Page 32 of Rejected By My Shadow Alpha
My blood turned to ice, and I sprang to my feet. My heart thudded, and my breath caught. "Are you sure?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even.
"Yeah. Why?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't.
Ruby!
It was her! No wonder I was drawn to her all this time!
The breath in my lungs evaporated. I stood there, stunned, as if someone had knocked the wind out of me. Ruby. The woman whose scent haunted me. The woman I'd rejected on that gala night, whose cries I'd buried so I wouldn't go mad. She was the one who'd been writing to me all this time. Red hair. Emerald eyes. Wild roses and pine. The same Ruby whose scent I could pick out of a thousand. Moonleaf was Ruby.
And I hadn't even known it was her.
I thought Moonleaf was a voice in the dark. A stranger I had slowly come to rely on and admire, even. I had felt drawn to her wisdom, her fire, and her calm logic. I had felt drawn to her emails in a way I didn't question until now. Now, I know why. My wolf was drawn to her because she wasn't a stranger.
She was my mate and the one I destroyed.
"No," I whispered aloud, my voice cracking. "No…no, this can't be."
But it was. The night I'd rejected her, I thought I was saving her from the war I'd planned, my anger, and her father's blood-soaked legacy. I thought I was severing a bond that would onlybring her pain, but all I did was rip her apart and leave her to pick up the pieces alone. What was she doing in an area saturated by rogue wolves?
I had read her messages, the ones where she spoke of a wound that never healed, of the echo of a mark that once bound her to someone who chose silence over fate, and I'd thought she was talking about someone else.
But she wasn't. She had been talking about me. I sank into the chair, perplexed and filled with guilt, curling up in my throat like smoke. She was reaching out for help for her daughter, and I was the only one who could give it.
But would she even want me to?
If she knew who I was and realized Wolfsbane22 was Drew, the same Drew who carved a rejection deep into her soul, would she still plead for my help? Or would she turn me away?
"Shit," I whispered.
A soft knock drew my eyes to the door. Lena stepped in, her eyes scanning the tension in my posture. She stared at me with quiet concern. "What's going on?"
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out at first. I couldn't string my thoughts into words. My heart was still racing and unraveling.
"It's someone I know," I said finally, my voice hoarse. "Someone who needs my help…as an alpha."
Alex straightened from where he sat. "Wait. What? You mean you're going to reveal who you are?"
"She already knows," I said, rubbing the heel of my palm against my temple. "She knew me as an alpha before. She just thought I died in that staged car accident," like everyone else.
The room went still.
Lena tilted her head, reading me closely. "And who is this someone?"
Alex's voice broke the silence, softer now. "Is it… Moonleaf? The doctor who treated me?"
I nodded once, slowly, unsure if I mentioned her real name, they would know she is Alpha Alfred's daughter. "Yes, she is."
Alex looked stunned, and Lena stared from Alex to me, completely lost about who we were talking about, her expression asking for more details.
"She reached out anonymously through the healer network," I said, and my voice faltered. "It's her. She needs help, but I don't know if she'll take it from me."
"Why not?" Alex asked. "She wouldn't refuse your help. Moonleaf is a kind and simple woman."
"Because I hurt her," I said, the words tasting like ash. "Badly. She had no reason to ever want to see me again, but it's about her daughter. She asked for the help of the Lunaris alpha, hoping there was someone out there who was an alpha, anyone but me because I am dead."
Lena's expression softened with understanding. "So, what do you plan to do?"
