Alpha's Ruin: He Betrayed Me, I'll Make Him Kneel

"Are you really going to let her walk away, Alpha?" Bernard asked, his gaze fixed on the dark forest where Rhea had disappeared.

Adam said nothing. His chest rose and fell slowly, but the tension in his body betrayed the calmness he was trying to maintain.

Every instinct his wolf possessed screamed at him to go after her, to catch her before she reached Ironfang, before Kaleb could get his hands on her.

"She doesn’t want my help," he finally said.

Bernard’s brows drew together. "So you’re just going to let Kaleb have her?"

Adam’s amber eyes snapped toward him, and then his gaze shifted to Eli. The boy was still staring at the forest, his small face drawn with worry as though he expected his mother to come walking back through the trees at any moment.

Something tightened in Adam’s chest. "No." The single word came out low and absolute.

Bernard waited, his won eyes fixed past the treeline.

Adam turned his attention back to the forest. "I won’t force Rhea to stay where she doesn’t want to be. She has already had enough people deciding what happens to her." Then his jaw tightened. "But I’ll make damn sure no one lays a hand on her."

"Give the word, Alpha. I can send scouts after her," Bernard said, his fist tightening at his side. "They can keep their distance and make sure she reaches Ironfang alive."

Adam’s wolf stirred beneath his skin. The thought of Rhea walking willingly into Kaleb’s territory made something vicious coil inside him. He could already imagine her surrounded, outnumbered, too weak to fight her way free.

His mind’s eye already saw the chains, blood, Kaleb standing over her.

His wolf snarled. "Mate."

Adam’s breath caught. The word settled heavily inside him, stirring something he had spent far too long refusing to name.

His mate. The woman his wolf had chosen. The woman who had made it painfully clear she would never belong to anyone. And somehow, despite everything, his wolf wanted her.

His fists clenched at his side. He had watched her walk away before. And now? He would not make that mistake again.

Adam’s eyes narrowed as he stared into the trees, his wolf pacing restlessly beneath his skin. "Kaleb took her once," he said quietly.

Bernard’s expression hardened.

Adam stepped forward, his cloak snapping behind him in the cold mountain wind as he looked toward the path Rhea had taken, every muscle in his body taut with restraint. "Not this time."

His gaze dropped briefly to Eli, the boy was still watching the forest. Adam’s jaw clenched. Then he looked back toward the darkness.

"I’m not losing her again."

—

Rhea’s heart hammered with a mixture of fear and resolve as she moved deeper into the forest. Her fists remained clenched at her sides, her senses stretched taut as River prowled restlessly through her mind.

The deeper they went, the more dangerous her thoughts became.

What if Kaleb really chained her, just as Adam had warned? What if he ignored her offer and killed her instead? And Eli?

Rhea’s steps faltered. She could still see his little face in her mind, could still feel the weight of the responsibility she carried for him. She could not afford to die. Not now. Not when she had finally been given another chance.

She forced herself forward. Whatever happened, Eli was safe with Adam. For now, that had to be enough.

"We’re here." River’s voice pulled her from her thoughts.

Rhea lifted her head. The Ironfang gates rose ahead of her, dark and imposing beneath the canopy of trees. She stopped for half a breath, memories crashing over her with painful clarity.

The last time she had stood before those gates, she had been sneaking through them. If Kaleb or Kat had discovered her then, she would have been dragged away in chains before she could take three steps.

This time, she would not hide.

Rhea straightened her shoulders and walked toward the gates. She would enter on her own feet. She would make sure Kaleb knew she had returned.

The guards spotted her almost immediately, and their expressions changed. One of them dropped his spear with a sharp clatter. Another stared at her as though he had seen a ghost. "Luna Rhea?"

Rhea did not stop. She did not even look at them. She simply kept walking.

Behind her, a voice suddenly rang through the territory.

"Luna Rhea is back!" A man sprinted down the path, shouting the words again and again as he disappeared into the distance.

Rhea kept moving. She had one mission and only one mission in mind.

Then the atmosphere changed.

The streets, which had been alive only moments earlier, fell strangely quiet. The distant rhythm of marching boots echoed through the territory, growing louder with every passing second.

Store owners hurried to pull down their shutters. Women gathered their children close. Even the elderly pack members stepped back into the shadows, fear written plainly across their faces.

Rhea slowed as her senses sharpened. She drew in a careful breath, searching the air for Kaleb’s scent. Nothing. Her brows knitted. If it wasn’t Kaleb, then who was coming?

"They smell like trouble," River growled inside her head. "Let me out. I’ll tear them apart."

Rhea ignored the urge to unleash her wolf. Instead, she drew in a slow breath and straightened her back, forcing her expression into one of calm. Whatever was coming, she would not let them see fear.

Four men appeared at the end of the street first. Then ten. Then twenty. And within moments, the road was packed with armed wolves.

Rhea’s pulse kicked harder, but she refused to slow down. Each step felt heavier than the last, her body protesting the strain, but she kept going.

One of the men stepped forward. "Luna Rhea," he called. "The Smokefang King requests that you come with us."

Rhea’s eyes narrowed. Smokefang. Her gaze swept over their dark, smoky-colored vests and the unfamiliar crest embroidered across their chests.

Then realization settled in her gut. They had to be one of the packs that had broken away from Kaleb. But she kept her face unreadable.

"Smokefang?" she repeated. "I’ve never heard of such a pack." Her gaze hardened as her eyes moved over their frames. "I am here to see Kaleb of Ironfang."

The men exchanged glances.

Then the one in front smiled without warmth. "Ironfang died the day Kaleb lost his crown."

Rhea’s stomach tightened. She looked around and the realization slammed into her. The crimson and silver banners that usually lined the perimeter were gone.

The man took another step toward her. "This territory belongs to Alpha Jaxon now."

Rhea’s breath caught. Jaxon? Her former lead strategist? The man who had once stood three steps behind her chair during war councils, taking notes while she mapped Ironfang’s borders? How had he taken the territory?

"Alpha Jaxon wants a word with you," the man continued. "And he will have it."

Rhea studied the men in silence. Their scents carried hostility, and their hands rested too close to their weapons.

And every instinct River possessed was screaming the same warning. Danger.

Still, Rhea lifted her chin. If Ironfang had fallen while she was gone, then something far bigger than Kaleb’s betrayal had happened. And she had just walked knowingly straight into the middle of it.

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