My Alpha Rejected Me for a Dare, So I Walked Away Chapter 06

My Alpha Rejected Me for a Dare, So I Walked Away Chapter 06

The Biggest Fool in the Pack

He turns back to Kael, chin up, still full of himself.

“I don’t know how you met Clara.”

“But I need to make something clear.”

“I’m the only mate she’s ever had. She chased me for two years back when we were young wolves, before I even agreed to look at her!”

“Our bond runs deep. That rejection was just a little game.”

“I told her three years ago – we’d come back to each other.”

“Clara loves me too much to walk away. And we share a pup.”

“So don’t take this performance too far, friend.”

“A mate pair’s business isn’t yours to get involved in.”

He still believes it. Every word.

—

All because, back then, I was the one who fell first. I saw him at a pack mixer and I was gone – one look and my wolf was howling *him, him, him*.

It was my first taste of that feeling. And I went after him like a young she–wolf with nothing to lose.

He was cold. Didn’t bite.

But I didn’t give up. I kept finding excuses to show up wherever he was.

Then came the year the Blackthorn Pack nearly collapsed. Bad harvests. Rivals circling. Every she–wolf who’d been fawning over Logan vanished overnight.

I stayed. I was the only one who stayed.

I even scraped together every coin I’d earned doing odd jobs for other packs and brought it to him.

“It’s not much. It won’t save the pack. But at least you won’t go hungry.”

That broke him open.

From that night on, we were mated in all but name.

Every werewolf in our generation said I was the biggest fool in the pack. The she–wolf who’d clawed her way up to an Alpha by sheer stubbornness.

Senior year, the Blackthorn Pack recovered. More than recovered – it thrived.

That was the year Logan marked me. Against Helena’s wishes. Against every elder who told him I

was beneath him.

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After that, I was soft with him. I gave in on everything. Even when he and Vivian got too close, I only ever fought with him behind closed doors.

I never embarrassed him in front of the pack.

So to every single werewolf in the Blackthorn territory, I loved Logan down to the marrow. Loved him like a loyal, broken thing. Loved him like a dog.

The memory shatters. My chest fills with something black and boiling.

I stare straight into Logan’s dark eyes.

“I loved you with everything I had.”

“But now? There’s no love left. Just hate.”

“Three years ago, when you played that game with Vivian – that was the last chance I ever gave

you.”

“Once I reject someone, I don’t look back.”

“Logan, you disgust me. You and Vivian rutted around like animals the second I was gone.”

“And now you show up wanting to re–mark me? Do you hear yourself?”

“The most pathetic part is that you actually believed I’d carry your pup for you!”

Kael’s arm slides around my waist. He looks down at Logan with the cold, calm fury of a higher Alpha looking at something small.

“The day after she accepted your rejection, Clara became mine.”

“She miscarried the next night. The pain of the broken bond tore your pup right out of her body.”

“Six weeks later, she was carrying mine.”

“And right now she’s carrying my second.”

“Logan Blackthorn. The mate you threw away built a real life. A happy one. With me.”

Logan looks like he’s been struck by lightning.

“No. No way. Impossible.”

His eyes are bloodshot. His wolf is clawing behind them, desperate for an answer.

“You couldn’t have you couldn’t have just gone and mated someone else!”

1 remind him, voice flat.

“I told you. A long time ago. There was a male. One who said he’d have me the minute I was free.”

Logan stops breathing.

He remembers now. Far too late. Kael was the male who’d pursued me, years ago.

The Truth He Never Let Himself See

Truth is, after the rejection, I didn’t plan to run to Kael.

I was bleeding out in a borrowed den. I’d just lost my pup. I couldn’t even stand up straight.

Kael came to me.

Vivian had announced the rejection to every pack she could reach – paraded it like a trophy – and Kael heard within hours.

He was on my doorstep that same night.

He reminded me of the promise I’d made him, years ago.

*“If the day ever comes that your bond breaks will you come to me? Right away?“*

Back then I was a lovesick, stupid little she–wolf. I thought my bond with Logan was forever. I’d said

yes without thinking.

I never imagined I’d have to keep that promise.

Something shattered in my wolf said yes again. Quieter this time. Hollow.

The next morning, Kael took me to the Council scribes and marked me as his mate.

I’d warned Logan about Kael once, back when we were still bonded. I told him there was a higher–ranking Alpha from another territory who’d offered me everything – and that if Logan ever stopped valuing me, that Alpha would be waiting.

Logan had laughed.

He’d even read through the letters Kael and I exchanged. Flipped through them like they were

nothing.

“Some delusional rogue pretending to be an Alpha? And *you* fell for it? Cute, Clara. Really cute.”

Kael and I had met through letters across pack borders. I could read old wolf–runes – a dying skill – and Kael had been searching for someone who could teach him. He wanted to talk to his grandmother, a former Luna who’d been mauled as a young wolf and lost her voice. Runes were the only way she spoke.

I taught him. That’s how it started.

Even when I swore to Logan that Kael was a real Alpha – a powerful one – Logan didn’t believe

me. Didn’t even blink.
Now Kael stood right in front of him. And finally, Logan understood.

The door to the healing room opens.

The healers wheel Asher out. My pup’s eyes are open. When he sees me, his little face crumples with worry – worry for *me*.

My sweet, tiny pup rasps out, “Mommy, don’t cry. It’s bad for the little one in your belly.”

Looking at the cat scratches crisscrossing his soft little cheeks, I lose it. Tears just fall.

I squeeze his hand.

I follow the healers toward the recovery den.

Kael turns to his Beta, voice like iron: “Call the Council enforcers. This is going in front of tribunal. No exceptions.”

Logan stands frozen, like the whole sky collapsed on his head.

He finally understands.

He’s a joke.

He lost his mate. He lost his pup. Both at once.

He stumbles after me.

“Clara – Clara, please, we need to talk –”

Kael slams him against the wall before Logan can reach me.

Kael’s fangs are out. His Alpha aura is choking the hallway.

“This isn’t over, Blackthorn.”

“I’ll tear your pack apart. Brick by brick.”

A healer’s voice echoes from down the corridor: “This is a healing hall! No fighting! You’re disturbing patients!”

If not for the healer, Kael’s fist would already be in Logan’s face.

The Council enforcers arrive. They haul Logan and Vivian off for questioning.

Two of them come to the recovery den to take statements from me and Asher. Once he’s stable, I leave him with the pack nursemaid and head to the Council outpost with Kael and our advocate.

Logan’s advocate is already there.

Logan sits like a corpse.

“I didn’t mean to hurt my pup.”

Even now, he can’t let go of the word *pup* – he still thinks Asher is his.

“I thought he was my pup. I was just a father bringing his pup home.”

“I didn’t mean any harm.”

Vivian whimpers, “Yes, it’s all a misunderstanding.”

I pull the blood lineage test out of my bag and throw it in Logan’s face.

“This is my pup’s blood lineage! Stop fooling yourself!”

“I lost the pup we made. It happened the night you rejected me – the bond snapping tore it out of

me.”

Logan’s mouth falls open. He fumbles the report off the floor, scans it with shaking hands.

When his eyes land on the line naming Kael as the father – he goes white as bone.

His legs buckle. He staggers back a step.

His eyes go red and wet at once. His voice cracks.

“Why did you lose our pup?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”