The Alpha Chose Her, I Took His Pup

The girl was his mate, set up by the pack elders in a blind arrangement. They had started communicating about three months ago, and within less than a month, they had gone from strangers to officially bonded. They even adopted a stray cat together, a symbol of their budding connection. She shared her experiences with him—food, music, the simple pleasure of watching a cloud drift across the sky. He responded to everything, sending her carefully curated pictures of his dinners, conveniently omitting any trace of me.

My interactions with Alpha Kohen Rice, however, were strictly professional. It was only under the cover of midnight that he’d whisper “darling” in my ear—a word meant to ignite something between us. Despite everything, I clung to it as if it were a treasure I’d guarded for a decade.

Laughing at my own naivety, I rummaged through a drawer to find Kohen’s forgotten pack of cigarettes. It had been so long since the last one that the smoke choked me, bringing tears to my eyes.

My colleague, Scarlett Palmer, mind-linked me: *Brooklyn, did you know Alpha Kohen has found his mate?*

In public, Kohen and I were always strictly professional, often clashing over our differing viewpoints. No one could have imagined how he playfully teased me when we were alone, whispering, “What can you do with the mate the Moon Goddess chose for you? Just spoil them!”

It was an utterly unimaginable scene.

And today, Kohen added Miriam to the pack’s group mind-link.

*Hello everyone, I’m Miriam Meyer, Alpha Kohen’s Beta. Nice to meet you all!*

Her introduction was polite, but her tone carried a subtle possessiveness, as if she were already claiming her place beside him.

Sometimes words don’t need to be spoken to be understood.

I wasn’t sure how Kohen explained away the mind-link I intercepted, but I knew Miriam had been adding everyone from the pack, checking them off one by one.

Scarlett sent me a mental eye-roll. *Work is already annoying enough, and now we’re treated like imaginary rivals.*

Soon after, Miriam posted a picture of a latte on her pack’s shared mind-link, captioned: *Don’t snoop around in others’ business, manners matter!*

Kohen acknowledged her post with a mental nod of approval.

Expressionless, I grabbed a baseball bat and went on a rampage through the house. When the chaos was complete, I finally felt a sense of satisfaction.

As the cleaning crew arrived, I sat on the only intact couch, lost in thought. It wasn’t particularly valuable, but I was too drained. Truly, utterly exhausted.

“Ms. Rice, are you alright?” one of them asked, noticing my disheveled state. Meanwhile, my mental conversation with Kohen sat untouched for the past two hours.

I shook my head gently, offering a genuine smile. “Please take all of the lady’s belongings out of here.”