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Fated to My Forbidden Alpha – Episode 06
The office door closed behind Beta Luke, leaving Jackson alone with the truth he had spent years refusing to name. He remained at the window, staring beyond Blood Moon’s training grounds toward the servants’ quarters half hidden among the trees. Somewhere out there, Selene was working, unaware that her future had already been decided without her.
Mate. The word tightened every muscle in his body. Wolves prayed for that sacred recognition, believing the Moon Goddess shaped one soul to answer another. Jackson had received what countless others searched their entire lives to find, and from the moment he sensed it, he had treated the bond like a punishment.
Fate had given him a servant. An orphan with no known bloodline, no influence, and—at least until now—no wolf. Selene could not secure an alliance or impress a council chamber. In Jackson’s mind, every quality she lacked became an accusation against the future he had planned.
“I don’t care,” he said to the empty room. The declaration sounded hollow against the stone walls. His wolf stirred at once, and a single answer pushed through Jackson’s thoughts with contemptuous clarity. Liar.
He crossed to the drinks cabinet and poured more whiskey than he needed. For years, he had ignored every instinct that sharpened when Selene entered a room. He had buried the urge to protect her, dismissed the pull of her scent, and told himself that distance would weaken what the Goddess had made.
Instead, the bond had grown with her. Each year made his wolf more aware, more possessive, and less willing to tolerate Jackson’s denial. Now only two days remained before Selene turned eighteen, and whatever had flashed silver in her eyes was already pressing toward the surface.
Once her wolf awakened, Selene would feel everything. She would recognize him as naturally as breath, know he had hidden the truth, and understand that every cold word had come from the man fate intended to cherish her. Jackson could not control what she learned, but he could control what happened afterward.
“No,” he said, setting down the glass. “I won’t accept it.” His wolf answered with a growl deep enough to vibrate through his ribs. Jackson braced both hands on the cabinet until the sound faded, refusing to yield even to the creature sharing his body.
The future he wanted demanded expansion, respect, and a Luna who strengthened Blood Moon’s standing. Tiffany came from the right family, understood political appearances, and knew how to make herself admired. Selene inspired pity at best and contempt at worst—and her defiance had already unsettled Jackson more than he cared to admit.
The Moon Goddess had chosen, but Jackson intended to refuse. He would reject Selene before the bond could reorder his life, even if the severing wounded them both. Better one clean break, he told himself, than a lifetime chained to a choice he had never made.
Yet when he imagined speaking the formal words, he saw Selene standing beneath his full Alpha aura, shaking but unbowed. The thought of pain crossing her face left bitterness on his tongue. He swallowed another drink and called the reaction weakness.
Across the compound, Selene knew nothing of his decision. She spent the afternoon preparing the great hall, carrying boxes of flowers and hanging lanterns beneath the gallery while the packhouse hummed with anticipation. Every conversation returned to Jackson’s engagement or Alexander Kane’s approaching convoy.
The kitchen servants traded stories as they polished silver. One insisted the Nightwind Alpha possessed the strength of ten ordinary Alphas; another claimed he had destroyed three rogue packs alone. By the time someone whispered that Alexander could smell a lie across a ballroom, Selene nearly smiled despite herself.
Then his name was spoken again, and warmth unfurled beneath her ribs. Alexander Kane. The syllables felt strangely familiar—not as a memory, but as a place her body recognized before her mind could reach it. Comfort followed the warmth, deep and quiet, and that made even less sense.
She had never seen Alexander. Nothing about the country’s most feared Alpha should have felt safe. Still, the sensation matched what she had experienced in the forest and what had surged through her in Jackson’s office, growing stronger with each passing hour.
When dusk settled, Selene slipped away to the woods. The stream received her with its familiar murmur, moonlight trembling across the water. Here, beyond the packhouse bells and watchful eyes, she could admit how frightened she was.
Two days remained until her eighteenth birthday. If no wolf came, every insult Blood Moon had given her would become permanent truth. She would never possess the strength to cross the border alone, and the freedom she imagined would remain as distant as the moon reflected in the stream.
Selene sat on the flat stone and wrapped her cloak tighter. “Moon Goddess,” she began, feeling foolish and desperate at once, “I don’t need power.” The trees swayed gently above her, their branches combing through the night wind.
“I don’t need revenge, either.” That was not entirely true; some wounds still dreamed of justice. But vengeance was smaller than what she wanted. She lifted her face toward the moon as tears blurred its silver edges. “I only want somewhere to belong. Just once.”
The plea disappeared into darkness. A heartbeat later, pain exploded through her chest. Selene doubled over with a gasp as heat raced through every nerve, muscle, and bone. For one terrifying instant, she believed her heart had torn open.
