Alpha's Downfall for Revenge

I sat alone in the darkness of my chambers, the room Gabriel had assigned me after I was discharged from the pack healer's care. Not our bedroom—a guest room tucked away in the east wing, as far from the pack's activities as possible. Out of sight, out of mind. Like damaged goods to be hidden away.

Three days had passed since I'd walked in on Gabriel and Victoria's intimate embrace. Three days of isolation, of tears that had finally run dry, leaving nothing but a hollow ache in my chest where my heart used to be. Where my pup used to grow.

I pressed my palm against my now-flat stomach, the emptiness there a cruel reminder of everything I'd lost. The moonstone necklace that had once hung proudly around my neck now lay shattered in the corner where I'd thrown it after Gabriel's cruel revelation.

"There was never a mate bond, Sophia."

His words echoed in my mind, cutting deeper each time. How could I have been so blind? So foolish?

I shifted on the bed, wincing at the lingering pain in my body, when my elbow knocked against something hard tucked between the mattress and headboard. Frowning, I reached back and pulled out a small tablet—one of the devices our pack used for the internal communication network.

Someone had forgotten it here. Or perhaps it belonged to whoever had stayed in this room before me.

My fingers trembled as I powered it on, the screen illuminating my tear-stained face in the darkness. I hadn't been allowed access to the pack's communication system since my return from the healer's. Gabriel had claimed it was to help me rest, but now I understood—he was isolating me, cutting me off.

To my surprise, the tablet still had active credentials stored. I navigated through the system, muscle memory guiding my fingers from the countless times I'd managed communications for Gabriel's growing empire. For our future, I'd thought.

A notification caught my eye—archived mind-link logs. Gabriel, as Alpha, had his private mind-links automatically archived for security purposes. A system I'd implemented myself to protect him from rival packs.

Something cold and determined settled in my chest as I opened the archive.

There they were. Hundreds of private mind-link conversations between Gabriel and Victoria, dating back months—long before he'd allowed her to destroy our future with a single, cruel step.

I scrolled to the earliest entry, my heart pounding painfully against my ribs.

"She's so pathetically devoted," Gabriel's voice echoed in the transcribed mind-link. "You should see how eagerly she offers up her father's resources. As if she thinks it will make me love her more."

"Does she still believe you're her true mate?" Victoria's response dripped with mockery.

"Of course. I've perfected the act. The moonstone necklace sealed it—she nearly cried when I gave it to her. If only she knew I bought it for you first."

My fingers shook violently as I scrolled through more conversations, each more devastating than the last.

"Her father's alliance with the Eastern packs is the final piece. Once the pup is born, I'll have everything I need. Then we can finally be together properly, my love."

"What about her?"

"She'll have served her purpose. The Silvermoon bloodline through our pup will cement my position. She'll be nothing more than the mother of my heir."

Tears blurred my vision, but these weren't the broken tears of before. These burned like acid, fueled by a rage so pure it felt like fire in my veins.

Every sacrifice, every resource I'd diverted from my father's pack, every alliance I'd leveraged—all of it had been to build a future for a man who had never loved me. Who had been planning all along to discard me once I'd given him what he wanted.

And now, I didn't even have our pup.

I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing. The pain was transforming, hardening into something dangerous and cold inside me. I needed help. I needed someone I could trust.

Before I could second-guess myself, I activated the mind-link function on the tablet. There was only one person I could reach out to now.

"Ryan?" I projected my thoughts tentatively, unsure if he would even answer after all this time.

The response was immediate, warm, and tinged with concern.

"Sophia? Is that really you?"

Ryan Matthews, Beta of the Moonveil Pack. My childhood friend. The one who had warned me about Gabriel years ago, whose cautions I had dismissed as jealousy.

As his voice filled my mind, something unexpected happened. A scent—sandalwood and rain—seemed to envelop me, bringing the first moment of comfort I'd felt in weeks.

"I need your help," I whispered into the mind-link, my decision made. "I need to come home."