I Accepted My Alpha’s Rejection While Carrying His Pup Chapter 05

I Accepted My Alpha’s Rejection While Carrying His Pup Chapter 05

He came on a Sunday.

I was walking back from the farmer’s market with two bags of groceries when a black SUV I’d know anywhere pulled up to the curb beside me.

Kane stepped out.

God help me, he looked terrible.

Hollow eyes. Rough stubble. His shirt wrinkled. Kane, who used to have his shirts pressed every single morning, looked like he’d slept in his car.

Good. Let him suffer.

“Ivy.” His voice was rough. “Please. Just one minute.”

Something inside me went very cold and very calm.

“In a minute, Kane.”

He flinched like I’d slapped him.

He remembered. Good.

“You’re on Lycan land,” I said. “The King will kill you.’

“I don’t care.” He stepped closer. “Come home. I’ll fix everything. Lydia’s gone. I sent her back to Redmoon. I’ll be the mate you deserve-”

“You were supposed to be that from the start.”

“I know. I failed you-”

“You didn’t fail, Kane. You chose. Every meeting. Every full moon run. Every time you looked at her instead of me. Those weren’t accidents. They were choices.”

“I never touched her. I swear on my mother’s grave-”

“I don’t care.”

That stopped him cold

“You could have been a monk for three years and it wouldn’t matter. It’s not just about sex. It’s every smile you gave her that should’ve been mine. Every run. Every dance. Every piece of you I begged for and she got

for free.”

His jaw worked. His eyes were wet.

“The decree was a threat,” he said. “Victor Crane wanted a merger. I was going to use it to pressure him. I was never actually going to read it-”

“It was signed, Kane. Sealed! You had an exit plan for our marriage like it was just another pack deal.”

He reached for my arm.

And then he saw my eyes.

He went white.

“Your eyes. Ivy, your wolf-”

“She was always there. She was asleep. Do you want to know why?” My voice started shaking. “Because your precious Lydia put wolfsbane in my tea every single morning for three years.”

He stumbled back like I’d shoved him.

“No. That’s not-”

“Three years, Kane. I was sick and tired and gray, and you never once asked why. You were too busy with her to notice your wife was being poisoned in your own kitchen

He looked like he was going to be sick.

“I didn’t know. Ivy, I swear to God, I didn’t know.”

“That’s the problem. You never knew anything about me.”

“Let me make it right. I’ll spend the rest of my life-”

“No. You won’t. Because I don’t love you anymore.”

I watched that one land. I watched his shoulders drop, watched the last light in his eyes go out.

Before he could speak, a voice cut through the cold air.

“You’re trespassing, Ashford.”

We both turned.

Caspian stood twenty feet away, hands in his coat pockets. He didn’t look angry. He didn’t have to.

“This is between me and my mate,” Kane snapped.

“Your former mate. You rejected her. She accepted. The bond is dead.” Caspian’s gold eyes didn’t blink. “And you’re harassing a woman under my crown’s protection.”

“Since when?”

“Since your warriors put claws on her in my territory.”

Caspian didn’t step forward. He didn’t raise his voice. But the air changed around him, heavy and electric, and every hair on my arms stood up.

Kane was an Alpha. A strong one.

But even I could feel it. Next to Caspian, he was nothing.

“Leave, Ashford. Before I stop being polite.”

After a long, humiliating silence, Kane backed toward his car

His eyes found mine one last time.

“This isn’t over, Ivy.”

Then he was gone.

The second his taillights disappeared, my knees buckled.

I didn’t hit the sidewalk.

Caspian was already there. One hand on my elbow, one at my back. Firm. Careful. Catching me before I

fell.

“Breathe,” he said quietly.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re shaking.”

My wolf pressed against the inside of my skin, practically purring at his touch.

Traitor.

He waited until I was steady. Then he let go, picked up my spilled apples one by one, put them back in my bags, and placed the bags in my hands.

“If he comes back, call me. Rose has my number.”

Then he walked away.

No lingering. No questions. No claims.

Just quiet protection-and the unsettling feeling that those gold eyes had seen straight through every wall

I had.