Too Broken To Be Loved

Chapter One Six years later It has been six years since I walked away from everything I knew. Six years since I stopped being the Alpha’s daughter and became something else entirely — a rogue drifting from city to city, never staying long enough to be noticed, never trusting the shadows behind me. I avoid the woods. I avoid packs. I avoid anything that might recognize what I am. What I was. When I left at seventeen, I told myself things would get better. That distance would heal me. That freedom would fix me. I thought I’d outrun the addiction that had already sunk its claws into me. I thought turning eighteen and gaining my wolf would give me strength, clarity, purpose. But trauma doesn’t disappear just because you cross a border. Pain doesn’t dissolve just because you shift for the first time. And addiction… addiction doesn’t care how old you are or what bloodline you come from. Now, almost twenty‑three, I’m still fighting the same demons I carried out of my pack. Some day

Chapter three Being the Alpha of several packs was never supposed to be my life. Not even close. If you’d asked me at eighteen what my future looked like, I would’ve told you I wanted a degree in substance‑abuse counseling. I wanted to help wolves who struggled the way so many do—quietly, secretly, ashamed. I wanted a normal life, a quiet life, one where I wasn’t responsible for hundreds of people or the safety of entire territories. But fate doesn’t care about plans. Everything changed the night the rogues came. They tore through our lands like wildfire, hitting three neighboring packs in a coordinated attack none of us saw coming. By dawn, the Alpha of the Silvercrest Pack was dead. By noon, the Alpha of the Moonridge Pack had fallen. And by nightfall, my own father—Alpha of the Fenley Pack—took his last breath in my arms. Three packs. Three territories. Three leaders gone. And one twenty‑year‑old suddenly expected to step up. The elders merged the packs for survival.

Chapter Five Four days. Four long, restless, agonizing days since I last saw her. Four days since she ran from my office like I was the very thing she feared most. Four days of my wolf pacing, snarling, clawing at the inside of my chest like he could break free and track her down himself. And still—nothing. No sightings. No scent trail. No hint of where she might be hiding. Lenox has been digging for information nonstop, but there’s almost nothing to find. Whoever Kieara is, she’s been living like a ghost. No employment records. No pack affiliation. No medical history. No address. The only thing we know is her last known location… which happens to be this city. But where in this city? Where has she been sleeping? Who has she been trusting? Those questions gnaw at me more than anything else. I have to trust that Lenox will find something—anything—that leads me to her. Until then, all I can do is wait. And pray to the Moon Goddess that she comes back on her own. Waiting

When Colton went to stand, he was very obviously pissed about Oakley’s statement before thinking properly. I jumped up to shield Oakley from the very irate Alpha who was currently stalking towards us. The moment I stepped between them, the air shifted—Colton’s growl deepened, low and warning, but his steps faltered. His eyes snapped to mine, blazing with fury and something else I couldn’t name. For a heartbeat, the room held still, everyone waiting to see whether he would push past me… or pull himself back from the edge.Slowly—almost painfully—Colton’s shoulders dropped a fraction, the rigid line of his posture loosening as he forced a breath through his nose. The growl tapered off, leaving a heavy silence in its wake. His eyes stayed locked on mine, but the fire in them dimmed just enough to let reason slip back in. I didn’t move, not yet, afraid that any sudden shift might reignite the storm simmering beneath his skin. After a long moment, Colton took a single step back, jaw clench

For a long moment, I can’t speak. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to feel. Colton’s words hang in the air between us—steady, patient, nothing like the forceful Alpha who’s been looming over my life since the moment this bond snapped into place. And that almost makes it harder. I was prepared for anger. For pressure. For him to demand something from me I wasn’t ready to give. But this… this quiet sincerity? I don’t know what to do with it.I look at him—really look at him. The tension in his shoulders has eased, his posture open instead of imposing. He’s giving me space. Me. The girl he barely knows but is somehow tied to by something ancient and powerful and completely overwhelming. And for the first time, I see the weight he’s been carrying too. The restraint. The effort. The hope he’s trying so damn hard to hide.It does something strange to my chest.“I…” My voice catches, and I have to swallow before trying again. “I appreciate that. More than you probably realize.” The wor