Chapter 27
Face to Face
Harlow
“What?” Eldritch’s shock crashes into mine through the mind link. “You out of your damn mind?”
Yeah. Maybe I am.
I just tell the only mate I have ever found, the woman I cherish with everything I have, to accept another man’s proposal.
I should have seen it long ago. Our statuses stand miles apart. Alexa has always been trained to become Luna. The only woman of pure Alpha blood at the right age. Everyone in the pack grows up watching the bond between her and Gabriel, deep and unshakable since childhood.
To me, she has always been off-limits.
Even now, my heart throbs, crushing the last stubborn shard of hope inside my chest. The truth stayed the same. Alexa had always been his. Hell, she barely noticed I existed until I helped her escape Blood Moon’s prison, and even then, it only happened because Gabriel had asked for my help.
“What do you mean?” Her voice roars through my head. “Tell me you didn’t just tell me to accept Gabriel.”
I stay quiet for a moment. My throat feels dry, raw. I swallow, trying to steady myself.
“I mean it,” I say at last, keeping my tone even. “You should choose him. Be the Supreme Luna you’re meant to be.”
My eyes narrow as I force my expression into something firm, something unbreakable.
She shakes her head hard. “No. I don’t want that. How can you say that? We’re true mates. You know that’s real.”
“Think about it,” I reply, voice low but steady. “You can restore your honor. Your place in the pack. You can live safe and comfortable here. Nobody in their right mind chooses to live as a rogue.”
The words sound practical. Sensible. Responsible. Inside, they feel like I’m carving my own ribs open.
“Then why are you willing?” she fires back. “Even Mr. Moris, the former kingmaker, chose to live neutral instead of bending.”
She has a point. A solid one, but I have to stand firm. If I falter now, everything falls apart.
“You know our fates aren’t the same,” I tell her. “If I had a choice, I wouldn’t be a rogue either. Circumstances pushed me there.”
“Circumstances pushed me too,” she snaps. Her breathing comes harsh from across the corridor. “The elders hate me because I killed my father.”
My brow furrows. “You remember?”
“Yes.” Her voice trembles. “I remember everything now. I killed him during my blessing ritual.”
Shit.
The moment the words settle between us, I know I have stepped into something raw and bleeding. Her eyes shine with pain. Her jaw tightens, and her lips tremble at the corners.
There is no escaping that memory. The tragedy remains carved into the minds of Silver Moon’s pack members. Even I still see it sometimes. The chaos. The blood. The first time I step in and save her.
Since then, I watch over her. Care for her.
And even before that, from the moment my wolf awakens, I suspect she might be my mate.
That suspicion alone is enough to make me leave, to bury the foolish hope of ever claiming a pure alpha heiress like her.
But when Gabriel came to me, asking for help to save her from Alpha Alastair, I couldn’t refuse.
I’m never worthy of her. Not until I learn who my real father is. My fingers brush the wolf-head pendant resting against my chest.
I’ve searched almost every corner of the region, moving from one bar to the next, from small packs to the largest ones.
First Light, Blood Moon, and even back in Silver Moon, I never stopped looking.
Six years pass without a single clear answer, until I finally reach one conclusion: this necklace was made as a custom piece.
No one would know anything about it except the one who originally owned it.
Now fate corners us both. There is no outrunning the Moon Goddess. The prophecy in that spell book confirms it. Alexa and Gabriel are true mates.
Maybe my future is nothing but the rogue encampment. Rotting wood, cold nights, the wind scraping across an empty valley. Maybe I’ll die alone out there. But if that’s the price for saving her, I will pay it anytime.
“Gabriel has another potential mate,” Alexa says, bitterness sharpening her tone. “He’s been sneaking around with Lorraine. My stepsister. That’s why I rejected him. And you’re telling me to accept him anyway.”
My heart slams against my ribs. That bastard.
“Did you find someone else?” she demands suddenly. “Is that why you’re so ready to let me go?”
My eyes widen. I shake my head immediately. “It’s not like that,” I say firmly. “I just think this is the right call right now. Don’t worry about me. What matters is your happiness. And the duty the Moon Goddess gave you.”
I could swear it on blood. I’ve never found another mate and I doubt I ever will. All these years, I bury my feelings so deep they almost fossilize. And now, here I stand, nothing but a weight chained to her ankles.
It all traces back to that night at the camp. I should have rejected her then.
“Enough.” Her voice turns cold. “I’m disappointed in you. Maybe you’re right. Maybe we’ll never see eye to eye.”
