Chapter 4

Beta Riven’s pov

The door clicked shut behind me, but the echo of her voice clung to my skin like frostbite. I let my back fall against the wall, head tipping back as I dragged in a breath that didn’t settle in my lungs.

“Damn it.”

My heart thudded painfully in my chest, louder than the footsteps echoing faintly down the corridor. I closed my eyes, fists clenched at my sides as I willed the silence to ground me. But all I could perceive was her scent, a perfect blend of wild lilies and crushed stars and it stirred something ancient inside me, something I’d spent days trying to suppress.

My wolf stirred then, low and restless, whispering her name like a prayer and a promise.

“Won’t you accept her? Do you enjoy watching our mate suffer?.”

“No,” I breathed, my jaw tightening as my mind spun back to last night.

I’d waited in the room for a few minutes, hoping she’d come back in when she realizes the scent she wished belongs to Alpha Kade was mine. But when she didn’t, I got up to search for her only to find her crumbled on the cold marble floor just outside the guest room, her body curled in on itself like a fallen leaf.

I dropped to my knees instinctively, my hand hovering inches from her skin, but I didn’t dare touch her. Touching the Alpha’s mate without express permission, even to help her, was considered grounds for exile or worse.

I clenched my fists, fighting the instinct to reach for her, and instead rapped sharply on the door behind her.

“Alpha,” I called, trying to steady my b voice. “Alpha, it’s urgent”

Silence greeted me. I knocked again, harder this time, until my knuckles started to bleed. I could hear faint laughter from within, but no one responded.

“Alpha…” I said again only for the door to fly open.

He stepped out, irritated etched across his face like a permanent shadow. His shirt was half-buttoned, his hair disbelief. I didn’t miss the scratch marks trailing down his neck, or the sickly-sweet scene of feminine perfume clinging to his skin like rot

His eyes swept lazily over Luna Aria’s unconscious form, then landed on me like I’d just interrupted a nap.

“This is what you call urgent?” he sneered.

“She collapsed,” I said, keeping my voice as even as I could. “She’s been under immense pressure. She hadn’t had anything to eat since….”

“I didn’t ask for a report,”he snapped.

“She’s the Luna, Alpha” I said sharply, stepping forward, lowering my voice only slightly. “We can’t let anyone see her like this, if the elders find out...”

That stopped his arrogance, but not the way I hoped.

In one breath, his expression changed, and darkened. His wolf surge forward with a low, vicious growl that made the air crackle.

“You’re forgetting your place, Beta.”

Then in a blur, he spun and shoved me hard against the opposite wall. The back of my head cracked against stone. Before I could recover, his hand like iron was at my throat, pinning me down. Not hard enough to choke, but enough to remind me who ruled.

“You think you get to tell me how to manage my Luna?” he growled, his eyes beginning to glow.

My wolf snarled beneath my skin, furious, but I forced him down, submission was the only way out of this.

His grip tightened until a voice sweet as honey, spilled into the air like charm like poison drenched silk.

“Kade,” lady Claire purred, “what’s wrong?”

She stood in the doorway behind him, wrapped in one of the shirt, hair tousled, her lips curved into a coy smile that made my stomach turn.

Just like that, the fury left him. He blinked, released me, and stepped back.

I dropped to my knees, coughing, fists pressed to the ground.

“Handle it,” he muttered to me and brushed past her, back into the room.

She paused, then turned her gaze on Aria, sighing like it was a mild inconvenience. She crouched next to her and faked concern well enough to fool anyone who hadn’t seen her smirk.

I ignored her, calling for the omegas who carefully lifted her into the car. I drive the car, silent, furious and ashamed because I knew she’d wake up thinking about him again.

I parked outside the hospital, fingers gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. The engine hummed beneath me, but I didn’t move.

The maids and nurses had already rushed her inside, a flurry of footsteps and whispered panic, but I couldn’t bring myself to follow. Not when I knew what I was about to face.

I slammed the heel of my hand against the steering wheel. Once, twice and the third time, I tasted blood; didn’t even realize I’d bitten into my lip.

“You should have carried her.”

My wolf again.

“You should’ve marked her.”

I gritted my teeth. “Stop.”

“You let him touch her. Let her cry for him while we watched.”

“Enough,” I growled, forcing the door open. The cool night air slapped me in the face, but it didn’t clear the fog in my head.

I followed the scent trail to her room like a ghost, invisible to the humans bustling through the halls. Nurses scurried past me, clipboards clutched to their chests. None of them paid me any mind not until I paused just outside her door, one hand pressed to the frame, the other clenched tight at my side.

The moment I stepped in and saw her eyes barely fluttering open, lips dry and pale, my defense cracked and my wolf took over causing the word to slip out of my mouth like I’d been waiting in the back of my throat all along.

“Mate.”

Just that one word changed everything.

Her gaze locked with mine, dazed and confused, but sharp enough to catch the tremor in my voice. The bond snapped tight between us, pulsing with heat and pain and longing. I felt it and so did she.

But before I could explain, before I could even pretend to take it back, my cowardice took hold and I denied it.

I told her she imagined it due to exhaustion and that the strain of the last few days was playing tricks on her.

Now I was back in the hallway, trying to outrun the echo of that moment as she dismissed me.

“Just accept her and stop beating yourself up,” my wolf urged again, louder now, clawing through my thoughts like a storm.

“Shut up,” I whispered, voice trembling. “This is all because of you.”

“I was only trying to help, the earlier you claim her, the better.”

“Corin, I said shut up.”

“You’re killing us both with your stubbornness. Her soul is tethered to ours, and still, you turn away.”

“Shut the fuck up!” I roared, the word exploding from me before I could stop it.

It echoed off the white walls like thunder and everyone stopped. A little boy holding a toy stared up at me, mouth agape. A woman near the reception desk clutched her purse like I was about to attack.

My breath caught in my throat.

Damn it.

I bowed my head quickly. “I… I’m sorry,” I muttered, backing away. “I didn’t mean… sorry.”

Heat crawled up my neck as I turned on my heel, ignoring the stares and whispers. I didn’t stop moving until I was outside again, gulping in air like I was drowning.

The moon hung low in the sky, pale and unbothered unlike me who had lied to his Luna, and worse still, I denied her.