Chapter 3: The Breaking Point

Allene’s POV

Leonard stared around the room, still pretending to search for the person who had spoken, as if he genuinely doubted that those words had come from me.

Then, after a few dragging seconds, he chuckled mockingly. His gaze flickered over me with that familiar blend of ridicule and disbelief.

“You came to reject me?” he asked casually, walking toward me naked, his cock dangling shamelessly with every step he took. His arrogance filled the entire room. I said nothing, because even now, after everything, he still found it impossible to believe.

For half a decade that we spent together, he had done everything humanly possible to push me away, to break me and make me leave but I had stayed. Foolishly and pathetically, waiting for a miracle that was never going to come. No wonder he looked at me as if I were a delusional fool.

“I am all you have, Allene Smith,” he sneered. “Your king and personal savior. You want to reject me? For what? Don't you know you’re nothing without me?”

He said it so easily and casually, as though it were a fact written in stone. As though my existence was a charity he offered.

He turned slightly and Jessica immediately started walking to stand beside him, exactly where he wanted her. Exactly where she had always wanted to be.

“Come on, Allene,” Jessica purred as she approached, her steps slow and taunting, her thighs still slick and stained with Leonard’s cum.

“Leo has tolerated you for five years, even though he never wanted the union. He sacrificed his fated mate just so you could enjoy a Luna title. Privileges that other orphaned, wolfless omegas like you could never dream of. What more do you want from him just so you’d finally be satisfied?”

Her words sliced at me. I ignored her even though the sting burned hot under my skin. I knew better than to give her the reaction she craved. Breaking me had always been her favorite sport.

“I taught you how to race with a motorcycle, Leonard,” I said quietly, holding onto the one truth I thought still mattered. “Have you forgotten? Eight years ago at the academy, when you came to me and—”

“Taught me? You?” Leonard barked out a laugh, cutting me off like my voice was worthless.

“Jessica doesn’t even know how to ride a bike, yet you made her the coach of your group,” I pushed again, unable to stop myself. “You—”

“Oh, I think I know what this is about,” Jessica interrupted smoothly, her tone dripping with false concern. She didn’t even let me finish.

I stopped speaking altogether. What was the point? Talking here was like screaming into a void, only to hear your own echo mock you. She didn't know racing yet, was made his coach whereas I, who he got training from secretly, was told not to race.

His father, despite not approving of the sport, maintained a blind eye whenever he won but he had vehemently threatened me multiple times I had tried joining.

“Jessica is the daughter of a respectable man, Allene. The Beta’s daughter,” Leonard snapped sharply, his temper flaring. “She has a better standing than you, a better reputation, a better everything. Were you expecting me to embarrass myself by putting you in her position?”

He reprimanded me like a child, right in front of her and she smirked as if she were watching her favorite show.

“Allene, if this is because Leo always using seed blockers with you, then I’m really sorry,” Jessica said, voice soft but poisoned. “It isn’t his fault he doesn’t want a wolfless freak birthing his heirs. If you wanted to be the mother of his children, then maybe you shouldn’t have been born an omega. But you’re not just that, you’re wolfless too. That’s way too pathetic. Even I wouldn't want someone like you to birth my heirs ”

I felt the world tilt.

“And I’ve joined countless racing games for you to accuse me of not knowing the sport,” she continued.

I pressed my palms to my ears, desperately shutting out her voice.

Up until this very moment, I had believed I was barren. I had blamed myself for years.

Leonard hadn’t even denied it. He didn’t look shocked or remorseful. He just stood there, arrogant and bare, while his mistress delivered the truth he had intentionally kept from me, information she only shared to drag me further into the mud.

Jessica’s face glowed with mockery.

As if she had finally accomplished the destruction she’d always dreamed of.

Half a decade, that was all it took. Five whole years. That was how long I had sacrificed, waited, endured and hoped that somehow this would work. But standing here now, in front of the both of them, standing naked and unashamed, not even realizing how wrong they were, I didn’t want to waste a second longer here.

I raised my left hand slowly, the hand where the cord had been tied years ago by the elder. The hand that had bound me to Leonard and bound him to me.

“Stop this drama, Allene. You're wasting my time.” His voice cut through the air. “I am an alpha in waiting, whereas you are just that.” He waved his hand dismissively, as if brushing off dust, as if brushing off me.

