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Todos os capítulos de The Alpha's Regret After I Rejected His Mark: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 10

10 Capítulos

1

Scalding tea splashed across the back of my hand, but I didn't even feel the pain.The study door hadn't been shut all the way.Through the gap, I heard Declan, the Beta, snarling with barely restrained fury. "Alpha, have you lost your mind?""You've reassigned every last elite guard to protect Serena. You even gave her your personal detail. What about Lena? She's your fated mate!"My feet rooted to the floor."She's my mate in name only, not my life." Ashton's voice was low, heavy with the innate authority of an Alpha bloodline."The rogue leader is a madman. He goes straight for whatever I care about most."Serena ruined her health saving me from that frozen lake. I swore a blood oath never to let her get hurt again.""So you're using Lena as bait? She can't shift, she has no wolf. When the rogues break through, she'll die!""Once her mark is activated, the rogues will pick up the scent and think she's the one I'd die to protect."Ashton paused. Not a trace of hesitation in his voice

2

Declan returned quickly with the medicine.Ashton sat me down on the edge of the bed and was about to open the bottle when Declan lingered in the doorway, looking uncomfortable, clearly wanting to say something."What is it?" Ashton didn't look up.Declan glanced at me and lowered his voice. "Alpha... a message came from the Ashfords. They said she's having heart trouble and asked if you could go check on her."Ashton's hand paused on the bottle cap.I looked up at him.He was silent for a moment, then pushed the bottle into my hand. "Put this on yourself and get some rest.""I need to go check on her."Serena didn't have a heart condition.I grabbed his sleeve without thinking. "Ashton, can't you just stay?"He frowned, glanced down at me, and peeled my fingers away. "Lena, be good. Serena saved my life, and she's your sister."You're my fated mate. You should understand me better than anyone and show her some compassion. Would you rather I be ungrateful?"Don't worry. I'll be back so

3

The next morning, Serena pushed open my bedroom door.She wore a wine-red silk gown, the Silver Moon amulet that Ashton had gone to great lengths to obtain hanging from her neck. Every inch of her oozed seduction."My darling little sister, did you sleep well last night?""Get out." I didn't even bother looking up."Don't be like that."She sauntered closer, fingers toying with the amulet on her chest. "I just came to check on the territory's great little 'bait.' All ready?"My fists clenched.She knew everything."You think just because you have that fated mark, you're the most important person to Ashton?"Serena leaned in close to my ear. "He only protects you because I'm afraid of pain, and I need you to take the hit for me."I shoved her away. "Parading around with stolen credit. Don't you have nightmares?"Serena's expression shifted, but her gaze suddenly flicked toward the half-open window.I caught a familiar cedar scent approaching.In the next instant, she snatched the silver

4

The abandoned dungeon in the north sat right against the edge of the Dark Forest, the most vulnerable point of entry for the rogues.A guard shoved me into an iron cage and locked the door.Inside the cage, there was no food, no water, not even a blanket to keep out the cold.I curled up on the freezing stone floor, shaking all over, my mind drifting back to years ago.After my mother died, my stepmother married my father and brought Serena with her. My life at home fell apart from that day on.It wasn't until I married Ashton that I thought I had finally found happiness...My consciousness faded as I reached into my boot.Hidden there was a shard of glass I had grabbed in the chaos, its edge razor-sharp.I gripped it with numb fingers and dragged it across my palm, drawing blood.The pain kept me conscious.Night fell, and a blood-red full moon rose into the sky.Piercing howls echoed from deep within the Dark Forest, and then the alarm tower's bells rang out across the territory.Fla

5

Freezing water swallowed me whole.I thought I would die. But a pair of dark golden eyes broke through the surface and pulled me back from the edge of death.Drip... drip...I woke to warmth and the scent of pine.Above me, an ornate vaulted ceiling. Beneath me, soft velvet sheets."You're awake, little one."A man sat on the sofa by the fireplace.He wore a black silk shirt, collar open at the throat, his dark golden eyes burning like flames."The Wolf King... Lucian."I recognized him.Only the royal bloodline, said to carry the purest ancient lineage, had eyes that color."I pulled you out downstream from the Howling Abyss."I stared at him. "Your Majesty, what were you doing there?"Lucian didn't answer right away.He studied me for a long time, then asked, "Lena, do you really not remember me?"I froze."Many years ago, before I was king, I wandered into the borderlands during a family trial and got my leg caught in a hunter's trap."His voice was slow, measured. "It was snowing h

