The Alpha's Regret
He called me "little sister." I called him my forever.I've loved Skyler Voss since I was sixteen—my brother's best friend, my pack's most feared enforcer, and the man who looked right through me like I was invisible. For years, I watched him from the shadows, memorizing the way he laughed, the way he rode, the way he commanded every room he entered.Then came the night of my twenty-first birthday. The night the mate bond snapped into place.The night he looked at me with horror in his eyes and said the words that shattered me: "You're like a sister to me, Wren. You'll only ever be a sister."So I ran. I buried myself in my art, in a new city, in a life where Skyler Voss was nothing but a ghost I refused to let haunt me.Five years later, I'm not the same girl who cried herself to sleep over a man who didn't want her. I'm successful. I'm strong. I'm done.But when a family emergency drags me back to Ironvale, I discover that Skyler isn't done with me. The rejection that once broke me is now breaking him—slowly, painfully, driving him to the edge of madness. His wolf is feral. His control is slipping. And he's looking at me like I'm the only thing standing between him and the abyss.He wants a second chance. He wants forgiveness. He wants me.But I've spent five years learning to live without him. And I'm not sure I remember how to love someone who once made me feel so utterly worthless.
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Chapter: CHAPTER SIX - The Weight of ReturningI stayed at my parents' house that night, sleeping in my old bedroom that had been preserved like a shrine. Band posters I'd loved at seventeen still clung to the walls. My old sketchbooks lined the shelves, spines cracked from years of use. Even my threadbare stuffed wolf—a gift from my father when I'd had my first shift—sat propped against the pillows.It was like stepping into a time capsule of the girl I used to be.I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Skyler's face. The gauntness. The shadows under his eyes. The desperate hunger in his gaze when he'd looked at me.*He looked back.*His words haunted me. I wanted to believe he was lying, that this was some elaborate manipulation. But the bond didn't lie. Through that cursed connection, I'd felt his anguish. Real. Raw. Consuming.Good, the bitter part of me thought. Let him suffer the way I did.But another part—a part I tried desperately to silence—whispered that his pain brought me no satisfaction. That seeing him
最終更新日: 2026-01-20
Chapter: CHAPTER FIVE - Ghosts and WolvesHe stood there like a man turned to stone, those gray eyes locked on mine with an intensity that made my skin prickle. Through the bond—that damned, persistent bond—I felt his emotions slam into me like a wave: shock, longing, guilt, and something darker. Something desperate.His wolf. I could sense it pressing against his control, wild and feral in a way that hadn't been there five years ago."You're here." His voice was rough, scraped raw. "You came back.""My father was in an accident." I kept my tone flat, professional. "I'm here for him. Not for anything else."*Not for you.* The words hung unspoken between us.Skyler flinched like I'd struck him. Good. Let him hurt. Let him feel a fraction of what he'd put me through."Wren, I—""Don't." I held up a hand, stopping whatever apology or explanation he'd been about to offer. "I don't want to hear it. Whatever you have to say, I'm not interested."His jaw clenched. I watched him swallow hard, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. T
最終更新日: 2026-01-18
Chapter: CHAPTER FOUR - Five Years of Silence*Present day...*The morning after my gallery opening, I woke to seventeen missed calls from my mother.I stared at my phone, a cold knot forming in my stomach. My mother had called twice a year like clockwork since I left—my birthday and Christmas—respecting my need for distance even though it clearly hurt her. Seventeen calls in one night meant something was wrong.Dread pooling in my gut, I hit the callback button.She answered on the first ring. "Wren. Oh, thank God.""Mom? What's wrong?""It's your father." Her voice cracked. "There was an accident. A motorcycle crash on Route 7. He's... he's in the hospital, sweetie. They're not sure if—" A sob swallowed the rest of her words.The floor tilted beneath me. I sat down hard on the edge of my bed, phone pressed so tight against my ear it hurt."How bad?""Bad." She was crying openly now. "Multiple fractures, internal bleeding, they had to do surgery. He's stable but... they're talking about more procedures. A long recovery. *If* he
最終更新日: 2026-01-18
Chapter: CHAPTER THREE - ShatteredI watched the horror bloom across Skyler's face, and I didn't understand.This was supposed to be the happiest moment of my life. The mate bond—that sacred, unbreakable connection that every wolf dreamed of—had finally manifested. After years of longing, of hoping, of loving him from afar, fate had confirmed what my wolf had known all along.We were meant to be together.So why was he looking at me like I was his worst nightmare?"Skyler?" My voice came out small, uncertain. The joy that had flooded my system moments ago began to curdle into something cold and sharp.He moved before I could process it. One moment he was across the room; the next, his hand was wrapped around my arm and he was dragging me toward the back exit. His grip was too tight, bruising, but I was too shocked to protest."Skyler, what—""Not here." His voice was a growl, barely human. "Not in front of everyone."The night air hit my face like a slap. We were behind the pack hall now, in the shadows between the bui
最終更新日: 2026-01-18
Chapter: CHAPTER TWO - The Girl I Used to Be*Ten years ago...*I was sixteen the first time I saw Skyler Voss, and I knew—I just *knew*—that my life would never be the same.He rode into the pack compound on a motorcycle that growled like a living thing, all dark leather and dangerous energy. My brother Ronan was at his side, the two of them laughing about something as they dismounted, and I watched from my bedroom window like the pathetic teenager I was."Who is *that*?" I breathed.My wolf, barely awakened after my first shift three months prior, stirred with sudden interest. She pressed against my consciousness, curious and alert in a way she'd never been before.*Mine*, she whispered.I was too young to understand what that meant. Too naive to recognize the early stirrings of a bond that wouldn't fully manifest for another five years. All I knew was that Skyler Voss was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, and I wanted him to look at me—really look at me—more than I'd ever wanted anything.He didn't, of course.I was Ron
最終更新日: 2026-01-18
Chapter: Chapter One - Gallery LightsThe champagne tasted like victory.I stood in the corner of the Bellworth Gallery, watching Seattle's elite drift between my paintings like well-dressed ghosts. They clinked glasses, murmured appreciatively, and occasionally glanced at the small cards beside each piece that listed prices most of them wouldn't blink at.Six figures. My art was selling for six figures.Five years ago, I couldn't have imagined this moment. Five years ago, I was a broken girl sobbing into her pillow, wondering if the pain in her chest would ever stop. Now I was Wren Mercer, rising star of the Pacific Northwest art scene, dressed in a sleek black dress that cost more than my first apartment's rent."You're brooding again."I turned to find Vera at my elbow, her dark curls piled artfully on her head, a knowing smirk on her crimson lips. My best friend had a sixth sense for catching me in moments of unwanted introspection."I'm not brooding," I said. "I'm observing. There's a difference.""Uh-huh." She sippe
最終更新日: 2026-01-18
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