Six Days to Abandon My Fated Alpha

Reina Lawson’s marking ceremony with Alpha Dean Willis of the Silver Moon Pack was scheduled for the third of next month. The event was meant to be modest, a quiet affirmation of their mate bond without the pomp and spectacle often associated with such rituals. Reina had never mentioned her illness to Dean—a rare, incurable wolf-borne disease that left her with roughly six months to live. She also hadn’t told him that she had no intention of actually going through with the ceremony.

Reina could accept many things about Dean—his commanding presence as Alpha, his strength, his dedication to the pack—but his betrayal was something she couldn’t stomach. The thought of him embracing another woman, kissing her face, and searching for traces of a younger Reina in her made her insides churn with disgust. It was a violation of the mate bond, a sacred connection bestowed by the Moon Goddess, and it cut deeper than any physical wound.

Reina had been with Dean since her awakening at eighteen, their relationship spanning a decade. In the grand scheme of her life, which was now measured in months rather than years, she’d spent a significant portion of it on him. But in the time she had left, she wanted to reclaim herself, to live for something other than the expectations of a mate bond she no longer believed in.

She had booked a flight for a trip abroad, a journey to explore the world she loved but had never truly experienced while she still had the strength. Coincidentally, her departure was scheduled for the same day as the marking ceremony. As Reina packed her suitcase, she replaced the formal gowns she’d once imagined wearing for the ceremony with comfortable sundresses, practical for the adventures she planned. Instead of the elaborate feasts she’d once envisioned, she packed trays of spiced honey cake, perfect for sharing with fellow travelers she might meet along the way.

Her itinerary was filled with dreams she’d long postponed—visiting quaint cafes in quiet European towns, sipping coffee as the world passed by, hiking the stunning Alps, and losing herself in the pages of a book in cozy corners of bustling cafes reminiscent of those she’d read about in English novels. Through WhatsApp, she sent farewell messages to her friends, ensuring her memories were shared and cherished, even as her time dwindled.

Reina’s plan was simple yet daring: to leave behind the life she’d known, the mate bond she’d once cherished, and the man who had broken it. She would donate Dean’s fortune, a final act of defiance against the betrayal that had shattered her trust. Her flight, scheduled for the morning of the ceremony, would take her far from the Silver Moon Pack, far from the whispers and expectations that had defined her life for so long.

As she zipped up her suitcase, Reina glanced at the photo of her grandmother, Leighton, resting in the pack’s sacred burial ground. She had visited the grave the day before, speaking to the stone marker as if her grandmother could hear her. “I’ll be with you soon,” she had whispered, her voice trembling with both grief and resolve. “But first, I need to live.”

Whiskers, the stray wolf she’d taken in, nudged her leg, its usual aloofness replaced by an uncharacteristic tenderness. It was as if the creature sensed her imminent departure. Reina knelt, scratching behind its ears, her heart heavy but determined. She would leave this life behind, not with regret, but with the quiet strength of someone who had chosen to reclaim her own story, even in the face of the end.