6

Under the same full moon, Ashton of Blood Moon was enduring the longest night of his life.The agony of a severed mate bond tore through him day and night.The image of Lena falling from the cliff replayed in his mind, over and over.His wolf thrashed and howled inside him, but no one could ease his torment. No one but Lena..."Ahhh!"Ashton locked himself inside the room where Lena had lived.He tore through every corner like a man possessed, searching for any trace of her scent.At the bottom of the wardrobe lay a battered wooden chest.It was the only thing Lena had brought from home, and he had never given it a second glance.He yanked the chest out and its contents scattered across the floor: a yellowed diary and a tattered coat caked with dried blood.Ashton went still.That blizzard night ten years ago, he had been badly wounded and plunged into the frozen lake.Before losing consciousness, he vaguely remembered a thin figure jumping into the water, dragging him ashore, holding

7

Everyone said the Luna was dead.Ashton refused to believe it.One month, two months. He searched every inch of the underground river.When Declan urged him to come back, he said only, "Lena hates the cold. Every minute I keep looking is a minute less she spends freezing."The river ended at a vast ice field. No body, no blood, no trace of her scent.He turned the Blood Moon territory upside down and still found nothing.Serena came by every few days with soup. She would drop it off and leave, never overstaying.She played the role of a considerate, understanding old flame so well that even Warren began telling pack members the Alpha would come around eventually.But Ashton kept her at arm's length.Sometimes, glancing at Serena's porcelain-smooth wrists, details he had once overlooked stirred an old memory.The hands that had pulled him from the lake ten years ago had deep frostbite scars across the wrists, the kind that would never fully heal.But Serena's wrists were flawless. Not a

8

One year later. The royal palace. The Sovereign Assembly, held once every five years.After a year of recovery and Lucian's guidance, my Ancient White Wolf bloodline had fully stabilized.Now I sat beside the throne in the white robes of a queen, looking down over the Alphas gathered in the great hall.Lucian rested one hand on the armrest of his throne; the other held mine.His presence was powerful and frigid. No one dared meet his gaze.Then a guard hurried into the hall."Your Majesty, Ashton, Alpha of Blood Moon, is requesting an audience."Lucian looked up, a cold curve on his lips."What does he want?""He says he's willing to offer three of Blood Moon's mineral veins in exchange for the royal intelligence network's help locating Luna Lena."A wave of hushed murmurs rippled through the hall.My fingertips stilled.After a whole year, Ashton was still looking for me.Lucian glanced at me, his voice low. "That's all he said?"The guard hesitated, then continued, "He also said that

9

I picked up the wine glass from the table and took a slow sip."Ashton, you don't really love me."He stared at me, stunned."You just can't accept that the person who used to revolve around you and let you hurt her doesn't want you anymore."Ashton flinched.I descended the steps one by one and stopped in front of him."If I hadn't awakened this ancient bloodline, if I were still that worthless girl who couldn't shift, would you still be kneeling here begging me?"Ashton opened his mouth but no sound came out.I looked at him and spoke, every word deliberate. "Ashton, in my darkest moment, you were the only person I had to lean on."But you said it yourself. The only reason I was worth keeping alive was so I could die in Serena's place."So the moment I fell from that cliff, I had already died once."The Lena standing before you now is not your mate, and she is not your disposable stand-in."Ashton's eyes were dangerously red."I'll do anything for you, if you'll just forgive me."Eve

10

Ashton's entire body shuddered.The image of that night was clearly replaying in his mind as well."So you destroyed every possibility yourself."Even if you tore out your heart and offered it to me now, it would only disgust me."Ashton staggered back a step.Lucian came to my side and wiped a drop of foul blood from my shoulder.His touch was gentle, but his dark golden eyes settled coldly on Ashton."Blood Moon territory allowed a high-level prisoner to escape, leading to an attack on the Sovereign Assembly."Ashton, do you plead guilty?"Ashton looked at Serena's lifeless body.She lay in a pool of blood, eyes wide open, the madness and defiance still etched on her face.The woman he had once been willing to sacrifice his fated mate to protect had lied to him for ten years, and destroyed the one person he should have cherished."I plead guilty."Ashton closed his eyes."Serena escaped from Blood Moon's dungeon. Whatever means she used, it was my failure to keep her contained."I ta

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