Leaving The Cold-hearted Rich Alpha

In the pack's spotlight, I'm Nia Simons, the mate of Zane Lewis, the richest alpha around.

But once the crowd clears, I'm nickel-and-diming every cent through endless red tape, waiting on my mate's sign-off like some lowly clerk.

Our first year bound together, I got hit with my cycle out of nowhere, standing at the checkout with nothing but lint in my pockets for a pack of pads. Some stranger clocked the blood soaking through my jeans from behind and covered the tab out of sheer pity.

Come the next morning, Zane hit me with that stone-cold stare and said the mess had ruined the car seats, so he'd just handed the whole ride off to the butler like it was yesterday's trash.

Year two, I dragged myself up to Xiloria Town to light a candle for him at the shrine, but the altitude knocked me flat, passed out cold and woke up in a healer's ward, fighting for air. That same night, they hit pause on the works because I couldn't pony up the fee. It took an enforcer vouching for me to pull me back from the edge.

When I finally limped home, Zane treated it like a quarterly report: why hadn't I filed the healer's notes and the bill for approval first?

By year three, my ride crapped out in a snowdrift, and I must've blown up his line a dozen times begging for cab fare. All I got was a breezy "stick to the process" before he clicked off.

Teens below zero, that bone-chilling winter wind whipping like a lash, I locked eyes on that godforsaken approval chain and hoofed it through the night to get back.

The second the door swung open, warm blood trickled down my thighs.

I'd lost the pup.

I stared at the phone ping, fifty bucks for a cab, finally greenlit-and hit the floor like a sack of bricks, my chest hollowed out, deader than a doornail.

Zane's call buzzed right then. I thumbed it on autopilot, numb as a post.

"Stylist and driver's all set on my end. Two hours to the gala-don't keep 'em waiting."

Click. No room for my two cents.

Dressed up like a mannequin-flawless makeup, the season's hottest threads from the high-end racks-they shipped me right on time into the ballroom fray.

The whole crowd jammed up around Vivian Lynn's pampered pup Snowy, toasting its one-month bash like royalty.

I watched Zane slap down a fat stack of five hundred grand in cash right by the dog bed. "That's for Snowy-full-moon gift."

Everything after that was white noise. My gaze nailed to that wad, fists balled so tight my nails carved bloody crescents into my palms.

Fifty bucks for a ride took him all damn night to rubber-stamp. Half a mil for a mutt? Not a twitch.

The little life I'd just carried in my belly worth less than this she-wolf's flea-bitten sidekick.

My hand drifted to my stomach, and a bitter laugh clawed its way out.

Vivian's grin froze solid. "Nia, what's that supposed to mean? You think it's a hoot, all these folks fawning over a pup's milestone?"

She scooped the dog into her arms, eyes welling up like faucets. "To you, it's just some mangy beast. To me? Family. Blood-thick."

Zane's face went thundercloud dark. His hand clamped my waist, shoving me a step forward, voice like gravel under boots. "Apologize. To Vivian. And to Snowy."

I whipped around to face him, and the last threads of hope in my gut unraveled into straight-up despair.

Three years bound, and he'd strong-armed me into groveling to her-five hundred thirty-one times, by my count.

My perfume too heady? Triggered her sniffles-sorry.

My binding day clashed with her grandma's passing? My bad-sorry.

Even our framed shot from the ceremony, with that vista she obsessed over in the backdrop? Yeah, grovel-sorry.

And now? Her damn dog.

He yanked me out by the wrist like a rag doll.

"Snowy's family to he, priceless, the kind money can't touch. You're cut from different cloth."

I froze right there, gut-punched. I'd poured three years of sweat and silence into showing him the truth, but in his wolfish eyes? I was still that gold-digging stray who'd cashed out and bolted for the door.

Back in college, Zane and I were thick as thieves, talked big about sealing our fates post-grad, moonlit promises and all. But on diploma day, the healers dropped the hammer: some inherited gene glitch, ticking like a bomb.

I couldn't saddle him with that shadow, couldn't bear fading out in his arms and leaving him scarred for life. So I swallowed the ache, scrawled a goodbye note, and ghosted into the ether.

