Shattered by the Alpha, Stronger Than Ever Chapter 13

Shattered by the Alpha, Stronger Than Ever Chapter 13

Kael reached for me, but froze when he saw the unfiltered scorn on my face.

“See?” I laughed, sharp and cold. “Even now, you can’t own up to it. Deep down, you’ve always

looked down on me.

His throat bobbed. “If that day… if I hadn’t slapped you…”

“No.” I cut him off. “Kael, you wavered in this relationship, didn’t you? For a split second, you

thought being with me was predictable, boring. Riley? She was thrilling, different, a spark you

didn’t get from me.

“It’s normal, Kael. You liked me because we grew up together, because we were the perfect match on paper. But you didn’t love me-or at least, not enough.”

“You thought I was pretty, sure, but that didn’t stop you from finding me dull, too familiar, no spark left. Then Riley came along, nothing like me, and you were hooked.”

“But here’s the thing, Kael. If it wasn’t Riley, it would’ve been someone else-some other young, gorgeous, ‘different’ Omega just as worthy. But…”

I let out a bitter chuckle.

“How dare you hit me? Did you forget no one lays a hand on the future Alpha? Who do you think you

are, Kael?”

“Why did you dare?”

Kael’s face crumpled, hollow and defeated.

I’d hit the darkest, most selfish corner of his heart, and he knew it.

He had no defense left. “Talia, did I lose you?”

“Kael,” I said, giving the Alpha who’d grown up with me one last look, “you didn’t lose me.”

“You lost yourself.”

As I turned, the balcony’s glass door caught Kael’s reflection crumpling to his knees.

The moonlight sliced like a cold blade, pinning his shadow to the ground.

His suit was still crisp, but he looked like a husk, soul sucked dry, nothing left but an empty shell.

“You don’t love me anymore?”

His voice was barely a whisper, asking a question he already knew the answer to.

looked at him.

This Alpha, who’d once been my entire world, now looked like a lost kid, fragile and broken.

“I never loved you.”

Kael’s body jolted, like an invisible sledgehammer had slammed into him.

“What… what did you say?”

“I loved the boy who fought for me,” I said, calm as stone. “The one who slipped chocolate in my pocket when my blood sugar crashed.”

The night breeze lifted my skirt, and from the distance, I heard my parents’ laughter.

“But that Kael? He died in that barroom bet.”

Tears slid silently down Kael’s face. He opened his mouth, but no sound came.

“You know what?” I said, sparing one last glance at this familiar stranger. “I’m glad we never

bonded.”

As I walked toward the warm glow of the party, I heard his stifled sobs behind me.

They were quickly drowned out by the banquet’s laughter, just like our past-washed away by time,

clean and gone.