The Shadow Alpha

~Flashback~

“Kage?” Panic was evident in her tone, but the fear I expected to hear never made an appearance. She was staring wide eyed at the figure behind me, but as I was about to turn around, the horror in her eyes stopped me dead in my tracks. She gripped onto my arm anxiously, her nails digging into my skin, but I paid no heed to it as my anger rose.

I pulled her close to me when I turned around with a murderous look directed at the man who couldn't seem to tear his leering gaze from my mate.

The house was in shambles; broken glass littered the floors, the furniture was either damaged or thrown around haphazardly and amidst the chaos laid an array of dead bodies. We were woken up a while ago by the trip alarm set around the house going off, the hour following that was filled with fists flying and teeth ripping through flesh, once we took out all of Kage's rogues we wound up facing the man himself which is where we were right now.

Kage was flanked by four other rogues, whom by the looks of it were his personal minions. His tactic disgusted me more than anything, he sent the group ahead of him knowing full well that we would kill them. Only then did he show up later expecting that we would welcome him with open arms and had over whatever he demanded.

“Hello darling, miss me?” he smirked at Sherice who was peeking at him from behind my back, my hand involuntarily tightened around her arm. My wolf was growing increasingly angry; so much so that I was having a hard time controlling him while fighting my own anger.

The only thing that kept me from pouncing and ripping his head off his shoulders was Oliver's eyes on me reminding me that any rash behaviour could mean our own demise and while my mate was in question, I still had a responsibility towards the group.

Noticing my action Kage's smirk grew and his cronies chuckled at his ability to get a rise out of me, but I couldn't care less.

"What is your business here Kage?” Oliver's strong voice broke through the tense silence.

Kage tilted his head towards Oliver in a mocking way, “You have something of mine and I came to take it back.” I bristled at the hungry gaze he sent towards Sherice.

"Over my dead body!” I burst, stepping forward, unable to hold back my anger.

“That can be arranged.” The Rogue smirked with a sick look in his eyes.

"NO!" Sherice’s cry interrupted our intense stare down, before I could grasp onto her she sprang forward and into the arms of the man who could not tear his eyes from her, the man I despised.

My anger morphed into shock and fear, “What the hell are you doing Sherice? Come back here right now!” I rushed out, alarm ringing in my tone.

Kage cackled, mirth dancing in his eyes, “You really think she would leave me for you?” His smug voice put me slightly on edge, but I paid no attention to him as I stepped forward to grasp her arm, but just as I did he pulled her body flush against his.

His action did not surprise me, what caught me off guard was her lack of protest.

"Just leave me, Chris... Let me go.” She expressed in a sorrow filled whisper.

“No! Ill never let you go without a fight.” I asserted, unable to see her give up on me this easily. With that said I leapt forward, shifting mid-air into my Ash brown coloured wolf. My bloodlust urged me to clamp my jaws around his neck and sink my canine into the tender flesh that lay above his Aorta, but before I could get to him, a searing pain erupted in my chest; it was so painful that I fell to the ground in a heap unable to withstand the agony, I let out a loud how! that would surely be heard for miles.

Through hazy eyes I watched as the room fell silent, a few of my group members took a defensive stance as they prepared for the attack, but their eyes were trained on me.

My unfocussed eyes moved from them to my mate who stood flush against Kage with a hazy look in her eyes as the Rogue's teeth sunk into her neck, the sight was accompanied by a jolt of sorrow. My undoing came in the form of the moan that omitted from her lips; she was enjoying it despite all she said about her hate for him.

With a newfound anger and resentment I forced myself to stand up and looked her directly in the eye, “What is wrong with you?” no matter how much I tried to hide the anguish, my traitorous voice betrayed me.

“I'm sorry Christopher, but it's better this way. I, Sherice Lane, reject you Christopher Butler as my mate.” Before any of us could even recover from our shock they disappeared into the dark of the night, leaving behind the destruction they caused in the house and my heart.

