Twilight of Betrayal: The Alpha’s Broken Promise

I felt like a ghost as I made my way to the pack hospital. When I arrived, everyone had the same somber look on their faces, like they already knew something I didn’t.

“Where’s my dad?” My voice cracked, breaking the heavy silence. No one would meet my eyes.

I turned to the Alpha, whose expression was the grimmest of them all.

My lips trembled as I tried to hold it together, but my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. With a heavy sigh, the Alpha gestured for me to follow him into the emergency ward.

Each step felt heavier than the last. A part of me didn’t want to know, but I already did. I was terrified that the thing I dreaded most had come true. And it had.

I collapsed beside the bed, my hands flying to cover my mouth as sobs tore through me. My dad lay there, cold and unmoving. No matter how hard I tried, he wouldn’t wake up.

“No... no, Dad!” I wailed, clutching his freezing hand to my cheek, remembering how just hours ago he’d held my face with warmth. “This can’t be happening. Please, wake up! Don’t leave me!”

Tears poured down as I pleaded for something I knew was impossible.

“Elliot fought hard, but... he didn’t make it this time.” The Alpha’s voice was soft as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Before he passed, he told me he loves you with all his heart. He wished for you to be happy.”

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, before quietly leaving the room.

I stayed there, holding my dad’s hand, crying, apologizing—hoping he could still hear me somehow. But there were no more words from him. No more warmth.

Two days later, I watched as we buried him beside my mom’s grave with heavy hearts.

Dad wasn’t just the Beta to us—he was a friend, a father, and a mentor to everyone, even to Liam. But Liam wasn’t here. He hadn’t shown up since that night after running off with some other she-wolf from a distant pack.

My claws dug into my palms as I fought back the rage. After all these years by his side, I never realized how callous and selfish he truly was. How could I have been so blind, so stupid, to love him?

Regret settled heavily in my chest, and the tears came before I could stop them. I sank to my knees in front of Dad’s grave, shoveling dirt over him with my bare hands. Each handful carried the weight of all the things I should’ve said to him while he was still alive.

As the burial ended, people quietly began to leave, one by one, until it was just me—alone, drowning in my grief.

For three days, I barely left Dad’s grave. I only did, when I was forced. The Alpha couldn’t stand seeing me wasting away in the backwoods of the packhouse, muttering something about not wanting Dad to haunt him if something happened to me. So, he kept sending Leia to drag me back.

Today, I woke up feeling just a little lighter. Maybe it was time to try honoring Dad’s wish for me to be happy. So, I grabbed a bucket of gardening tools and headed back to his grave. I spent yesterday planting my mom’s favorite tulips, using them as his tombstone. I knew he’d prefer being surrounded by things she loved rather than a cold slab of stone.

But as I reached the grave, my heart stopped. Liam—and some woman—were digging it up.

“What are you doing?!” I screamed, running toward them, horrified at their disrespect.

Without thinking, I grabbed the woman by the collar and shoved her back. The flowers I’d planted were torn up, and in their place, they’d buried a dead rabbit.

“How dare you!” I growled, fury surging through me, my fur bristling. “Haven’t you done enough?!”

I was ready to throw them down, but what stopped me was the look on Liam’s face—cold and murderous. Before I could even react, he kicked me like I was nothing, and I dove face-flat on the dirt.

“I should ask you that. How dare ‘you’ hurt my mate?” he snarled, his voice crashing over me like thunder.

Wincing from the pain, I grabbed the dead rabbit and hurled it at their faces. Liam’s mate shrieked, cowering behind him like I was the villain here.

“I’m warning you, Astrid,” he growled, his voice strained as if he was barely keeping himself in check. “You wouldn’t want your dad to see you all banged up.”

“Shut up!” I snapped, my anger spiraling out of control. I couldn’t believe I had once loved this pathetic excuse for a wolf. “Don’t you dare talk about my dad with your filthy mouth!”

My voice echoed through the forest, vibrating with every ounce of rage I had bottled up. “You humiliated me at our ceremony, left me to deal with the aftermath, and now you’re desecrating my family’s grave with your garbage?”

The audacity of it all was staggering.

“It’s just a rabbit, Astrid,” he said, scoffing like I was overreacting. “Your mother’s been dead for years. Get over it. Besides, she loved animals—she wouldn’t have minded.”

I couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. The sheer disrespect, the callousness—it was like he had gone insane.