Chased by the Scorned Alpha

I’m already eating breakfast in the mess hall when Ash arrives, Sabrina on his arm. As the kid sister of our delta, she knows what an honor it is to come in on the Alpha’s arm.

An honor he has never given me. We’ve been together for seven years, and not once has he allowed me the privilege of walking in on his arm.

“You’re not officially my Luna,” he’d say. “We wouldn’t want people to get the wrong idea.”

As he takes his seat next to me with Sabrina on his other side, he leans in to kiss me.

I turn my head away.

“Don’t be like this, Mariah,” he grumbles as he opens his napkin. “I’m sorry I had to cancel our dinner, something came up. The other pack alphas wanted to have some drinks and…”

He doesn’t bother finishing his sentence, turning instead of laughing at something Sabrina said about the shape of the pancake she had put on her plate.

“Besides, it was your fault we didn’t get to spend time together. What were you doing that kept you out so late?”

I say something about being in the hospital but he isn’t really listening. I want to tell him about the baby. I want to tell him about what I found and how confused and hurt I feel.

But even though I pull on his arm, he’s only paying half attention to anything I say. Sabrina is whispering something in his ear again and I find myself growing more and more angry as the moments pass.

I slam my fork down on the table, rattling my glass of water, and knocking it over by accident. It dribbles down the table, landing in his lap.

Ashton turns and glares. “What the hell, Mariah? I..” Blinking, he sits back, taking in my appearance, his mouth dropping open as he notices the cuts and bruises. “You look like shit. What the fuck happened to you.?”

His words hit me like a slap. Not a single word of care or concern. I could have died yesterday and my body shows the proof, but he cares more about a little spilled water than he does about me.

“Maybe she ran into a door?” Sabrina teases, laughing at my expense. “You should really be more careful, Mariah. You’ll hurt your pretty nose running into doors.”

My wolf, Natasha, snaps at her in response as my anger rises. I have to take deep breaths to keep my beast from rising and tearing out her glistening blonde hair.

Ashton watches as I stand, amusement coloring his features as I my cheeks flush with pain and rage. He’s laughing with her, his hands across his belly as he fights to contain his mirth.

“I WAS IN A CAR ACCIDENT!” I finally snap, drawing his attention away from her. “Didn’t you get ANY of my messages?”

He mumbles something about being busy.

“Yeah, you were so busy you blocked my calls,” I scoff. “I could have died.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Mari,” he rolls his eyes. “Obviously you’re fine, you just need to calm down.”

“I lost our…” I stop. I don’t want the pack to know our personal business. “You know what, Happy anniversary to you too!” I shout as I turn, leaving him standing there, not bothering to look back to see if he followed me out.

The door closes behind me with a loud slam.

“What was that?!” Ash demands a few minutes later as he yanks open our bedroom door. “Do you realize how much you just embarrassed me out there?” His face is red, his blond hair sticking out in each direction as he rubs his hands through his pomade, ruining his slicked-back style. “Yeah, so I had to schedule something on the same day as our anniversary. So what? It’s not like we’re married. It isn’t even real.”

I don’t argue, I don’t beg for forgiveness, instead I pull a paper bag out of the closet and hand it to him.

“You’re right,” I reply. “It isn’t real.”

He looks inside, frowning until his eyes widen in shock.

“You should really tell Sabrina to be more careful with her things next time,” I sniff, turning my back on him.

I hear the sound of paper crumbling right before he opens the door.

“You want to be a suspicious bitch, fine!” he growls, using his alpha influence to cowl me. “But don’t expect me to hang around and listen to you accuse me. I’ve got a pack to run. I don’t have time for your suspicious she-wolf bullshit!”

The walls shake as he uses his full alpha strength to slam the door. The old me would be whimpering on the ground, begging for him to give me another chance to show him what a good Luna I could be.

But after yesterday, I’m done bowing to him, soothing his pain and anger while ignoring my own.

Grabbing a suitcase out of the closet, I begin shoving my things inside.