All Chapters of A Second Chance For Alpha Ayden: Chapter 1 - Chapter 6

AYDEN (Five Years Ago)"Say it again."Samantha's voice shakes, but she doesn't look away from me. My chest feels like it's caving in, but I don't let it show on my face. An alpha can't let anything show on his face.The clearing is packed tighter than I've ever seen it. Every warrior, every elder, every packmember who could walk here stands shoulder to shoulder under the moon, and every single one of them is watching me intensely. Torches line the edge of the gathering ground, and the smoke drifts low and slow, catching the moonlight like a held breath."Samantha Nonis," I say. "I reject you as my mate."She stares at me like she's trying to memorize what I look like right before I ruin her life. Her eyes are dry, but they're wide, searching my face for some sign that I don't mean it, that this is some cruel test I'll take back the second the words are out.I don't take it back."You don't mean that," she whispers. "Ayden, look at me. You don't mean that."I do look at her. That's th

AYDEN"You're doing that thing with your jaw again," Lucian says, dropping into the chair across from my desk."What thing?""The thing where you clench your teeth so hard…I'm surprised you have any teeth left." He drops a folder onto my desk. "The Hollow Pine representatives arrive tomorrow. Alpha Darius is bringing his Beta and two pack elders.""That’s fine. The rooms are ready."I flip the folder open without really looking at it, going through the motions of running my pack the way I've run it every single day for the last five years. It was steady, efficient, and I was in control of every detail so nothing slips through that could be used against us. Stormfang has been circling closer to our borders for months now, testing every weak point they can find, and an alliance with Hollow Pine is exactly the kind of leverage we need if this turns into something worse than skirmishes."Darius wants full terms signed by the end of the week," Lucian continues, tapping the folder. "Joint

AYDENThe scream rips through the air and every instinct in my body reacts before my mind catches up. I'm turning toward the packhouse, toward the sound, my wolf slamming against my ribs demanding to be let out. But my eyes are still locked on Samantha, on the truth sitting right there in her silence, and for one terrible second I don't know which direction to run in. Every year of training, every instinct that's kept this pack alive, and for one heartbeat I am frozen between the woman I never stopped loving and a threat I can't yet see."Alisa!” Samantha yells, already running toward the house, toward her daughter…toward someone who could be my daughter, if the last thirty seconds of my life mean anything at all. That breaks whatever held me still. Lucian is already sprinting, shouting orders into his mindlink, warriors converging from every direction at once. I follow, my wolf Ridge snarling beneath my skin, demanding I let him take over, and we round the corner of the packhouse to