Fate looped me back when the curse stabilized, but he'd already rewritten the story: I'd pocketed five mil from his dam to cut and run.

She was long gone to the great hunt by then, and with those doctored receipts staring me down, I was shouting into the wind.

So he bound me anyway-glamour-puss in the pack's gaze, but starved of a single scrap in the shadows.

His twisted proof-of-love gauntlet. Run it or rot.

"Apologize. Don't make me bark it twice more."

His chill cut through the air. I eyed the wolf before me and finally got it: you can't thaw a heart that's iced over for keeps.

Out it tumbled, smooth as script: "I'm sorry."

Vivian's waterworks cut off like a faucet twist. She flung herself into his chest, all coy, smearing her lipstick across his crisp shirt on purpose.

He just shook his head with that fond chuckle, stroking her back like a fretful pup. "How do we square this one?"

Arm looped his waist, she nodded at the dog, batting those lashes. "Make it official, be Snowy's god sire. Then she's your little girl."

Zane dipped his chin, scooped the mutt up like it was kin, and the pack erupted-whistles and howls for a "family portrait" of the trio.

I got jostled to the stairwell edge, drowning in the shutter snaps.

Vivian snagged the print, fished his wallet smooth as silk, and tucked it in. "Look at you, head of the family now. Gotta step up for me and Snowy."

The room roared with backslaps and grins. Nobody spared a glance for the ghost in the corner. Nobody clocked the mate standing right there.

Three years of this song and dance, and next to her? I was less than dust.

I slipped the villa without a ripple, snow swallowing my tracks.

Flakes swirling thick as grief-my pup snuffed out, while his "daughter" got the crown.

Lost track of the miles, boots numb, when my phone chirped. Glanced down: Zane.

When'd you bail? Where you at? Sending a ride.

Fingers shook as I flicked open a post-Vivian's fresh grid, nine shots deep. Zane in every frame.

Shoutout to pup's sire for crashing my night-built me ten snow wolves out there. That gold collar for the little one? Way too roomy!

I zoomed on the gleam around Snowy's scruff. Phone slipped from my grip, cracked on the ice.

That collar? The one I'd handpicked for our pup, dreaming of tiny claws batting at it.

He'd carved out time to play in the drifts with her-her-and offloaded my hope onto a damn lapdog.

Tears traced hot paths down my cheeks. I fished the phone up, his texts piling on.

I treat Vivian like blood kin-you know that. Just pack ribbing to keep the vibe alive. Dial back the huff, yeah? Secretary's hooking you up with a fresh ride.

Blood kin?

I killed the screen, dropped to a crouch by the roadside, choking on a laugh that wouldn't come. Just the sobs, building like a storm.

I'd chalked our do-over to some cosmic wink from the moon. Now? Crystal: my fool's errand, chasing echoes.

Three years back, curse in check, I raced the skies to hunt him down.

Mid-flight, Harold Lewis clutched his chest-full meltdown.

I'd crammed the basics of patching wounds; pulled the old wolf through by the skin of his fangs.

They hauled me to the Lewis house, where he rounded up his five grandsons in the great hall, locking eyes on me. "These pups are yours for the picking. Bind to one, and the pack's legacy rides with him."

I opened my mouth to bow out-fate's prank too rich-but my gaze snagged on Zane. Heart slammed like a trap.

He was one of the five. One of mine.

Grateful for the twist of the winds, I stretched out a hand his way. "If he's game... it's him."

Three years gone, I'd claimed Zane as my own.

Today? I scrubbed the salt from my face.

Zane could rot unbound. I was done.

At the Lewis ancestral home, Harold scanned my ashen face-set like flint-and rasped it out once more. "This for real? Shattering the bond?"

I gave a flat nod, deadpan. "Pup's gone. Three years ground me to bone. I'm tapped."

Regret flickered in his grizzled stare, but he sealed it. "Alright. Month from now, unbound papers in hand. Snag ten percent of the pack's stake-keep it close. That's my amends for the life we lost. And the legacy? Yanked. That thick-skulled whelp'll eat his howl one day..."