Chapter 13

Ella's POV

Slowly, I pried his hand off my wrist, one finger at a time. "Alpha Carson, even if we'd been together for seventy years, I'd still walk away from you right now without a second thought. Here's some advice: don't take those sweet little nothings women say so seriously."

His hand dropped, and for a moment, I saw a flicker of pain in his eyes, a brief glimpse of vulnerability, like his wolf was hurting too. But then he forced a bitter smile. "Don't worry. You're not as important as you think you are."

Without another word, he pulled out his phone, booked the earliest flight he could find, and walked out of the pub. I watched him go, his shoulders tense even as he tried to act unaffected. As the door closed behind him, a weight I hadn't even realized I was carrying lifted off my chest.

A week passed, and I didn't think about him again. I was busy teaching the pups in the pack the basics of fighting, getting them ready in case a rogue or rebellious werewolf decided to attack, showing them how to escape if things went south.

After the lesson, I laughed with the pups as they joked about how my brother, Asher, was a terrible instructor. Honestly, Asher wasn't much of a teacher. He had no patience and preferred to train the older wolves rather than the kids.

Asher had called me earlier to discuss a situation in another pack that needed his help, including the Castellan pack. That's when I saw Liam Castellan, the brother of the Alpha of the Castellan pack and my brother's best friend. After seven years, I was seeing Liam again. He looked different now, the nerdy werewolf I used to know was gone. No more glasses, no more boyish looks. He'd grown into a man, and a strikingly handsome one at that.

Liam had always been close to Asher, playing together as kids, and both of them had always looked out for me like personal protectors. I couldn't leave the pack as a kid without the two of them by my side.

When Liam saw me, his face broke into a grin. He messed up my hair, like I was still the little girl he used to tease.

"Blast it, Liam, I'm a woman now! Stop doing that," I groaned, pushing his hand away.

He laughed, unbothered. "You're still my little princess."

I rolled my eyes. Asher always teased me too, insisting that I'd always be his little princess, no matter how old I got.

Later that afternoon, after returning from a pack meeting at Crimson Consolidation, a rival pack to Wayvere, I didn't expect to find Carson on my parents' territory. Carson had always been relentless when it came to getting what he wanted, but showing up unannounced on my father's land and challenging one of our best warriors in front of everyone? That was a whole new level of crazy.

There he stood, bruised but victorious, a cocky smirk plastered on his face as he towered over Leo, our fiercest fighter. I could see his chest rising and falling with every labored breath, his eyes locked on me like I was the only person in the world.

My father stood nearby, his jaw clenched tight as he watched Carson with barely concealed disdain. "Alpha Carson," he greeted coldly. "I hope you're not here to cause trouble."

Carson ignored the bite in my father's tone, his gaze never leaving mine. "Ella, I'm here to make things right."

I scoffed. "By beating up one of our warriors? This isn't proving anything, Carson. It just shows you still don't know when to back down."

He wiped a smear of blood from his lip and took a step closer to me, brushing off the sting in my voice. The pack members around us exchanged glances, and I could feel their eyes boring into me, judging every move I made. Being the Alpha's daughter came with expectations, and having an outsider Alpha, one I'd already rejected, chasing after me? It was practically an invitation for gossip.

But Carson didn't seem to care about any of that. He soaked up the attention, unfazed by the whispers and disapproving looks from my family and the pack. "Ella, I know you don't believe me, but I'm telling the truth. Anna means nothing to me, not in the way you think. She's just like my sister."

His tone softened, his words desperate. "I can't leave without you, Ella. I've just realized you're the one I want. I was a fool not to see it sooner, but now I do."

His words hung in the air between us, but I didn't let them sink in. Not anymore.