After My Alpha Locked Me in Flames, I Rejected Him

The hospital room's sterile white walls seemed to close in around me as I stared at the ceiling, counting the tiles to distract myself from the pain. My burns throbbed despite the minimal medication Marcus allowed. Three days had passed since Elena slipped me the burner phone with its precious cargo of security logs.

I heard footsteps approaching—too heavy for a nurse, too purposeful for a doctor. The door creaked open, and I tensed, expecting Alina's smug face or Marcus's cold stare.

Instead, a janitor stepped in, pushing a cleaning cart. Something about him seemed off—his movements too fluid, his posture too alert. When he looked up, I recognized him from somewhere.

"You're Theo," I whispered, my damaged vocal cords making it sound more like a question than a statement.

He quickly closed the door behind him and removed his cap, revealing auburn hair and intelligent eyes. "Guilty as charged."

"The Rogue streamer," I added, trying to sit up despite the pain.

"Former streamer," he corrected, pulling out a tablet from his cart. "At least for today."

He approached my bed cautiously, glancing at the door. "I hacked the visitor logs. You have exactly seven minutes before someone notices I'm not supposed to be here."

I nodded weakly. "What do you want?"

"I think the question is what do you need?" He placed the tablet on my lap. "Because I found something you should see."

The screen showed thermal footage of the night of the fire. The timestamp matched when I'd been trapped inside.

"I was streaming an urban exploration of your pack's perimeter," Theo explained. "I thought the old estate would make good content."

The footage showed the Alpha estate engulfed in flames, then panned to capture the Pack House in the distance. Theo zoomed in on a balcony where two figures stood watching the blaze.

"Declan and Alina," I breathed, recognizing them instantly.

"But that's not all," Theo said, tapping the screen to activate the audio.

Their voices came through clearly, laughing as they watched my prison burn.

"Is that smoke bothering you, Alpha?" Alina's voice purred.

"Nothing to worry about," Declan replied. "Probably just Celine burning dinner again."

They clinked glasses as sirens wailed in the distance.

"I ignored three fire alarm notifications on my phone," Declan said casually. "She'll learn to stop being so careless."

Theo paused the video. "The official story is that no one knew about the fire until the patrols saw the smoke. But this—" he gestured to the frozen image, "—shows they saw it from the beginning."

"They watched me burn," I whispered, tears stinging my eyes.

Theo nodded grimly. "I've been streaming for years. I know when someone's lying, and that official statement stinks worse than your burned house."

"Why show me this?" I asked.

"Because I hate liars," he said simply. "And because no one deserves what happened to you."

He pulled out a small drive. "I've copied everything. Thermal footage, audio, timestamps—it's all here."

I took it with bandaged fingers. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," Theo said. "We need to combine this with whatever you have."

I reached for Elena's burner phone under my pillow and handed it to him. "Security logs. He locked me in."

Theo's eyes widened as he examined the files. "This is enough for attempted murder charges, not just negligence."

"We need to—" I began, but my voice failed me.

Theo handed me his tablet. "Type it."

I slowly typed out my plan: *We need to present this at the next Pack Gathering. The Lycan Council will be there. We need to expose them both.*

"Can you do it?" I asked.

Before he could answer, the door swung open. Alina stood there, her perfect smile faltering slightly at the sight of Theo.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said with false sweetness. "I didn't realize you had company."

Theo quickly resumed his janitor pose, grabbing his cleaning supplies. "Just doing my job, Luna."

Alina's eyes narrowed at the title. She waited until he left before approaching my bed.

"Poor Celine," she cooed, sitting on the edge of my mattress. "How are you feeling today?"

I said nothing, watching her warily.

"I came to check on you," she continued, her voice dripping with false concern. "After all, you're still technically pack, even if you're not really the Luna anymore."

She leaned closer, her perfume suffocating me. "It must be so hard, being rejected and burned and... oh yes, barren."

Her manicured nail traced the edge of my bandage, then suddenly dug into my burn graft.

I bit back a scream as pain shot through me.

"If you don't leave this pack immediately," she whispered, her face inches from mine, "I'll finish what the fire started."

I remained perfectly still as her words poured over me like acid. Under my pillow, Elena's burner phone recorded every syllable.

Alina smiled again, patting my hand condescendingly. "Rest well, Celine. I'll check on you tomorrow."

As she sashayed out, I clutched the phone tighter, a plan forming in my mind. The recording would be my first piece of ammunition in a war she didn't even know had begun.