Too Late, Alpha: You Rejected Me, Now Kneel to Your Queen

"You cheated."

I, Audra Frost, had just given birth, yet Kieran Ashford, my Alpha mate, publicly declared before the entire pack that I had betrayed him.

All because the child in my arms bore an unfamiliar silver-white mark on his forehead.

"That mark... doesn't it look like the White Wolf Mark from the legends?" someone whispered hesitantly.

The hall fell into a brief silence.

"White Wolf? Don't make me laugh." Elara Voss scoffed. "The White Wolves belong to royalty. And her? She doesn't even have a wolf."

Suspicion turned into open mockery in an instant.

I dropped to my knees, clutching the child tightly. "Kieran, he's your son."

Kieran only looked at me, his gaze cold and distant.

"The Silvermoon Pack does not tolerate tainted bloodlines."

But what they didn't know-far away in the Northern Wilds, the White Wolf Royal Bloodline had already sensed that presence.

"Find her."

......

"You cheated!"

Kieran's voice rang sharply through the pack hall.

I had just gone through childbirth. Supported by two Betas, I was forced to stand on the platform, still holding my newborn pup.

By the Silvermoon Pack's tradition, every newborn had to be presented before the hall so the entire pack could witness its bloodline.

Every pair of eyes fixed on the child in my arms-more precisely, on the silver-white mark on his forehead.

A wave of hushed gasps rippled through the crowd.

"What is that? I've never seen anything like it..."

"Wait... doesn't that look like the White Wolf Mark from the legends?"

"White Wolves? You've got to be kidding. They're royalty. They stopped associating with ordinary packs long ago!"

The baby in my arms trembled faintly, startled by the noise.

I instinctively held him tighter, shaking my head in panic. "This mark... it's because-"

A sharp female voice cut me off.

"Am I wrong, Kieran?"

Elara stepped out of the crowd and moved to Kieran's side, her face openly mocking.

"Audra really did betray you."

My mind went blank with a loud buzz.

"Elara..." I stared at the woman I had always treated like an older sister, disbelief flooding my voice. "What are you talking about?"

She let out a soft laugh and spoke at an unhurried pace. "Only descendants of the White Wolf lineage bear a White Wolf Mark like this."

She glanced at Kieran and paused deliberately. "And Kieran... is not a White Wolf. Neither of you are White Wolves. How could you possibly have a child like that?"

I clutched the child tighter, a chill running through my body as I looked at Kieran in desperation. "That's not true. I didn't betray you."

Kieran's gaze shifted slightly, as if hesitation had flickered through it for a brief moment.

But Elara suddenly raised her voice. "You didn't? Because the night before last, I saw you with my own eyes-wrapped in another man's arms!"

Kieran's expression darkened instantly. "Elara, you saw it yourself?"

"Of course." Elara said smugly, "That man had a White Wolf Mark on his forehead too. I could even smell his scent."

I forced myself to recall that night, then suddenly lifted my head, the words bursting out. "That was my brother!"

The hall fell silent for a beat, then low snickers spread through the crowd.

"Your brother?" Elara sounded like she had just heard the most ridiculous joke.

She walked toward me step by step, her tone dripping with disdain. "Everyone in the White Wolf Tribe is a White Wolf. And you... You don't even have a wolf. And you dare claim you belong to the White Wolf Tribe? Where is your White Wolf Mark?"

Under her interrogation, my chest tightened as memories of that night surfaced in my mind.

That had been my brother-now the only member of my tribe still willing to see me.

Knowing I was about to give birth, he had asked to meet me in the Borderpine Forest two nights ago.

The moon had shone brightly that night.

Edmund Frost had looked at my swollen belly, excitement lighting up his face like a child's.

"I'm going to have a nephew!"

After saying that, he pulled me into a brief hug, just like he used to years ago.

It had been nothing more than a fleeting embrace.

I never imagined that moment would become the very evidence used against me today.

"Enough," Kieran said suddenly.

