Chapter 13 The Weight of Alpha
Kier’s POV
The days after Sable left felt like walking on broken glass. Every step cut, every breath came sharp. I went through the motions of training, of patrols, of meetings with my father, but nothing dulled the hollow ache inside me. The mate bond pulsed faintly in my chest—a stubborn reminder that she still lived, that she was still out there somewhere—but too far for me to reach. A tether stretched to breaking, thin enough to hurt, never enough to hold.
The pack was restless. Whispers slithered through every corner of the lodge, filling the halls like smoke. Some said she’d betrayed us, that she’d turned her back on her duty and her family. Others whispered admiration, saying she was brave, that she’d done what they never could.
But most of all, they looked at me.
Their future Alpha. Left mate-less on the very night the bond should have sealed.
“He should have gone after her,” one warrior muttered when he thought I couldn’t hear.
“She made him weak,” another scoffed. “What kind of leader can’t hold onto his mate?”
Every word scraped against me like claws. My wolf snarled at each one, pressing against my skin, demanding I rise to defend what was mine. But what could I say? That I let her go? That I loved her enough not to chain her? That the bond was sacred, yes, but her freedom mattered more?
They wouldn’t understand.
To them, the mate bond was unquestionable. A gift from the moon goddess, never to be defied. To me, it was something more complicated. A tether, yes—but one with edges sharp enough to cut.
Three nights after she left, my father called for the council. The elders gathered in the great hall, their lined faces carved with disapproval and doubt. My father stood tall beside me, his presence a wall of steel, though his expression was grim. My mother’s eyes were ringed with red, proof of sleepless nights and quiet tears.
My father’s voice filled the chamber like thunder. “The Beta’s daughter abandoned her pack. The mate bond to our future Alpha was rejected. This is no small matter. It is weakness—and weakness invites attack.”
The words struck deep. Not because they were unfair, but because they were true. Rogues already tested our borders nightly, snapping at the edges of our territory like vultures. Neighboring packs would hear of this soon enough. An Alpha without a mate was blood in the water.
An elder leaned forward, his sharp gaze landing on me like a blade. “We need stability. If she will not return, then Kier must take another.”
The words set my teeth on edge. My wolf roared in my head, furious, clawing against my restraint. Another? As if Sable could ever be replaced. As if what we had—our years of friendship, the countless battles fought side by side, the laughter that still haunted me—was something disposable.
“No,” I said, my voice steady despite the storm raging inside me. “The bond is not a chain to another. It is hers. And if she will not stand beside me, then I will stand alone.”
Disapproval rippled through the hall, a low growl of voices. To them, leadership without a mate was weakness. But my mother tilted her head slightly, her gaze sharp and unwavering. “Or perhaps,” she said calmly, “that is what makes him strong. To lead without what others would cling to.”
The silence that followed was heavy. My father’s jaw tightened, but he did not argue. Not yet.
That night, when the council dispersed and the pack returned to uneasy rest, I slipped outside. The night air was cool, the stars veiled behind drifting clouds. I stood alone beneath them, the weight of expectation pressing down heavier than any wound.
Jaxon found me there, his hands shoved deep into his pockets, his usual grin absent. He lingered at the edge of the steps before finally speaking.
“You miss her.” It wasn’t a question.
I didn’t look at him. My voice was low, raw. “She’s my mate.”
For a moment, he was silent. Then he said, “She’s also my sister. And if you really love her, Kier… then you’ll let her keep running until she finds what she’s looking for.”
The words cut, because they echoed the promise I had already made in my heart.
When he left, I tilted my head back, staring at the thin slice of moon above. My wolf prowled restlessly inside me, pacing and snarling, aching to follow her trail into the human towns. To hunt her down, to bring her home. But I couldn’t. Not yet.
The pack needed me here. And if I abandoned them now, if I left them leaderless, I would be no better than she was for leaving.
Still, every night, I felt her. The faint pull in my chest, the echo of her heartbeat against mine. She was alive. Out there. Running.
And one day, when the time was right, I’d find her again.
Not as the Alpha-to-be. Not as the boy the pack expected me to be.
But as the wolf who never forgot her.