My Alpha Wants Me Back

As I turned to leave, waiting for the moon lift, my moonstone buzzed. It was my mother calling. “Did you buy your entry token back to the pack territory yet?” she asked.

“Not yet,” I replied, keeping my voice steady. “I’ll book it in a few days.”

Before I could hang up, I heard Theron’s voice behind me, his tone carrying a note of confusion. “You’re booking a entry token?”

I quickly ended the call and turned to face him with a blank expression. “Yeah, there’s a new forest lodge nearby that everyone’s talking about,” I lied smoothly. “You have to reserve days in advance if you want to experience the whole thing.”

Theron didn’t press the matter further. He just gestured for me to follow him to a nearby guest lodge and booked us a shared suite to save pack resources.

He quickly got to work on his laptop, handling some urgent territory business. There was an unspoken agreement between us as we worked side by side into the early morning hours, waiting for a client from the northern alliance to respond.

Eventually, exhaustion crept up on me, and I fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up in bed, surprised to find myself tucked in carefully under a thick, soft blanket. Theron sat beside me, leaning casually against the headboard, flipping through the pack reports. He glanced over at me as I stirred.

“Breakfast will be here soon,” he said, picking up his moonstone to call for room service.

Halfway through breakfast, Theron suddenly asked, “Why did you change the rune pattern on your moonstone?”

I didn’t look up from my plate. “Felt like changing it,” I replied casually.

The truth was, the old rune pattern was our birthdays woven together. Since I was planning to leave for good, it didn’t make sense to keep it.

I heard him set down his fork, his tone shifting. “You were always asking me to go out for a run in the woods, weren’t you? I know a trail nearby.”

I knew there wasn’t an option to say no, not when the Alpha was taking time off from pack duties for me. So, I just nodded.

As we ran through the quiet, almost empty trail, I noticed the image of something I’d once dreamed of—Theron and I, running side by side, synchronized and strong, moving as if we were bound by more than memory.

But as the run wore on, I found myself struggling to keep up, fighting back yawns.

Theron must’ve noticed. “This is the trail you picked,” he said, a note of irritation creeping in. “You’re not enjoying it?”

“It’s fine. It’s good,” I said flatly, not bothering to fake enthusiasm.

He pressed his lips into a thin line, clearly not convinced. Just as he was about to say something, his moonstone buzzed, pulling him back to reality.

Without a word to me, Theron stood up and walked out of the den theater. The vision reel ended, and Theron still hadn’t returned.

Annoyed, I was about to mind-link him when I heard a familiar, irritatingly sweet voice from down the hall.

“Oh, Theron! You’re so amazing!” Celeste squealed.

I turned, spotting her as she clung to a massive stuffed wolf toy, practically bouncing up and down with excitement. She leaped into Theron’s arms, planting a kiss on his cheek, and he held her by the waist, chuckling softly. But the moment his eyes landed on me, his smile vanished.

“Luna! I didn’t know you were here too,” Celeste exclaimed, eyes wide and feigning innocence. A few seconds later, she gasped dramatically, covering her mouth. “Oh no! Don’t get the wrong idea! I just got a little excited, that’s all…”

Theron lightly tapped her on the nose, his tone playful. “What are you apologizing for?” he said, then turned to me, acting as if nothing was wrong. “The vision reel’s already over?”

Before I could respond, the loud blare of a pack alarm rang through the den.

In an instant, panic rippled through as wolves and pack members hurried toward the exits.

In the chaos, Theron instinctively grabbed Celeste’s hand, shielding her as they rushed toward the emergency door.

Five minutes later, the alarm was cleared—it had been a false alert.

Theron returned to where we had been standing, scanning the area, but I was nowhere in sight.

Two hours later, I was at the edge of pack territory, my single duffel bag over my shoulder, ready to shift for my journey back to my home pack. My moonstone kept buzzing nonstop. Theron’s name flashed on the screen over and over, but I ignored each call, setting my moonstone to silent.

Right before I shifted, I sent him one final message: We’re done.

As soon as it was sent, I crushed the moonstone in my hand, the final link to my past with Theron shattered.