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Chapter 18 – The Fractured Alpha

Author: Mirabel
last update Last Updated: 2025-09-18 04:29:16

Cole woke to the hollow ache of a hangover. The fire in the hearth had long gone out hours ago, leaving the cabin cold and dim, across the wooden beams, shadows stretched like claws. His mouth tasted of ash and whiskey. His head throbbed in rhythm with his heartbeat.

For a moment he lay still, his eyes fixed on the ceiling, trying to will away the heaviness pressing down on his chest. But the silence was louder than any noise—it carried weight, it was as if the walls themselves disapproved of him. He rolled onto his side. The bed was empty.

She was gone.

He wasn’t surprised that she was. Nowadays, Ella always rose before him, moving quietly through the cabin as if she were a guest instead of his wife. He told himself he preferred it that way, he tried convincing himself that he liked the space, the distance between them, the absence of her steady gaze. But the truth was so much harder to ignore: every time she left the room, a pull tightened in his chest, dragging at him like a hoo
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  • GIVING HIM A SECOND CHANCE     Chapter 100 - ELLA POV.

    I didn’t mean to say yes.I didn’t plan on walking into Cole’s house to get soften or listen, or even let him be able to break through the barriers I had built for the past eight years. I came only because he begged me to, because I needed answers, because part of me still wanted to prove that I could sit in his presence, look him dead in the eye, and feel nothing.But with Cole, there just had never been a “nothing”.Not when I first met him in the pack training ring, not when he kissed me during our mating ceremony, not when we were still mates, not when he let Sasha wedge herself between us like I was disposable.And certainly not tonight.His confession still echoed through my bones. *I still love you, I’ve always do.*For years, I had wished you would tell me those words, but I didn’t want it to be spoken in this manner, not when I was under the weight of danger, not after bloodshed and betrayal and scars on both our bodies. It felt like the universe was late to telling its own s

  • GIVING HIM A SECOND CHANCE    CHAPTER 99 — COLE POV.

    I used to think strength meant keeping my distance, being able to stand apart, steel-spined and unshakable, I had become the alpha who didn’t flinch and didn’t feel too deeply. That lie held up right until the night I lost Ella. After that, every day became a reminder of how wrong I’d been.The wolves in the pack whispered it like a warning: He isn’t the same since Ella left. Their assumption isn’t all wrong. Something had been carved out from me, something that felt essential to me.And now she was in danger again, all because of Sasha and myself.For weeks now, I’ve been shadowing Ella whenever she travelled between her clinic and the tiny city home she refused to move out of. She said it made her feel normal and independent. And it did—right up until the night the rogue Sasha had hired lunged for her behind the dumpster by the back alley. I got there in time only because I’d been trailing her like some lovesick wolf. Not exactly dignified, but damn it, necessary.I still saw Ella’s

  • GIVING HIM A SECOND CHANCE    Cole’s POV – Chapter 98

    I sat alone in my office, jaw locked so tight it ached, staring at the dim sprawl of the city below. Tonight the shadows felt heavier, no matter how hard I tried to shake my thoughts, they were still thick and unrelenting. My fingers tapped against the desk in an uneven rhythm, tension bleeding out of me as the pieces of the last few days finally snapped into place.Sasha.Even thinking her name made my blood heat.I’d always known that she was dangerous in her own way, they were calculating, relentless and manipulative but then I hadn’t realized just how deep her schemes ran. I’m very sure she’s the one who had orchestrated the rogue attack on Ella, set the entire scene.I would remember how the rogue’s panicked eyes flashed through my mind—the moment I’d caught him in the alley, the surge of relief when I realized Ella wasn’t hurt. I’d moved on instinct alone, driven by the bond, by the need to protect her.I leaned back in my chair and shut my eyes, letting the memories roll over

  • GIVING HIM A SECOND CHANCE    Cole’s POV – Chapter 97

    My eyes never left her. I promised myself that I was going to kept my distance so I wouldn’t intrude in her life, so I wouldn’t disrupt the life she is rebuilding for herself, but the truth was simpler but so much harder to face; I just couldn’t stay away. The bind constantly tugged at me, it was a quiet but relentless pull that kept dragging me back to her wake.Ella moved through the city with that calm, self-assured grace that had always been able to keep me humble and also infuriate me. Every step she took, every polite nod she gave to strangers were a constant reminder of everything I had failed to protect, what I had lost but still couldn’t let go of. For weeks, I shadowed her. Not just out of obsession, although I would be lying if I say there wasn’t a small piece of me that didn’t feel that way but it was mostly out of necessity. She had started her clinic and been able to build her independence. And I watched from the margins, knowing that any misstep on my part could push

  • GIVING HIM A SECOND CHANCE    Sasha’s POV – Chapter 96

    Sasha leaned back in her chair, nails clicking lightly against the polished wood in a rhythm that only sharpened her satisfaction. Everything had already been set in motion, every whisper, every nudge, every carefully planted seed of doubt had begin to unfold in a perfect way. The city, the pack, Cole, Ella… all of them were reacting exactly the way she’d predicted they would.Of course they were.Sasha didn’t make mistakes.Ella.Even the name tasted sour.All that strength, that confidence, that ridiculous independence she’d worked so hard to cultivate is just a waste, Sasha has always been able to see the vulnerability that Ella hid behind her false bravado. The human softness Marcus had nurtured in her. And most importantly—her effect on Cole.The bind that they shared was the real leverage that Sasha had. A weakness Sasha recognized early on… and now, finally, was exploiting to its fullest.The rogue had been an inspired choice, if she did say so herself. A jittery, desperate o

  • GIVING HIM A SECOND CHANCE     Ella’s POV – Chapter 95

    That evening the clinic had gotten so quiet which was unusual, it was the kind of wuiet that allowed for thought to slip in through the cracks. The fluorescent lights hummed softly overhead, a familiar, almost comforting noise, and the tired murmur of patients in the waiting room floated in and out of focus. I leaned against the counter, arms crossed, staring out at the city skyline as night settled over the streets. Peaceful outside but chaotic inside.The reason being that no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t stop myself from thinking thinking about him.I wasn’t thinking about Cole the new Alpha.Not Cole the man I had once thought I could trust.But about the bond we shared.That bond still remained persistent, unrelenting and impossible to silence. These last eight years should have been enough time for the bond to totally fade out. It’s been eight years of distance, separation and heartbreak but still the presence of the bond still lived quietly beneath my ribs, a faint

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