Fated to My Forbidden Alpha – Episode 10
The ballroom remained suspended in silence after Selene stepped away from the two Alphas. Every wolf present sensed that something fundamental had shifted, though few understood what. A servant stood between Jackson Richford and Alexander Kane, and both powerful men watched her as if the rest of the celebration had ceased to exist. Elders exchanged alarmed glances while younger wolves leaned forward, fascinated by a scandal no one yet dared name.
Selene wanted to disappear into the nearest corridor. Instead, hundreds of eyes pinned her beneath the lantern light while Lyla paced inside her mind. The wolf’s earlier exhilaration had changed to unease, her attention darting between the two connections pulling through Selene’s chest.
Selene, Lyla warned. “I know,” she answered silently, forcing herself to breathe. No, you don’t. The bond is unstable. For the first time since awakening, Lyla sounded frightened.
“What does that mean?” Selene barely formed the thought before a sharp pain tore through her chest. The ballroom spun, music stands and faces streaking together as her knees buckled beneath her.
Both Alphas moved. Jackson reached her first and caught her arm, while Alexander closed the distance from the other side. Their simultaneous response sent a fresh shock through the crowd.
The instant Jackson’s hand closed around Selene, silver light flashed beneath her skin. It traveled from his fingers along her wrist in a luminous pulse, bright enough to reflect from the polished floor before sinking toward her heart. The sensation was both intimate and brutal, exposing a connection Jackson had kept private as if the Moon Goddess herself had dragged his secret into view.
Gasps swept through the ballroom. Every mature wolf recognized the visible flare of a mate bond, rare but unmistakable when newly awakened power met direct contact. Several council members stared openly at their Alpha, recalculating years of policy and rumor. Jackson released Selene as if the light had burned him, but the evidence had already reached every watching eye.
Mate. The word moved through the guests in whispers. The wolfless servant they had dismissed for years possessed a sacred bond—and it connected somehow to the Alpha celebrating his engagement.
Across the room, Tiffany’s face lost all color. “No,” she breathed. Her hand tightened around the stem of her glass until her knuckles whitened. She looked from Selene to Jackson, searching for any explanation that would preserve the future she believed belonged to her.
Old moments rearranged themselves with merciless clarity: Jackson watching Selene when he thought no one noticed, preventing punishments from going too far, refusing serious mating proposals before Tiffany, and reacting with fury whenever the servant was injured. Tiffany remembered every time he had defended Selene only to insult her afterward, using contempt to disguise interest. His behavior had never been kindness. It had been a secret he valued more than Tiffany’s pride.
“She’s his mate.” Tiffany’s whisper carried no farther than the wolves nearest her, but the realization struck like a blade. The girl she had humiliated was not merely a rival for Jackson’s attention; she was the woman chosen for him by the Moon Goddess.
Jackson’s wolf battered against his control. Mine, it growled again and again, enraged by fear, Alexander’s nearness, and Jackson’s plan to reject the bond. He clenched his jaw, refusing to claim Selene before the pack he had taught to despise her.
Not here, he ordered his wolf. Not now, and especially not in front of Alexander. The Nightwind Alpha was watching Selene with open recognition, his earlier suspicion transformed into certainty.
Her scent, the warmth across the distance, and the pull that had led him east all aligned. The silver pulse had reacted to Jackson, but Alexander’s own bond surged in answer, impossible by every rule he knew. A wolf was meant to possess one fated mate, not share competing connections with two Alphas. Selene mattered far more than any of them yet understood, and the mystery awakened Alexander’s protective instincts alongside his claim.
“Are you hurt?” Alexander asked. His voice softened, startling wolves accustomed to stories of his merciless authority. He stopped within reach without touching her, offering space where Jackson had imposed control.
Selene looked up. The instant their eyes met, warmth moved through her body, soothing the pain Jackson’s contact had ignited. Comfort, safety, and recognition settled over her, and for one brief breath the crowded ballroom faded.
Alexander felt it as strongly. His wolf surged with a certainty that no visible mark could contradict. Mate. Not a hope or suspicion, but the answer to every restless night and every mile traveled.
Before he could speak, Jackson stepped between them. “She’s fine.” His body blocked Alexander’s view as though the gesture could erase the bond everyone had witnessed.
Alexander’s golden eyes cooled. “Is she?” The quiet question carried more danger than a shout. Power gathered around the two Alphas, and guests nearest them edged back from the pressure.
Selene straightened without Jackson’s help. Her wrist still glowed faintly where his fingers had been, making privacy impossible. She refused to let their rivalry turn her pain into a contest. Lyla remained alert, testing the impossible shape of two bonds while neither man offered an explanation. I feel both, the wolf admitted, but they are not the same.
