The Alpha's Regret: Murdered By Her Mate

"Sign it," Simon growled, slamming the document onto the rickety table.

As the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack and my fated mate, he wasn't asking. He was commanding me to give my Wolf Essence—the source of my life—to my dying sister, Laila.

"If I give her my essence, I will die," I whispered, my body already trembling from the hidden poison coursing through my veins.

But Simon only looked at me with cold, amber eyes.

"Stop lying, Zora. You're just jealous because she is the future Luna and you are nothing. Sign it, or I will reject you publicly right now."

Broken and hopeless, I signed my life away.

I died the moment the silver scalpel touched my skin on the operating table.

It was only during the autopsy that the surgeon screamed in horror.

She discovered my organs were liquefied by chronic Wolfsbane poisoning.

And worse, she found that I had no essence to give. My primary essence had already been stolen five years ago—carved out of me by Laila herself to fake her own power.

Simon fell to his knees in the morgue, the realization shattering him.

He had forced his true mate to die to save the monster who had been killing her all along.

In a fit of madness, he executed Laila and then drove a silver dagger into his own heart, desperate to find me in the afterlife.

"I'm here, Zora," his ghost wept, kneeling before me in the realm of the dead. "Please, forgive me."

I looked at the man who had watched me rot without seeing me.

"No," I said.

And I turned my back on him forever.

Chapter 1

Zora POV:

The attic smelled of wet rot and old misery. I lay curled on the thin mattress, my body trembling not from the draft, but from the liquid fire coursing through my veins.

Wolfsbane.

*It wasn't a quick death. It was a slow, sadistic eviction.* It hunted down the wolf first, dissolving the spirit before coming for the flesh. My wolf, once a vibrant, golden thing in my mind, was silent. She was curled into a tight, shivering ball in the back of my consciousness, fading like a dying ember in the rain.

The door burst open, the handle slamming into the plaster with a violence that made my teeth rattle.

Simon Knightley filled the frame. His broad shoulders blocked out the hallway light, casting a long, jagged shadow over me. He was the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, the predator at the top of the food chain. He used to smell like storm clouds and ozone-a scent that made my knees weak with want. Now, it just smelled like danger.

"Get up, Zora," he growled. It wasn't a request; it was a vibration that shook my bones.

I tried to push myself up, but my arms were wet noodles. The poison had eaten too much of me. I coughed, the taste of copper and ash coating my tongue.

"I... I can't," I rasped.

Simon stepped into the room. His amber eyes were flat, dead things. He didn't see a mate. He didn't see a dying woman. He saw an obstacle.

"I didn't ask if you could," he said, his voice dropping to that terrifying Alpha register. "I am commanding you."

The air in the room turned to lead, crushing my lungs. *The Alpha Command wasn't something you fought; it was gravity.* My body betrayed me, bypassing my brain and my pain. My muscles jerked into motion, puppeteered by his voice. I stood up, swaying like a drunkard, tears of exertion blurring my vision.

He slapped a document onto the rickety table. "Sign it."

I looked down. The words swam, but the bold header was clear enough: *Voluntary Essence Donation Agreement*.

"Laila is critical," Simon said, his tone as clinical as a scalpel. "Her body is rejecting the treatments. She needs a transfusion of Wolf Essence. Yours."

Wolf Essence. The metaphysical organ near the kidneys, the battery for shifting and healing. Without it, you weren't just human; you were a husk.

"Simon," I whispered, forcing my eyes to meet his. "If I give her my essence... I will die. I'm already sick."

He scoffed, a sharp, dismissive sound. "Cut the act. You're not sick, you're weak. You've always been jealous of Laila because she's the genius, the future Luna, and you're just the broken twin who can't even shift."

"I'm not lying," I pleaded, clutching my chest where the burning was an inferno. "Please. Just look at me. Really look at me."

"I am looking at you," he spat. "I see a selfish coward. Sign the paper, Zora. Or I drag you to the pack square right now."

My heart stuttered. "What?"

"I will initiate the Rejection Ceremony publicly," he threatened, stepping into my personal space. "I will reject you as my mate in front of the entire pack. And then, I will mark Laila on the spot."

The threat hit harder than the Command. To be rejected was agony. To watch your mate mark your sister-the architect of your ruin-was a hell I couldn't survive. It would shatter my soul before my body even gave out.

My mother, the former Luna, appeared in the doorway. She didn't look at my grey skin or my shaking hands. She looked at the paper.

"Has she signed it yet, Simon?" she asked, checking her watch. "Laila is in pain. Every second this parasite wastes is an insult to the pack."

"Mother," I choked out. "I'm dying."

"You've been 'dying' for years," she sneered. "You're just dramatic. You have no wolf, Zora. You have no purpose. At least give your essence to someone who actually matters."

I looked from my mother's hateful eyes to Simon's cold stare. There was no love here. No mercy. I had held on for five years, hoping the truth would surface, hoping Simon would remember the girl he saved under the bridge. But he was blind.

My inner wolf gave a faint, final whimper. *Let go,* she seemed to say. *Let it end.*

I picked up the pen. My hand shook so violently I could barely grip the plastic. If I signed, I would die on the operating table. But at least I would die as Simon's mate, even if only in name. It was the only scrap of dignity I had left.

I scratched my name onto the line.

The moment the pen lifted, the crushing weight of the Alpha's Command vanished. I collapsed back onto the mattress, gasping for air like a fish on a dock.

Simon snatched the paper. He didn't check on me. He didn't offer a hand. Instead, his expression softened, but not for me. His eyes glazed over as he opened a Mind-Link.

*It's done,* I heard him project. *The cruelty of the mate bond let me hear his thoughts, even if he blocked mine.* *I have the donor form. Hold on, Laila. I've got you.*

*There was no tenderness for me. Only for her.*

A healer rushed in, followed by my father, the former Alpha.

"Get her to the prep room," my father barked, not even glancing at me. "Don't let her run away again."

Run away? I couldn't even walk.

As the healer grabbed my arm roughly, dragging me up, I looked at my family. They were already turning away, rushing down the stairs to be with Laila.

I closed my eyes and let the memory wash over me. Five years ago. The night of our eighteenth birthday. The night Laila had chained me up with silver and carved me open like a thanksgiving turkey to steal my first essence. The night she stole my destiny as the White Wolf.

They didn't know. They thought she was the prodigy. They thought I was the waste.

And now, they were going to finish what she started.