Beta Ormond's last words. The next moment, the cabin door was shoved open. Rex walked in with Lilia leaning on his arm. Lilia's face was twisted into an ugly grimace. But the moment Rex glanced at her, she dropped her gaze and feigned weakness. "Lilia had a scare. She insists on sleeping at our place tonight." Rex paused, seeming to realize that "our place" was no longer the right word. But he went on anyway. "Wendy, try to be understanding." Those words cut into an old wound. Six months ago, when the cabin had just been finished, my gravely ill mother wanted to see my future home before she died. Rex had turned her away at the door. "Pack rules say no outsiders are allowed in a mate's quarters before the marking is complete." I still remembered the look of disappointment on her face. Now, the same rule meant nothing when it came to Lilia. I shouldered my packed bag and headed for the door. Rex stiffened. "Where are you going?" I didn't answer. Just as my hand touched the door latch, I heard the sound of claws slicing through the air behind me. Lilia partially shifted and raked one claw across my cheek. Blood welled up at once, then the wound began to close as my healing took over. "My brother asked you a question! "Are you deaf?" Her breathing was ragged, but there was no trace of the glazed look that came with losing control of one's wolf. Beta Ormond's mention of a new mating ceremony had clearly pushed her over the edge. She wasn't afraid. She simply couldn't stand that Rex still wanted me back. My silver wolf, already severely weakened from the rejection, opened her eyes in my mindscape with fury and bared her fangs on instinct. There was no confusion in Lilia's slit pupils. Only undisguised malice. When I didn't fight back, she lunged again. This time, her claws raked hard across my temple. "Get out! "You're just as much of an eyesore as that dead mother of yours!" The last thread of restraint in my mind snapped. My right hand shifted in an instant. I sidestepped her fangs and slashed my claws across her face. Blood sprayed. Lilia screamed and crashed to the floor. The scratches on her face were already healing, but she still covered her face and wailed. "Rex, it hurts!" Rex rushed over to help her up. "Lilia!" But the black wolf erupted with rage inside his mindscape. Black fur spread across the back of Rex's hand, and short, sharp claws grew from his fingertips. His body instinctively turned toward me. The black wolf was forcing him to protect me. "She attacked Wendy first! "Go to our mate! "Throw the attacker out!" But Rex forced his black wolf back down. He couldn't bring himself to look at the blood on my temple. All he could do was shield Lilia behind him. His breathing grew ragged with guilt. In the end, it was as though blaming me was the only way he could prove to himself that he'd made the right choice. "Wendy, have you lost your mind? "You know her wolf is unstable. How could you hurt her that badly?" The wound on my temple was healing, but the soul wound from the rejection flared without warning. My silver wolf curled up in agony. The world spun. Before I blacked out, I saw Rex take a step toward me. The black wolf was forcing him to reach out and catch me. But Lilia grabbed his sleeve. And once again, he stopped. Chapter 4 When I woke up, I was lying in the pack's healing tent. Healer Martha stood by the bed. "You're awake?" She examined my temple. "The claw wound has already scabbed over. With your healing speed, it should be mostly healed by tomorrow. "I used herbs to stop the bleeding. The surface wound will heal quickly. "What actually made you pass out was the shock the rejection sent through your soul." She held her palm above the space between my brows. A thread of pale silver energy entered my mindscape. My silver wolf lay inside, her fur dull, too weak even to raise her head. She let out a faint whimper. "We lost our fated mate..." "It hurts so much." "Your wolf needs to rest." Healer Martha sighed. "Alpha Rex was your fated mate?" I nodded. Healer Martha was quiet for a moment. "He hasn't been here. "Lilia has been crying and carrying on in another healing tent. He's been with her." I said nothing. That evening, the tent flap was pushed aside. Rex walked in, gave Healer Martha a respectful nod, and came to the bedside. "How's your wound?" "It'll be healed by tomorrow." He seemed to relax a little. His gaze rested on my temple for an instant, then slid away. "Lilia got worked up. Her gray wolf won't settle down. "Wendy, I know you're angry, but she couldn't control herself." I looked at him. "She couldn't control herself, so it's fine for her to claw my face?" "She didn't know what she was doing..." "And she didn't know what she was doing when she insulted my mother, either?" Rex frowned. "She was out of control. That was just nonsense. "What's the point of arguing with someone who's sick?" "Why not?" I asked calmly, "Just because she claims there's something wrong with her wolf, I'm supposed to let her trample all over my dignity?" "Why should I be the one paying for your guilt?" Rex's black wolf was clearly struggling inside his mindscape again. His fingertips slowly sharpened into claws, and his pupils turned black. For a brief moment, he looked as though he wanted to come to me. But a moment later, he forced the black wolf back down. "Let's both cool down. "Once Lilia is stable, I'll come back and apologize properly." "Don't bother." I closed my eyes. "Our mate bond is broken. "The mark you never gave me in seven years? I don't need it anymore." Rex's voice shot up. "I didn't mark you because I wanted to give you the grandest ceremony! "Being caught between the two of you has been hard on me too!" I opened my eyes. "Then don't be. "Go take care of that sister who can't live without you. "She matters more to you than I do. You've already made that choice." Rex stood there for a long