Chased By the Regretful Alpha

THIRD PERSON'S POV

At the same time, the moment the bond shattered, Maverick felt it like a knife plunging into his heart. It wasn’t just the physical pain that brought him to his knees, gasping for air as though the wind had been knocked out of him—it was the sudden, terrifying emptiness. The link that had always been there, that connection to Vera that had been as constant as his own heartbeat, was gone. Just…gone.

He staggered back, gripping his chest as though he could somehow hold on to the remnants of what had been. But there was nothing. Only a hollow ache that pulsed through his veins, leaving him trembling in the aftermath.

“No,” he choked out, his voice barely above a whisper. “Vera…”

But she was gone. He didn’t need to see her to know that. The bond had been severed completely, leaving a void that threatened to swallow him whole.

“Alpha! Alpha Maverick!” Hailey’s voice pierced through the haze of his pain, but he barely registered it. She was by his side in an instant, her hands on his arms, her face a mask of concern. “What happened? Are you okay?”

He couldn’t answer her. Couldn’t form the words. All he could think about was the searing loss that consumed him, the realization that Vera had done the unthinkable. She had broken their bond.

“No…no, no, no…” Maverick muttered, shaking his head as if denying it would somehow make it untrue. His heart pounded in his chest. His wolf howled and scratched deep inside him, feeling the pain harsher than he ever felt.

“Alpha, what’s wrong?” Hailey’s voice grew more insistent, her grip on his arms tightening.

He finally looked at her, but all he saw was the reason for his loss. He chose Hailey... And now what? He lost the most important person of his life! Fuck.

“She’s gone,” he managed to say, the words bitter on his tongue. “Vera’s gone. My Luna's gone...”

Hailey’s expression flickered for the briefest moment—something dark and fleeting that Maverick barely registered in his state of anguish. But then she was all concerned again, her voice soft and soothing. “Gone? What do you mean? Alpha, what happened?”

“The bond…she broke it,” he said, his voice trembling with disbelief. “She broke our bond, Hailey. I can’t feel her anymore.”

Hailey’s lips parted, as though she were about to speak, but instead, she closed them, casting her eyes downward. The Alpha was too lost in his grief to notice the strange way she seemed to compose herself, her eyes flitting briefly to the side before she looked back at him with what appeared to be genuine sympathy.

“I’m so sorry, Alpha,” she murmured, reaching up to touch his face. “I can’t imagine how much this hurts. But…you still have me. I’ll be here for you, no matter what.”

Her words did little to comfort him. In fact, they only deepened the guilt and shame gnawing at his insides. How had it come to this? How had he allowed things to get so bad that Vera—the woman he loved—had felt she had no choice but to leave him?

He tore himself away from Hailey’s touch, his eyes blazing with a newfound determination. “I need to find her. I need to fix this.”

“Alpha, wait!” Hailey called after him as he turned on his heel and sprinted toward the remnants of the battlefield. The acrid scent of smoke and burnt wood still clung to the air, mingling with the coppery tang of blood. The fire had been extinguished, and the rogues drove away, but the destruction they had left in their wake was immense.

He tore through the ruins of what had once been his pack’s stronghold, his heart hammering in his chest. He called out her name, desperate to hear her voice, to see her face, to feel the bond rekindle even if it was only a sliver of hope. But there was nothing. No sign of her anywhere.

Finally, he came to the edge of the packlands, where the forest began. He stopped, panting, his breath ragged. It was as if a great weight had settled on his chest, pressing down with the crushing reality that she was gone. He felt it in his bones—Vera had left, and she wasn’t coming back.

“Alpha!” Hailey’s voice was closer now. She’d followed him, her eyes wide with concern as she approached. “You can’t go after her. She made her choice. You have to accept it.”

But Maverick couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t accept that he had lost her for good. Not like this. Not when it was his fault for letting things spiral out of control.