~End of Flashback~

“No matter how many times they told me to accept the rejection, I couldn’t. My head screamed at me to accept it and move on, but my heart wouldn't admit to her deceit.” He revealed. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement, I had not till this day been able to put a name to any of the rogues apart from the ones that I had either killed or Tatiana had mentioned to us, but I had a strange feeling that this Kage character was closer to the top than we would be comfortable with. “It wasn't until recently that I made an effort to find out what her intentions were. I found out that she was in fact a part of their entire scheme; her conspiracy was to get into our house and find out information regarding who we are and what we were planning against the rogues. My best guess is that she was to pose as a victim and have us rescue her, she never banked on being my mate and Kage knew that the longer she stayed, the easier it would be to turn her against them.” It made perfect sense, but I still had some questions.

“How come you only thought to find out her intentions now?” I asked the first of a hoard of questions that plagued my mind.

He let out a humourless chuckle, “The incident that took place that night in the gym. It was the worst I've ever felt. Every time they sleep together I feel it, it's almost become second nature to live with the constant pain, but sometimes it gets really bad. An elder once told me that it was because of the advancement in their relationship. Something really big happened this time and I because of that I almost lost my sanity. If it weren't for you, I would have either died or became a feral wolf. When I woke up after that night, I realised just how bad it has gotten and hearing about what you did and what happened to you, I knew that I couldn’t continue.” He explained with a meaningful look in my direction.

“How did you even find out all of this?” fired my next question, not even bothering to reply to his look.

A heavy sigh escaped his chest, “I have a friend that's a private investigator, he is quite inconspicuous and can find information about just anything, it also helps that he’s in good with the rogues.” I was a tad bit suspicious of anyone who was in the good books of the rogues, but surely Christopher covered his tracks well, “Oh and before you ask, he doesn't know who I am, nor does he know where I am or why I asked.” I snickered at his reassurance and offered him a smirk.

“I thought so. Now tell me, did she manage to get any information?” without missing a beat he shook his head in denial.

“No, we never spoke in front of her, nor did we leave any information lying around. A part of me is glad that Kage showed up when he did, because if he hadn't I would have told her about my true identity that very night.” He divulged in a relieved tone. I couldn't help but sigh inwardly myself. “Thank the Goddess for small miracles.” We both chuckled at the sheer luck of the situation.

"Yeah, so I thought that you should know that before I asked the next thing.” His eyes became guarded causing me to frown.

We were still walking in the forest; I couldn“t sense anyone else in the forest apart from the both of us and the border control who were closing in on us as we spoke. I grasped his arm and steered him in the direction of the pack house away from any prying ears.

"What is it?" I enquired, unable to figure out in what direction the conversation was heading.

“I want to break the bond. I want to accept the rejection.” He asserted and my brows shot up in surprise.

“I thought you'd already done that?” realisation dawned upon him as he realised why I was shocked. “It's been four years, a lot longer than any wolf has held on for. I don't know what to expect, except for the fact that it will be very painful, I don’t know what will happen beyond that.” His thoughts materialised and as they did I suddenly remembered something I had read about rejected mates back when I was still trying to learn about the mate bond of the Shadow Wolf.

“I can't.” I stated frankly, a hurt look appeared in his eyes, but before he could speak I continued, “When a mate bond is broken at such a stage where the bond of one mate is completely severed, the only way to mend the bond of the accepting mate is to recreate a bond with another, otherwise all you're left with is a loose thread. That alone will make a wolf go feral.” I disclosed; a mask of pain settled in his eyes as reality dawned upon him.

“So that's it then, there's no way out?” he clarified brokenly. I wanted so badly to help him, but I couldn't and never had I felt so terrible in my entire life.

“I'm sorry Christopher, I really am.” I uttered feeling worse than I had before the conversation began.

“It's okay Alpha... It's my fault I guess, so many people told me to just accept it, but I was too stubborn to listen, I guess this is the price I have to pay,” my frown deepened at his words.

“No Chris, there's nothing wrong with having hope. You gave your mate the benefit of the doubt, just because she was too stupid to realise what she lost doesn't make you the bad person here. Maybe a little naive, but you don't deserve this either way.” I reassured him, hoping that I could lift his spirit, even just a little.

He sent me an appreciative smile which I was glad for and just like that we walked back to the pack house silently, both lost in our own thoughts.