Even Alphas Bow to Her Chapter 02
My assistant Charlotte called. “Vivian, the client’s assistant for your 9:30 tomorrow called to confirm.
The materials are ready–should I bring them in now?”
“Just leave them on my desk.”
“Got it. Also they seemed pretty anxious. Asked if we
could move the meeting up by ten minutes.”
“If he wants to come early, he can wait in the
Conference Room. My schedule stays the same.”
“Understood, Vivian. Anything else I should prep?”
“No. Just run it like a standard funding pitch.”
“Sis, why aren’t you answering my messages?”
Seven in the morning. Lily’s second Voice Memo blasted onto my phone.
Truth is, I hated Voice Memos. Text was so much
cleaner. Easier to process.
“Ethan barely slept again last night. I’m so worried about him. I know you’re busy, I know you have your own stuff to handle. But if this meeting doesn’t go through we might lose the Estate, And our daughter’s Preschool Tuition for next semester-
Her voice cracked right there.
Estate. Daughter. Tuition.
Every word aimed straight at the word “family.”
But back then? When my sister betrayed me and my
family looked the other way? My wolf howled every
single night.
I moved overseas. I healed myself. Whatever family
bond we’d had—it was long gone.
So I didn’t reply.
Driving to the office, my phone buzzed again.
Caller ID: Zoe.
College friend. Hadn’t talked to her in over four years.
“Vivian? Long time! I heard you’re back in the
country?”
“Yeah, flew in for some business. What made you
reach out?”
“Haha, your sister Lily mentioned you at the Pack
Gathering the other day
“What did she say?”
“She said you left the Pack because of a broken heart.
That you’d had a crush on her mate Ethan for ten
years, couldn’t win him over, and stormed off overseas.”
My grip on the steering wheel tightened.
I was sleeping with Ethan back when Lily wasn’t even in the picture.
Before my wolf awakened, yeah, I had a crush on Ethan. Who wouldn’t? He was the hockey team captain.
Only the Moon Goddess knew how I felt when I
recognized him as my true mate at eighteen–
The pull between us was instinctual. So we dated in
secret for four years.
All through college.
Senior Prom night, I walked toward him in white.
And he backed away like I was embarrassing him. He
rejected me in front of everyone with the cruelest words he could find: “I, Ethan Hawthorne, reject you,
Vivian Sterling, as my mate. Rejected now and forever.
Ever and never.”
My heart shattered right there.
My wolf screamed inside my chest.
Zoe’s voice pulled me back. “Everyone was saying how hard you must’ve had it all these years. And Lily said
you’re still not bonded–probably because you haven’t moved on.”
“Did she tear up when she said that?”
“How’d you know? Yes! She said she’d never forgive herself for what happened. But she also said—she said
you’ve always been so stubborn, competing with her
over everything, and that you went overseas just to
prove you were better than her. She said she really feels for you.”
Every word was a soft knife.
Lily, with her perfect wounded–act, had written my
entire story for me. The loser who went after an Alpha
and struck out. The girl who ran away in a huff. The
overachiever trying to prove something. The poor
thirty–something nobody wanted.
Six years. NYSE Bell Ringing. Market cap pushing nine
figures. Over five thousand employees worldwide.
In her version? Just a “heartbroken spinster who fled the country.”
“What else did she say?”
“That you cried at the airport the day you left. She said
it broke her heart-”
“I cried at the airport?”
“Yeah, she-”
“Zoe.”
“Hm?”
“My flight left at four in the morning. I called an Uber.
No one saw me off. No one even knew what time I was leaving.”
Two seconds of silence on the line.
I let out a scoff. “Including Lily. She didn’t even know which day I left. How would she know if I cried?”
She was off on her honeymoon with Ethan back then.