His eyes fixed on the White Wolf Mark on the child's forehead, his gaze darkening inch by inch.

"He is not my child." He looked away and gave a cold order. "Take that bastard away."

My body went rigid as two soldiers started toward me.

Kieran's command continued without hesitation. "Throw it to its death."

My mind went completely blank.

The next second, I wrenched myself free from the soldiers' grip.

"No!"

My body, still weakened from childbirth, could barely hold me up. My knees slammed hard against the ground, yet I refused to let go of the child in my arms.

"Kieran! I'm begging you! Don't hurt him!"

Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face.

"He's your child... just smell him!"

Kieran didn't move. He didn't even spare us a glance.

"My pack does not allow a stain like this to exist."

I collapsed onto the ground, looking down at the child in my arms.

My child was so small, yet the entire Silvermoon Pack had already sentenced him to death.

Slowly, I lifted my head and looked at the mate I had once been willing to give up everything for.

"Kieran. What if I told you... I once had a White Wolf too?"

Kieran's pupils contracted sharply, but his expression quickly returned to calm.

"If you've done something wrong, then admit it, Audra." He looked down at me. "There's no need to tell such a ridiculous lie."

It wasn't the first time I had seen that look.

Many years ago, in the Royal Court of the White Wolf Tribe, my father had looked at me with the same disappointment.

Back then, I had been the only Queen of the tribe, and everyone knew I was destined to inherit the White Wolf Tribe.

Until the year I turned eighteen, when I met Kieran in the Borderpine Forest, wounded and alone, and the Moon Goddess led me to recognize him as my mate.

I slipped away from the tribe again and again to see him, until everything was exposed.

When my parents looked at me, there was no anger-only profound disappointment.

My father, Alaric Frost's voice had been low. "If you choose that Alpha... Then you will give up your White Wolf, everything you have. From that moment on, you will no longer belong here."

I had known that choosing Kieran meant abandoning everything tied to the White Wolf, yet I still said, "I'm willing."

That night, I was cast out of the tribe.

The memory faded, and I looked once more into the eyes that had once captivated me.

Now, there was nothing left in them but disgust.

A faint smile tugged at my lips, though my heart felt hollow. "So... my choice back then was truly wrong."

Kieran's brows drew together instantly.

To him, those words sounded no different from a confession of betrayal.

"So you did cheat," he said quietly. "I should have known."

At that moment, Elara suddenly rushed forward.

She snatched the child from my arms, so fast I didn't even have time to react.

"If it's a bastard, then it shouldn't be allowed to live."

My heart dropped, my blood seeming to freeze in an instant.

The next second, she hurled the child hard onto the stone floor.

"No!" I screamed, lunging forward.

The two soldiers beside me immediately blocked me, grabbing my arms and restraining me.

A dull thud echoed as the child hit the stone, his cries weakening at once.

The hall fell into dead silence.

Everyone thought the child had been killed.

My body collapsed to the floor.

Suddenly, a faint cry sounded again, and the tiny body stirred slightly on the stone floor.

The White Wolf Mark on his forehead flickered softly under the moonlight.

Elara narrowed her eyes. "As expected of a White Wolf... that bloodline really is strong."

She took a dagger from a nearby Beta.

The blade gleamed with a cold, pale light.

I recognized it at once-it was a silver-plated dagger.

For werewolves, nothing was more lethal than silver.

And now, it was aimed at my child.

Elara raised the dagger high, her movement almost graceful.

Terror swallowed me whole.

"Stop!" I struggled violently. Caught off guard, the soldier restraining me staggered a step.

I broke free from his grip and stumbled toward my child.

But Elara's dagger had already come down.

With a sound like tearing fabric, the blade sank into flesh.

A searing pain tore through my back.

The taste of blood surged into my throat, and I spat out a mouthful.

The silver dagger was buried in my body, and blood kept pouring from the wound, yet I barely seemed to feel the pain. All I did was shield the child in my arms.

Elara wrapped her hand around the hilt and slowly pulled the dagger out of my body.

