His Rejected Mate, The Rival Alpha's Gamma

My five-year contract as his placeholder Luna ended when he left me bleeding in his car to comfort the woman who attacked me.

He publicly announced my abandonment through the pack's mind-link, then stormed back to the house to accuse me of stealing a priceless necklace from her.

He felt the fated mate bond spark between us, called it a cheap trick, and threw me in a silver-lined cell when the necklace was "found" in my bag.

My mother had to trade the last relic of our fallen pack just for my freedom, and we were exiled with nothing.

His final command to me, his true mate, was to go kneel and apologize to the woman who framed me.

Instead, I severed our sacred bond. And as I stepped into exile, a rival Alpha was waiting, offering me the power to burn his entire world to the ground.

Chapter 1

Brooke POV:

I found out my five-year contract was truly over when he left me bleeding in his car to comfort the woman who'd attacked me.

The party had been a carefully orchestrated piece of theater, designed for my humiliation. It was a "Welcome Home" celebration for Kelly Holland, the woman he'd loved his entire life, the woman who had shattered his heart by running off with a rogue five years ago. His solution then had been to bind me, the quiet Omega who had loved him from the shadows, in a five-year contract as his placeholder Luna. It was a bandage for his ego. For me, it was a fool's hope.

He had ordered me to attend tonight. An Alpha's Command I couldn't refuse. For hours, I stood like a ghost in my own home while he doted on her. Kelly, who had been my tormentor since childhood, played her part perfectly. She floated through the room, reminding everyone of my temporary status, her triumphant smirks like tiny, sharp cuts. The final act of her performance was a glass of champagne, deliberately laced with silver powder, thrown in my face. The searing pain was a brutal reminder of my place in this pack: disposable.

Easton had intervened, of course. He'd cut through the crowd, his presence silencing the whispers. But he hadn't done it out of concern for me, his Luna. He had done it to quell a public disturbance that threatened his authority. His cold eyes never once met mine with sympathy.

Which brought us to this moment, driving in suffocating silence. The silver burn on my arm was a throbbing testament to the night's cruelty. I waited for him to say something. Anything. Are you okay? Does it hurt?

Instead, a soft chime echoed in my head. A sound I'd never heard before. It was the private, intimate mind-link. The one reserved for a true mate.

His expression, previously a mask of stone, softened. A subtle shift in the hard lines of his face that I had spent five years memorizing.

*Kelly? Are you alright? Don't cry.*

His mental voice was a gentle caress, a soothing balm I had only ever dreamed of. It was a tenderness he had never once shown me. He was comforting my attacker while I sat right beside him, my skin literally sizzling.

I think that's when my heart finally gave up. It wasn't a dramatic shatter. It was more like a quiet click, the sound of a lock turning for the last time.

He made a sharp, sudden turn, pulling the car off the main road and onto a dark, tree-lined lane I didn't recognize. It led to the border of our territory. He killed the engine, and a lone figure stepped out of the shadows.

Kelly. Her red dress looked like a slash of blood in the pale moonlight.

"Stay in the car," he commanded, the order wrapped in the steel of his Alpha power, pinning me to the leather seat.

He got out, and she ran into his arms, burying her face in his chest with a sob. He held her, stroking her hair, murmuring things I couldn't hear. Things meant only for her.

That was his biggest mistake.

As he held her, his voice echoed again, not in private, but through the pack-wide mind-link, a broadcast for every warrior, every elder, every servant to hear.

*Liam. I won't be returning to the pack house tonight. See to it that Brooke finds her own way back.*

The public announcement of my abandonment. The final, casual twist of the knife.

He left me there. Trapped in his car, burning and alone, watching him walk into the woods with another woman.

My love for him had been a cage. He had just shattered the lock. And for the first time, I realized I wasn't a songbird meant to be kept. I was a wolf, and he had finally set me free to hunt.