“You know damn well that without me, you are nothing!” Leonard snarled even more when he saw I didn’t put my hand down, he stepped forward and continued. “I am the reason you’re still able to breathe and live. Without me, you’d have no roof over your head, no food, nothing. Think twice about what you’re doing, because if you dare walk out and come crawling back later on your knees, I won’t take you back.”

“You’re mistaken, Leonard,” I said, my voice slow but steady, unshaking for the first time in years.

“I, Allene Smith, reject you, Leonard Amari, as my mate and husband. I sever this bond that binds us together and never will you see me at your doorstep, I promise you, grovelling or begging to come back.”

“How dare you, a weak and wolfless omega, reject me, an alpha?” he barked. Suddenly, he coughed up blood, spraying the floor with it. The rejection bond hit him hard but it was hitting me too. My knees wobbled from the pain he still refused to release me from.

“Accept her rejection, Leonard! We’ve waited for this for years!” Jessica pleaded, clutching his arm. “We can finally be together. She rejected you and not the other way around. Your father and the council won’t punish you. Just accept it!”

“I will never accept it!” he roared, shaking from the strain. “I am an alpha, I can handle the pain. She is only a lowly omega. Weak and pathetic. She won’t survive my refusal. She will kneel and beg me to take her back, and then she will understand that no one rejects me.” His voice rose with manic arrogance. “I am Alpha Leonard Amari. I do the rejections!”

I turned away, forcing my body to move even though every muscle screamed.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Leonard thundered, grabbing my wrist and twisting my arm painfully as he dragged me back.

I wrenched myself free, he was weak from the bond’s backlash, far weaker than he expected. My pain was lighter as I was the one who rejected. I shoved him, sending him stumbling as I bolted for the door.

“Arrest her!” he roared to his warriors. “Throw her into the dungeons! Let her rot there for days! And inform the wardens that I will behead anyone who dares give her food or water!”

The guards stationed along the two hallways moved toward me quickly. The only opening was the window in the middle of the room.

But Leonard’s chambers were on the first floor. If I jumped without a wolf, I could die.

“Moon goddess, please grant me my wolf,” I whispered, a desperate prayer cutting through the chaos.

Leonard staggered closer with Jessica holding him upright, a rod in his hand. He could sense there was nowhere for me to run.

“Where do you think you’ll go from here, Allene?” he mocked, smirking weakly.

The warriors were closing in.

I threw myself toward the window, caring nothing for the consequences, for the pain nor the punishment awaiting me if I got caught.

“What are you doing? You have no wolf, Allene! Step away from there or you will die!” he shouted, panic rising in his voice.

“Get her!” he screamed but I was already climbing onto the ledge.

Two calloused hands seized me from behind, yanking me away from the window. I struggled, fighting with every ounce of strength I had left.

A sharp violent snap suddenly echoed through my body.

I screamed as my bones shifted. My muscles stretched and tore. My skin split. My clothes shredded from my body as a fire of pure rage and instinct consumed me. The urge to avenge everything that had been done to me, the need for justice and hunger for freedom took over.

The warriors recoiled in fear, still gripping me, but no longer understanding what they were holding.

I let out a guttural, earth-shattering howl, strength surging inside me. So powerful that I couldn't explain how it was possible. I was an omega and omega wolves were supposed to be weak and docile. Not large and powerful like the one I had shifted into.

Leonard froze. Jessica’s eyes went wide with horror. The men stumbled back as my transformation completed right before them.

He stood frozen at where he stood, the smug confidence on his face shattering as his eyes locked onto me.

“How is she like that? She's just an omega! What's happening?" Leonard shouted at his warriors but none had an answer.

The sneer he wore before slipped away instantly, replaced by shock.

Jessica staggered back a step, almost falling to the floor.

Her mouth fell open as she stared, color draining from her face so fast it was almost frightening. The triumphant glint in her eyes vanished, replaced by disbelief and fear.

Several of the warriors took instinctive steps backward, hands flying to their weapons as uneasy growls rumbled in their throats.

“Capture her right now!!

Sensing the shift and confusion, I jumped out of the window where I leaped out, sprinting as fast as my legs were willing to take me to, as Leonard's orders barked out behind me.

Confusion crashed over me like a second skin. How was it even possible that I had a wolf meant for alphas when I was nothing but an omega?