Filed to story: Claimed by My Ex’s Alpha Brother
My entire being shied away from what I was about to do, but it was the only way to protect her from being exiled and made to live with the same kind of wolves who attacked her.
Also, how could Ella and I even be together without putting WaterLock in mortal danger?
For the sake of my Mates and WaterLock’s safety, I had to shatter both of our hearts.
“Ella Wilson, I reject you as my Mate.”
Pain ripped through my heart. My entire body was burning with agony. Someone must have lit my soul on fire. I blacked out for a moment and when I came to I registered Noah saying “Two”.
No!
Immediately, I regretted what I’d done.
Ella clutched her chest, and her face crumpled with agony. Before I could stop her, she rushed across my room and swung her leg over the windowsill.
The sound of my door swinging open distracted me, and when Noah strolled into my room, I was alone.
Ella POV
Six years later
The early morning sun rose over our wide green field that was dotted with red and yellow flowers. My Aunt Mia’s farm was surrounded by a wooden fence to keep the cows and horses from running away. In the distance, large mountains peeked over the rolling hills. September was drawing to a close, and the oak trees’ leaves were turning bright orange, burgundy, and dark brown. The colors of fall. This was a beautiful, peaceful place to live.
It’s the only home my son had ever known.
As I fed the chickens, Grayson played with his dog, Goose, a black lab that almost had as much energy as my five-year-old boy. Grayson’s light-brown hair flopped against his forehead as he ran around his dog, his hazel eyes bright with excitement. Grayson and Goose always joined me for my early morning chores around the farm. It was a good way to get their energy out.
My son let out a high-pitched giggle as Goose licked his rosy cheeks, and my heart burst with love for my son. Sometimes, I would go into his room at night just to watch him sleep, marveling at the fact that I helped create this perfect boy.
Then, I was reminded that I didn’t create this little miracle alone. Every day, I noticed something new about Grayson that reminded me of Liam. There were the physical things, like how my son’s hair was the exact shade of tawny brown as his father’s and they both had a smattering of freckles on their faces.
They were also small things, too. Like whenever Grayson smiled, he squinted slightly, just like Liam did. And Grayson walked the exact same way as his father, with his shoulders back, his chin lifted, his pale, freckled arms by his side. Which was odd since Grayson had never met his father. Liam didn’t even know that he had a son.
Right after Liam rejected me that night in his room, I ran home, stumbling and sobbing. It felt like a bomb had gone off in my body. When Liam broke our Mating bond, my heart and soul seemed ruined beyond repair.
I carried that pain with me wherever I went. Whenever I heard Liam’s name, my heart broke all over again.
For months, I was in a zombie-like state, moving mechanically, allowing my parents to pack my things and sneak me out of our pack’s territory. During my pregnancy, I did everything my mom and Aunt Mia said to keep the baby that was growing in my stomach healthy.
The first time I held Grayson in my arms, it was like waking up after sleepwalking for nine months. I realized that in order to be the best mother for my son, I needed to be actively present in his life. So, for my boy, I tried to compartmentalize the anger and resentment I felt for his father.
Slowly, I began to find myself again as I adapted to my new role as a mother. I enrolled in the only college that would still take me after I took a gap year to have Grayson. Through online classes, I earned a Bachelor’s degree in Military Studies.
When Grayson turned three, I had the sudden epiphany that I didn’t have to stay at my Aunt Mia’s farm. I could go anywhere with my son and start a new life. But even though he was young, this farm was Grayson’s home. If I left, I would be taking him away from his grandma and his Aunt Mia, who had helped me raise him. And where would we go? I couldn’t go back to WaterLock. What if someone were to discover Grayson was Liam’s baby? I could still be exiled. Technically, I was still part of the WaterLock Pack. If I were to be exiled, no other pack would allow me to join them. I’d be thrown to the Rogues.
Also, there hadn’t been any Rogue wolf attacks in my aunt’s small village. The town of Shadow Pass was hidden in between large mountains and wasn’t affiliated with any pack. Essentially, it was a no man’s land. Most people in our kingdom didn’t even know it existed. So, for right now, my aunt’s farm was the safest place for my son to be.
I ran the trail in the woods behind the farm late at night in my wolf form. With the mountains looming above me and with nothing but my thoughts for company, sometimes it seemed like the mountains were slowly moving, trapping me inside. The feeling lessened when I got back to the farm, but it was always there in the back of my mind. When I fell asleep, I was reminded of what I’d been trying to run away from.
Dreams of Liam plagued me, his intense green eyes, his insistent mouth on mine, his hands caressing my body and giving me the kind of pleasure I knew I’d never feel again. My former Mate and I had only spent one night together and I’d been dreaming about it ever since.
“Mom, when is Grandpa coming to visit again?” Grayson asked from behind me, interrupting my internal musing.
My son was sitting in the grass next to Goose, patting him on the belly. Both of them were panting from taking turns chasing each other.
I turned and raised one of my eyebrows.
“You know that Grandpa’s visits aren’t normally planned. He comes to visit us when he isn’t too busy with work,” I said.
My father made the ten-hour trip here every few months. Sometimes, when he was too swamped with Delta duties, my mom would travel back to WaterLock to spend time with him. Whenever my father visited, he brought a handwritten letter from Liam, but I refused to read them, throwing away each one. My dad said that Liam was always asking him how I was and if he could visit me, but my father just told him I was too sick. No one knew about Liam breaking our Mating bond. My dad, mom, and Aunt Mia all just thought I refused to speak with Liam because it could be dangerous.
Whenever he visited, my father brought news from the pack. Thankfully, no one else in WaterLock had been killed by a Rogue wolf. Liam had hired contract warriors to help defend our borders. My father explained that Liam would contact warriors from the Pyregate Kingdom and arrange for them to travel to our pack. The only problem was that these warriors couldn’t stay for a long time and they had to keep cycling through new ones. There had been a few close calls of Rogues attacking a pack member, but at least they were only injured. The contract warriors weren’t a long-term option, so Alpha Everett was still pushing for the arranged marriage between Olivia and Liam.
My father told me that the only problem with the marriage deal was that Liam was doing pretty well for himself since he owned a cybersecurity company-which was how he had the funds to hire contract warriors to help alleviate the threat to the pack.
When the Alpha King heard about Liam’s successful company, he kept raising the price for his service of providing members of the Royal Guard to help protect WaterLock. My father told me that the price the Alpha King was demanding now was so high that no one could possibly afford it. The marriage deal was at a stalemate.
The only reason that I was willing to listen to any news about my former Mate was because it concerned my father’s safety and his career.
My son’s shoulders slumped from my telling him that I didn’t know when he would see his grandpa next.
“Oh,” he muttered and frowned.
I ruffled his slightly curly hair. This was something he had inherited from his grandfather.
“We can video call him tonight, buddy,” I promised. “He’s always excited to see you even if it’s through a screen. What made you ask about him, honey?” I walked over to the red chicken coop, and Grayson and Goose followed after me. “Are you just missing him?”
I began to collect the small brown eggs and placed them carefully in my wooden basket. Aunt Mia, my mom, and I all took turns selling eggs, milk, bouquets of flowers, baked goods, and fruits and vegetables from our garden in town. Since Shadow Pass was up in the mountains, it was hard for us to receive deliveries, so a lot of families relied on the farms for food.
“Yeah,” Grayson answered glumly. “I don’t know, I just have a bad feeling.” My son paused and patted Goose’s head absently. “Can I have a PB&J for lunch?”
I picked up another egg but didn’t put it in the basket. Instead, I spun around to face my son.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?