After My Alpha Chose My Sister Over Me

The scent of rosemary and seared steak filled the kitchen, a smell that usually brought comfort, but tonight, it only fueled the knot of anxiety tightening in my stomach. I hummed a soft, trembling tune—one of the few things my grandmother had left me—as I arranged the garnish on the plate. It was our third anniversary. Three years of silence. Three years of sleeping in the guest room while my mate, Alpha Ryker Davis, pretended I didn’t exist.

But tonight, I had hope. I had prepared his favorite meal. Maybe, just maybe, the Moon Goddess would finally soften his heart.

The heavy oak doors of the pack house burst open, slamming against the walls with a violence that made me jump. A gust of wind swept through the hallway, carrying a scent that made my blood run cold. It was heavy, floral, and suffocatingly sweet. Artificial roses.

I stepped out of the kitchen, the heavy silver tray trembling in my hands. There, standing in the entryway, was a vision of perfection that haunted my nightmares. Natalia. My older sister. She was supposed to be in France, but here she was, her blonde hair cascading over a designer coat, her blue eyes sparkling with a triumph I knew too well.

"Ryker!" she cried out, her voice a melodic lure.

Ryker appeared at the top of the stairs. He froze, his dark eyes widening as they locked onto her. The cold indifference he always wore around me shattered, replaced by a raw, hungry desperation. He didn't even look at me. He rushed down the stairs, moving faster than I had ever seen him move toward me.

"Natalia?" he breathed, inhaling deeply. "You’re back."

He reached her in strides, bypassing me completely. In his haste to get to her, his shoulder clipped mine. It wasn't an accident; he simply didn't care that I was in his path. The impact sent me stumbling. The silver tray slipped from my fingers, crashing onto the marble floor with a deafening clang. Fine china shattered. The steak, the rosemary, the three years of hope—it all lay ruined in a heap of grease and porcelain.

Ryker didn't flinch. He had Natalia in his arms, burying his face in her neck, inhaling that masked scent as if it were oxygen. "I knew it," he murmured, his voice thick with emotion I had craved for a thousand days. "My true mate."

Natalia looked over his shoulder, her eyes locking onto mine. A slow, cruel smirk spread across her lips. She had won.

Finally, Ryker pulled back slightly, turning his head to glare at me. His eyes were hard, devoid of any warmth. "Clean up this mess, Angelina. You’re ruining the moment."

He turned his back on me, guiding Natalia toward his office—the Alpha suite I was never allowed to enter.

The next morning, the sun rose grey and bleak. I hadn't slept. I was still scrubbing the phantom grease from my hands when the summons came. The Alpha commanded everyone to the Meeting Hall.

I stood on the dais, my legs trembling so hard I thought they might give way. The entire Silverfang Pack was watching. Hundreds of eyes, some pitying, most mocking. Ryker stood center stage, radiating power and authority. Natalia stood beside him, her hand resting possessively on his chest, her fingers curling into his shirt.

The silence in the hall was suffocating until Ryker’s voice boomed, laced with the terrifying weight of the Alpha Tone. It forced every wolf in the room to lower their heads in submission, including me.

"For three years, this pack has suffered under a false union," Ryker announced, his voice echoing off the stone walls. He turned to me, his expression stony. "I did my duty. I took the substitute. But the Moon Goddess has returned what is mine."

My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. *No. Please, no.*

He took a breath, and the air around us crackled with power. "I, Alpha Ryker Davis, reject you, Angelina Rogers, as my mate and Luna."

The words hit me like a physical blow. A scream tore from my throat, but it was drowned out by the sound of my own soul fracturing. The bond, however one-sided it had been, was violently severed. It felt as though a serrated knife was being dragged through my chest. I collapsed to my knees, clutching my stomach as bile and blood rose in my throat.

I retched, vomiting a splatter of crimson onto the polished floor. The pain was blinding, a white-hot agony that seared my veins.

Through the haze of tears and pain, I saw Natalia. She wasn't looking at Ryker. She was looking down at me, her smile beatific and terrifying.

"Get her out of my sight," Ryker commanded, his voice devoid of pity. "She is stripped of her rank. From this day forward, she is an Omega. Take her to the basement."

Two warriors—men I had once cooked for, men I had healed—grabbed me by my arms and dragged me away. I was too weak to fight. They stripped the Luna ring from my finger and tossed me into the damp, moldy darkness of the Omega quarters.

Hours later, I was on my hands and knees again, this time in the main hallway, scrubbing scuff marks with a rag and a bucket of freezing water. My chest still burned with a hollow, aching void where the bond used to be.

"Did you hear?" a guard whispered to a maid a few feet away, not bothering to lower his voice. "Ryker isn't waiting. He plans to mark Natalia at the Moon Festival next week."

"Finally," the maid replied, stepping over my wet rag as if I were part of the flooring. "A real Luna."

I scrubbed harder, the rough bristles tearing into my skin, wishing I could scrub away the pain as easily as the dirt.