I stared at Ethan’s desperate expression and couldn’t help but laugh. The sound was sharp and bitter in the night air
Here he was, offering to mark me at the worst possible moment. The same man who had told me he wasn’t ready when I begged him not to leave me at our wedding.
“How funny,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “When I loved you with everything I had, when I begged you not to abandon me at our mating ceremony, you said you weren’t in a hurry to
mark me.”
I stepped back from his reaching hands, my eyes cold as winter ice.
“Now, when it’s convenient for you, when you need something from me, suddenly you’re ready to give me your mark?”
Ethan’s face flushed with embarrassment and anger, but I wasn’t finished.
“And if your Alpha wolf abilities are really so strong and powerful,” I continued mockingly, “then you wouldn’t need me to go exchange my parents back, would you?”
I let my voice carry all the contempt I felt for his pathetic offer.
“You could just use those amazing Alpha powers to rescue them yourself.”
Ethan’s expression twisted with fury at my rejection and mockery. His hands clenched into fists. at his sides.
“Don’t regret this, Emma,” he snarled, his voice shaking with rage. “When you’re caught by those rogue wolves, when you’re begging for help, it will be too late to come crawling back to me.”
His eyes flashed red with Alpha dominance as he continued his threat.
“You’ll wish you had accepted my protection when you had the chance.”
I looked at him with complete indifference. His threats meant nothing to me anymore.
“I never expected you to save me, Ethan,” I said calmly. “I stopped counting on you a long time ago.”
Without another word, I stepped back and allowed my wolf to take control.
The shift happened quickly, my bones restructuring and fur sprouting as I transformed into my wolf form. My senses immediately sharpened, picking up scents and sounds that had been
muted in human form.
I would delay the rogue wolves until Grayson arrived. That was my only plan, and it didn’t require Ethan’s help.
I turned away from both of them and padded into the forest, my paws silent on the soft earth.
The moonlight filtered through the canopy above, creating patches of silver light on the forest floor. My wolf’s night vision made navigation easy as I moved deeper into the woods.
I had been running for about twenty minutes when my ears picked up the sound of movement ahead.
Multiple heartbeats. Multiple scents. All unfamiliar and hostile.
Before I could react, dark shapes exploded from the underbrush on all sides.
Chapter 21
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7:42 pm D
Rogue wolves. At least a dozen of them, their eyes glowing yellow in the darkness.
The largest one, a massive black wolf with scars across his muzzle, lunged at me first. I dodged
to the right, my smaller size giving me an advantage in maneuverability,
His claws scraped across my shoulder, drawing blood but missing anything vital.
I spun around and snapped at his throat, my teeth finding purchase in his thick fur. He yelped and pulled back, giving me a moment to assess the situation.
They had surrounded me completely. Escape routes were limited.
A brown wolf attacked from my left side. I rolled away, feeling his teeth graze my hindquarters,
My own jaws clamped down on his foreleg, crushing bone with a satisfying crack. He howled in pain and stumbled backward.
But for every wolf I wounded, two more took their place.
A gray wolf leaped onto my back, his weight driving me toward the ground, I bucked and twisted, managing to throw him off before his teeth could find my spine.
My claws raked across another attacker’s face, leaving deep gashes that spurted blood.
But they kept coming. Wave after wave of snarling, snapping teeth and razor–sharp claws.
I was holding my own, but barely. My Beta wolf was stronger than average, but I was outnumbered twelve to one.
A gap opened in their formation as two wolves collided while trying to attack me simultaneously. I saw my chance and sprinted toward the opening.
Freedom was just a few yards away when a new scent hit my sensitive nostrils,
Moonlight grass. The distinctive, sickly–sweet smell that made my stomach lurch with recognition.
My wolf’s reaction was immediate and devastating. My legs gave out beneath me as every muscle in my body went limp.
I collapsed to the forest floor, my limbs refusing to obey my desperate commands.
“No,” I thought desperately as the rogue wolves closed in around my helpless form.
My wolf allergy to moonlight grass was a closely guarded secret. Very few wolves had this particular weakness, and even fewer knew about mine.
The fact that these rogues had prepared moonlight grass specifically for this ambush could only mean one thing.
Someone had told them about my vulnerability. Someone who knew me well enough to exploit my greatest weakness.
As I lay paralyzed on the ground, my mind raced through the possibilities. Who would betray me like this? Who knew about my allergy and had access to rogue wolves?
The sound of approaching footsteps made me look up, though I couldn’t move my head.
A familiar figure stepped out from behind the trees, her face twisted with malicious satisfaction.
Scarlett.
She looked down at me with pure hatred burning in her eyes. Gone was any pretense of
Alpha’s Regret After I Became the Queen
innocence or sisterly concern.
“From tonight on,” she said with vicious pleasure, “you will never be worthy of being my brother’s
Luna.”
Her voice grew sharper, more venomous with each word.
“And my brother will always despise you for what’s about to happen here.”