In that instant, darkness swam before my eyes and I nearly lost my footing, but my arms never loosened around him.

Every werewolf watched the scene in silence.

"Enough." Kieran finally spoke. His eyes flicked to the blood at the corner of my mouth, and a trace of reluctance flashed through them. "Audra, I'm giving you one last chance. If you kill this child with your own hands, I can pretend none of this ever happened. You can still be my Luna."

My breathing stopped for a beat.

He wanted me to kill my own child?

"And if I refuse?" I shot back through clenched teeth.

"Then we sever the mate bond." Kieran paused, and his voice turned even colder. "From this day on, you'll be fit for nothing but life as the pack's slave."

It felt as though my heart had been ripped wide open.

Just then, Elara walked up to me with a soft laugh and pressed the bloodstained silver dagger into my hand.

"It's actually very simple, Audra." She bent down to look at me, her voice gentle. "As long as you kill this child yourself, you'll still be Luna, and Kieran will forgive you too."

The child in my arms stirred faintly, and the hand holding the dagger began to tremble at once.

Kieran stood there watching me. The chill in his eyes seemed to lessen, as if everything could go back to the way it was the moment I did it.

Slowly, I raised the dagger.

The smile on Elara's face deepened.

The next second, the silver blade slashed through the air.

Blood splattered.

Elara let out a shrill, agonized scream.

The dagger ripped across her arm, and blood instantly soaked through her dress.

I opened my eyes and cried out hoarsely, "No one is going to make me harm my own child!"

Kieran's face changed at once. "Elara!"

Then he turned to me, his eyes full of hatred. "Seize her!"

Several werewolves rushed forward immediately.

Kieran picked up the silver dagger from the ground, his voice colder than ice. "Since you insist on protecting this bastard... Then I'll send him to his death myself."

As I watched him come toward me step by step, my heart pounded violently in my chest. "Don't come any closer!" I screamed.

A sharp pain suddenly tore through my chest.

At that moment, a silver-white light suddenly appeared across my body.

Everyone present froze in shock, and even Kieran came to a stop.

Stunned murmurs broke out. "What was that just now?"

"Was that the White Wolf Mark?"

"Was she telling the truth? Is she really a White Wolf?"

"But doesn't she not have a wolf?"

I lowered my head and looked at my body.

The mark had only appeared for a moment, but I knew it had come from my White Wolf.

Under the weight of unbearable grief, the seal placed on me all those years ago seemed to have loosened, if only slightly.

Kieran strode over to me, grabbed my wrist, and for the first time, uncertainty appeared in his eyes.

"What was that just now? Are you from the White Wolf Tribe?"

I said nothing.

The vow I had made back then tightened around my throat like chains.

Elara immediately clutched her wound and leaned toward Kieran. "Kieran, you actually believed her? How could someone without a wolf possibly belong to the White Wolf Tribe?"

"Then again... maybe it's not impossible." She spoke again at an unhurried pace. "Some mongrel wolves are born with a trace of White Wolf bloodline in them."

That faint trace of hope in Kieran's eyes died away little by little.

"So you really did go mate with some mongrel wolf, and that's how you ended up giving birth to this thing?"

As I listened to those filthy accusations, my nails dug deep into my palms, yet I couldn't force out a single word.

Kieran suddenly let out a self-mocking laugh. "I was a fool. I almost believed you again."

Elara clearly sensed the shift in Kieran's mood. A flicker of panic crossed her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by venom.

She suddenly grabbed Kieran by the collar, rose onto her toes, and kissed him with fierce passion.

Kieran seemed stunned for a brief second, but when his eyes landed on me, whatever hesitation remained was quickly smothered by anger.

The next second, he reached up, gripped the back of Elara's head, and kissed her back even harder.

In that moment, physical agony and emotional devastation crashed over me at once.

I closed my eyes in pain.

At last, I understood that the Kieran I had once loved was long gone.

When I opened my eyes again, there was nothing left in me to hold on to.

"Kieran. I willingly sever the mate bond between us."