My Alpha Refused to Save My Father from Rogues

The rain didn’t just fall; it felt like the sky was trying to crush me. I stood outside the heavy oak doors of the Blackwood Pack House, water streaming down my face, mixing with the heat of my humiliation. In my hands, the velvet box containing a custom-engraved watch—a gift for the tenth anniversary of the day Adrian and I first met—was now a sodden, pathetic lump.

“I’m sorry, Selene,” the enforcer at the door muttered, not meeting my eyes. He was a Delta I had known since we were pups, but his stance was unyielding. “Alpha Adrian’s orders. No visitors.”

“I’m not a visitor, Mark,” I said, my voice trembling against the thunder rolling overhead. “I’m the Gamma’s daughter. I’m his…”

*His mate.* The words died in my throat. We hadn’t completed the ceremony. We hadn’t marked. For ten years, I had waited, believing the Moon Goddess had destined us for each other, ever since he saved me from that rogue attack when I was a child. But tonight, the truth felt as cold as the rain soaking through my dress.

The heavy door creaked open, but it wasn’t to let me in. Adrian stepped onto the porch, sheltered by the overhang. He looked impeccable, his dark hair perfectly styled, his scent—cedar and storm—drifting toward me. But instead of warmth, his eyes held nothing but irritation.

“Go home, Selene,” he snapped, his voice cutting through the downpour. “You’re upsetting Kayla. She’s sensitive to your aura right now. She says it smells… desperate.”

My heart stuttered. “Kayla? But today is—”

“I know what day it is,” he interrupted, crossing his arms. “It’s the day you decided to start following me around like a lost puppy. Look at you. You’re a mess. A future Luna needs to have dignity, not stand in the rain begging for scraps.”

He didn’t even look at the gift in my hands. With a scoff, he turned on his heel and slammed the door. The sound echoed like a gunshot, sealing my fate. I wasn’t his fated mate; to him, I was just a nuisance.

I retreated to my father’s small cottage on the edge of the territory, shivering violently. I tried to convince myself it was just the cold, but deep down, I knew it was the fracture in my soul. I curled up in my bed, staring at the wall, waiting for the numbness to take over.

It didn’t. Instead, terror arrived.

It hit me at two in the morning—a jagged, mental scream that tore through my consciousness.

*Selene! Trap! Rogues—too many—*

My father’s voice in the mind-link was garbled, drowning in pain. I shot up, gasping, clutching my chest. The bond between a parent and child is strong, but this… this felt like he was being ripped apart.

“Dad!” I screamed back mentally, but there was only static and the sickening sound of snarling wolves.

I didn’t think. I didn’t grab a coat. I sprinted barefoot out of the cottage, tearing across the