Chapter Three

Amos's POV

I stand on the stage during the Alpha ceremony, accepting congratulations from various pack leaders and elders. Everyone seems happy about my new position, shaking my hand and praising my strength. But I can barely focus on their words.

My wolf, Titan, won't stop growling in my head. He's been furious with me since I rejected Mira this morning.

"You're a coward," Titan snarls. "She's our mate. We should have protected her, not thrown her in the dungeon."

"Shut up," I tell him silently. "She attacked Kyle. We can't have a Luna who's violent and unstable."

"You don't know what really happened," Titan argues. "You weren't there. You just believed everyone else without asking her side."

I block him out and focus on the celebration. My father, former Alpha Richard Thompson, stands beside me looking proud. My mother dabs at her eyes with a handkerchief, emotional about seeing her son take over the pack.

Kyle limps over with Sarah attached to his arm. My younger brother still walks with difficulty after what happened three months ago. Seeing his injury reminds me why I made the right choice rejecting Mira.

"Congratulations, brother," Kyle says, embracing me carefully. "You'll make an excellent Alpha."

"Thanks, Kyle." I pat his back, noticing how he winces slightly. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," he lies. I can tell he's still in pain. "I'm just glad you dealt with that girl properly. She needed to be punished."

Sarah smiles sweetly at me. "Thank you for putting Mira in her place, Alpha Amos. She's been making everyone uncomfortable for months. The pack feels safer knowing she's locked away."

Something about Sarah's tone bothers me, but I can't figure out what. She seems genuinely concerned about pack safety, and as Beta Marcus's daughter, she's always been trustworthy.

"It was necessary," I say, though the words taste bitter in my mouth.

As the celebration continues, I find myself scanning the crowd. Part of me expected to see Mira watching from somewhere, but she's not here. Of course she's not—she's in the dungeon where I sent her.

The image of her face when I rejected her flashes through my mind. She looked so broken, so devastated. For just a second, I saw something in her eyes that made me doubt everything—genuine confusion and hurt, like she truly didn't understand why everyone hated her.

"Stop thinking about her," I tell myself firmly. "You made your choice."

But Titan won't let it go. "Our mate is suffering in a cold dungeon right now because you're too proud to question what you've been told. Some Alpha you are."

"She hurt my brother!" I snap back at him.

"Did she? Or did Kyle lie?"

The thought is absurd. Kyle is my brother. We grew up together. He wouldn't lie about something this serious. Would he?

I excuse myself from the celebration, claiming I need to check on security. Really, I just need space to think. I walk through the pack territory, following familiar paths through the forest.

The mate bond rejection still aches in my chest. It's supposed to fade completely after a few days, but right now it feels like a constant pain. I wonder if Mira feels it too, or if she's too busy being miserable in the dungeon to notice.

"Go to her," Titan begs. "At least talk to her. Hear her story."

"And say what? Sorry I rejected you, but let me give you false hope by visiting?"

"You could ask what really happened with Kyle."

I stop walking and lean against a tree. The truth is, I never actually investigated the incident with Kyle. I was away on Alpha training when it happened. By the time I returned, everyone had already decided Mira was guilty. Kyle had injuries. Sarah confirmed he'd been attacked. The pack was united against Mira.

But I never heard Mira's version of events.

"That's because she's guilty," I mutter to myself. "Why would Kyle and Sarah lie?"

Yet something nags at me. During the rejection this morning, Mira looked genuinely shocked. She whispered that she didn't attack anyone, but her voice was so quiet I barely heard it.

I shake my head, trying to clear these doubts. I'm Alpha now. I need to be strong and decisive, not second-guessing myself over a girl who caused trouble in my pack.

Making my way back to the celebration, I'm stopped by Marcus, the Beta and Sarah's father. He's a large man with graying hair and a stern expression.

"Amos—Alpha," he corrects himself with a slight smile. "Congratulations again. Your father trained you well."

"Thank you, Marcus. I hope to serve the pack as well as he did."

"I'm sure you will." He pauses, looking uncomfortable. "I wanted to thank you for dealing with the Mira situation. That girl has been a poison in this pack. Sarah told me she's been spreading lies about Kyle, trying to make herself look innocent."

"What kind of lies?" I ask, curious despite myself.

Marcus waves his hand dismissively. "Oh, claiming Kyle attacked her first, that she was defending herself. Complete nonsense, of course. Kyle would never do such a thing. He's a good boy, and Sarah is his mate. Why would he ever look at another female?"

The way Marcus says it makes something click in my mind. He's too defensive, too quick to dismiss any alternative explanation. It reminds me of how people act when they're hiding something.

"Of course," I say carefully. "Kyle would never."

But Titan perks up in my mind. "Did you hear that? Even Marcus sounds suspicious. Something's wrong here, Amos."

After Marcus walks away, I stand there thinking. What if—and it's a big what if—what if Mira was telling the truth? What if Kyle did attack her, and she only defended herself?

No. That's impossible. Kyle has Sarah. He's happy. He wouldn't risk his relationship for anything.

Unless... unless Kyle has a history of being inappropriate with females. 

I try to remember if there were ever any complaints about Kyle before. Actually, now that I think about it, there was that omega girl two years ago who left the pack suddenly. She claimed Kyle made her uncomfortable, but everyone dismissed it as her being dramatic.

And before that, there was another girl who requested a transfer to a different pack. She never gave a reason, but she seemed scared.

"You're starting to see it," Titan says quietly. "Our brother might not be who we think he is."

I don't want to believe it. Kyle is family. But the more I think about it, the more questions arise.

I decide to do something I should have done three months ago—investigate properly. As Alpha, I have access to all pack records and reports. Maybe there's something in the official incident report that will give me answers.

I head to my new office in the pack house, a large room with dark wood furniture and shelves full of books. My father's things are still here, waiting to be cleared out. I sit at the desk and pull up the incident report on my computer.

The report is surprisingly brief. It states that on the night in question, Kyle was found injured in the storage room with a head wound and leg damage. Sarah discovered him and called for help. Kyle claimed Mira attacked him unprovoked. Mira claimed self-defense but provided no witnesses. Due to Kyle's injuries and Sarah's testimony, Mira was found guilty.

That's it. No detailed investigation. No witness interviews beyond Sarah. No medical examination of Mira to see if she had any defensive injuries. Just a quick decision based on Kyle's word against Mira's.

"This isn't right," I mutter. "This isn't a proper investigation at all."

I search for any previous complaints about Kyle and find the two cases I remembered, plus three more I'd forgotten about. Five females over the past three years, all claiming Kyle made them uncomfortable or acted inappropriately. All dismissed as misunderstandings or attention-seeking.

Five females. That's not a coincidence.

My stomach turns as realization hits me. Kyle has a pattern of behavior. And Sarah, as his mate, probably knows about it and covers for him.

Which means I rejected my innocent mate and threw her in the dungeon for defending herself against my predator brother.

"Oh god," I whisper, feeling sick. "What have I done?"

Titan howls in anguish. "I told you! I told you something was wrong! Now our mate is suffering because you wouldn't listen!"

I stand up so quickly my chair falls over. I need to get to the dungeon. I need to see Mira, talk to her, hear her story properly.

But as I reach the door, doubt creeps in again. What if I'm wrong? What if these complaints about Kyle really were just misunderstandings? What if I'm letting my wolf's attachment to Mira cloud my judgment?

I stand frozen in the doorway, torn between my duty as Alpha and my instinct as Mira's mate.

Finally, I make a decision.