time. His black wolf's growl kept breaking through his throat. But in the end, he turned and left. He didn't come back in the days that followed. My wound healed quickly. Only a faint red line remained at my temple. But the silver wolf in my mindscape still hadn't recovered. Chapter 5 Before leaving the pack, I decided to visit Moon Spirit Falls to say goodbye to my parents. The Moon Spirit Pool was the pack's sacred heart, where they honored the Moon Goddess and housed the ancestral soul energy. Under the pack's strict laws, the Gammas were elite warriors assigned exclusively to guard the sacred grounds. On any normal day, Gamma Cole Mercer and Gamma Evan Brooks stood guard at the entrance around the clock. They took orders only from the Alpha in person or from a pass bearing his complete soul seal. No one could reassign them on a whim. But when I arrived, the entrance was unguarded. A crumpled note lay in the grass. The handwriting was a hurried scrawl. "Emergency order from the healing tent. Lilia's wolf has lost control. The Alpha commands the Gammas to report immediately for assistance." A smudged Alpha seal remained in the lower right corner. My heart plummeted. A sense of dread crept up my spine. I rushed into the sacred grounds. Large patches of moongrass around the pool had withered, and the milky water had been churned murky with a black crystal. Lilia was standing in the center of the Moon Spirit Pool. "Stop!" I rushed toward her. Two Warriors who had come with Lilia appeared at once, seizing me from both sides. They carried Rex's pass. Lilia had forged the Alpha's soul seal flawlessly, claimed the Healer had ordered her to the sacred grounds for a calming ritual, and used the fake pass to send Gamma Cole and Gamma Evan away to the healing tent. Lilia had ordered the two Warriors to keep anyone from upsetting her. "Let go of me!" My silver wolf barely raised her head and tried to help me shift, but all she could manage was a weak, mournful cry. Rex came striding through the trees. He clearly hadn't expected Lilia to desecrate the Moon Spirit Pool. "Lilia, what are you doing?" Lilia immediately clutched her head as her body began shifting into half-wolf form. "Rex, I can't stop it." Rex's black wolf crashed against his mindscape in a frenzy. Black fur spread across his arms, and his fangs emerged. The black wolf was trying to force Rex to issue an Alpha command. If Rex said a single word of command, Lilia would have no choice but to obey. "Command her! "She's desecrating the ancestral grounds!" The black wolf tore at Rex's mental barrier. The violent mental clash drained the color from his face, and a thin trickle of blood ran from his nose. Blood seeped from the corner of his lips. But as he watched Lilia clutching her head and trembling, the image of her falling down the slope all those years ago surfaced in his mind. That accident was a chain wound tight around his throat. He had the power to stop everything, yet he never issued the Alpha command. He turned to me. "Wendy, don't provoke her. "Let her get it out of her system. I'll take care of the repairs." "Repairs?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "My parents' soul energy is here, along with that of countless ancestors!" At Rex's indulgent words, a smug smile flickered across Lilia's face. She gripped the black crystal and muttered, "Once this soul energy is mine... "Once Wendy has no ancestors to protect her... "Then there'll be no one left at Rex's side to compete with me." She raised the black crystal and brought it down hard on the Moon Spirit Stone at the center of the pool. "No!" The first crack appeared. Inside Rex, the black wolf let out a piercing howl. Rex's body shook violently, his eyes turning completely black. Blood continued to seep from his nose and mouth. His hand was already raised. One command would have stopped everything. But Lilia clutched her head again and screamed in pain. His hand froze in midair. Then came the second strike. The third. "Stop!" The black wolf screamed in despair inside his mindscape. "Rex, command her to stop! "You're going to lose Wendy forever!" But Rex still said nothing. Until the Moon Spirit Stone shattered completely. Milky-white soul energy drifted out like fireflies scattered by the wind. Lilia lifted her foot and ground the points of light into the mud. "Mother!" My silver wolf let out one last wail of grief. Watching my parents' soul energy dissipate was more than she could bear. She sank into deep hibernation. The moment my wolf went dormant, the strength drained from my limbs. My healing ability weakened with it. I dropped to my knees among the broken stones. The cut across my palm refused to heal, and blood dripped into the dirt one drop at a time. Rex walked to Lilia's side. His lips were still bleeding, his face so pale it was nearly translucent. "Feel better now?" Lilia smiled and nodded. "Much better." "Then let's go." Rex shielded her as they left. After a few steps, he looked back at me kneeling among the broken stones. The black wolf keened in his mindscape, the sound raw with anguish. But in the end, he did nothing. Before long, Beta Ormond relayed his message. "Alpha Rex promises this is the last time. "He's secured an appointment with the most renowned Healer in the Southern Territory. He'll take Lilia for a full evaluation tomorrow. "Once she recovers, Alpha Rex will restore the Moon Spirit Pool and make up for everything you've been through." I didn't respond. Some things can be repaired. Some things never can. I took off my coat and carefully wrapped the dirt soaked with my parents' soul energy, along with fragments of the Moon Spirit Stone. My fingers wouldn't stop trembling. One of the fragments slipped from my palm. It took me three tries to pick it up and close my fingers around it again. That night, I shifted into wolf form and left the territory without looking back.