Born One Minute Too Late, But I Was the True Alpha Chapter 05

Born One Minute Too Late, But I Was the True Alpha Chapter 05

Declan tore the watch from Brielle’s wrist.

For one foulish second, I thought he had chosen me.

Then he threw it onto the marble floor.

His boot came down.

Metal cracked.

The glass face shattered beneath him.

“There,” he said.

His breathing was hard.

“Now no one has it.”

He looked at me as if he had solved the problem.

“That’s fair.”

The ballroom blurred.

Lenora’s hand struck my face.

My head snapped sideways.

“Look what you made your brother do!”

Blood filled my mouth where my teeth cut my cheek.

Father pointed toward the doors.

“Leave.”

I stared at him.

“You are throwing me out on my birthday?”

“You have embarrassed this family enough.”

No one defended me.

Not Declan.

Not Father.

Not one member of the Pack I had trained beside for eighteen years.

I crouched and collected the pieces of my tnother’s watch.

One gear.

Two broken hands.

The silver moon.

I wrapped them in a white napkin.

Then I stood.

“I don’t want the Alpha title.”

Father’s expression shifted.

“What?”

“Declan can keep it.”

I looked at my brother.

“Brielle can keep the award.”

Then at Lenora.

“You can keep the room, the food, and the family.’

My voice did not break.

“I don’t want any of it anymore.

I walked out.

No one followed.

At Nightglass Tattoo, my suitcase was already packed.

I placed my machines into their cases and removed my license from the wall.

The shop transfer had been approved that morning. A human artist from the city would take over the lease.

Father could close my business inside Greyhaven, but he could not stop me from opening another one

somewhere else.

I left the keys on the counter.

Before sunrise, I tied my suitcase to the back of my motorcycle.

The Pack House remained dark.

No message appeared on my phone.

I crossed the Greyhaven boundary as the sky turned pale.

For eighteen years, I had waited for my family to make room for me.

That morning, I finally understood.

I did not need a place in their home.

I needed a life beyond it.