She cuts the mind link without another word. Her body turns away from me, and she lowers herself onto the dirty mat spread thin across the cold stone floor. She curls slightly, her back facing me, shoulders rigid as if she is holding herself together by sheer force.
Doesn’t she realize what that does to me?
I have watched her for years. She grows up surrounded by comfort, even when that privilege is disguised as modesty. Though she sleeps in a servant’s room at the Dawson mansion, every need of hers is met.
Her meals are warm and decent. Her bed is soft, her clothes and dresses made of high-quality cotton. Most important of all, she can visit her father’s grave whenever grief tightens around her chest. Those are luxuries I never have.
Hell. I don’t even know who my real father is, or whether he still breathes somewhere under this same sky.
Alexa doesn’t belong behind iron bars. She shouldn’t be lying on a mat that smells of mildew and rot. She shouldn’t be pressing her skin against stone that steals warmth from her bones. I curse Gabriel for every scratch that rough straw leaves on her skin.
Above all of it, there is the Moon Goddess. She weaves fate with a steady hand, and Alexa stands at the center of a design larger than either of us. She carries a duty stamped into her soul, meant to be Luna, meant to stand beside her true Alpha.
And I am not an Alpha.
I lower myself onto my own mat, turning my face toward her. From here, all I can see is her back rising and falling slowly against the unyielding floor.
If I am granted one wish in this moment, it would not be for my freedom. It would be for hers.
I would ask to see her walk out of this cell, to see the iron door swing open and let her step back into the warmth of her room at the Dawson mansion.
Back to clean sheets. Back to sunlight through wide windows.
Back to a life that doesn’t bruise her at every turn.
The only way that door opens for her is if she lets Gabriel claim her.
That truth settles heavily in my chest, and I close my eyes, knowing I’m the one pushing her toward it.
* * *
“Wake up!”
The clang of metal crashes through my skull. The cell door swings open, and Gabriel steps inside like he owns the air I breathe.
A guard sets up a folding chair right in front of me. Gabriel sits, slow and deliberate, while the others spread out in a circle around me. I push myself upright and scoff at the show.
“Why’re you grinning?” Gabriel asks, leaning back in the chair. “Bad dream?”
“Not at all,” I say lightly. “I was having a real nice one. Me knocking that smug look clean off your face.”
He gives a dry chuckle. “Keep dreaming. That’s all it’ll ever be.”
He flicks two fingers. The Gamma’s fist slams into my cheek.
“For me,” Gabriel continues calmly, “beating you down isn’t a dream. It’s just another morning.”
“Gabriel, what are you doing to him? Stop it!” Alexa’s voice tears through the corridor from her cell.
I rise to my feet with a roar, ready to break bones. My fists clench. I can shift into my Lycan form in a heartbeat. Gabriel only shakes his head and clicks his tongue, unimpressed. He smirks at me.
“Wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he says evenly. “I can tell them to drag Jack out instead. Or pay Mrs. Geeny a visit. Alexa too. They’re all under my watch.”
He taps his temple. As Alpha, he can mind link any pack member whenever he pleases. Moments later, two more guards take position in front of Alexa’s cell. His control over this territory presses in from every direction, thick and suffocating.
My gaze snaps to Alexa. Her jaw is tight, fury burning in her eyes. Gabriel and I lock stares, our wolf auras colliding in silent combat. I could overpower him. Physically. Even spiritually.
But Jack is nowhere in sight. I can’t sense him. I can’t hear his usual chatter from the next cell. If I move recklessly, he pays the price. So, I force myself still.
“Kneel,” Gabriel orders, his voice low and edged with command.
The stone bites into my skin when I drop into the ground. My jaw locks so tight it aches. Every muscle in my body strains against the urge to tear this place apart.
Gabriel smiles, satisfied. He turns toward Alexa and raises his voice.
“This is how we handle discipline around here. The others are already out working. Your friend’s been sent to scrub the outer fields. As for you two, I’ve got something special planned.”
The Gamma beside him grins like a dog shown fresh meat. Disgust coils in my stomach, urging me spit at Gabriel’s boots.
With that provocation, his eyes return to me, sharp and cold. Good. Let him focus on me. I would rather bleed than see him lay a hand on Alexa.
He jerks his chin. The Gamma drives his fist into my back. Pain explodes down my spine, forcing a low groan from my throat. Another blow lands. Then another. My cheek, ribs, stomach. They swarm me, kicks striking from all sides.
“No! Stop it, Gabriel! Stop!” Alexa’s scream rips through the corridor. I can feel her anguish pounding against my mind.