The Alpha’s Final Lesson: I Played Along, Then Left Him Forever Chapter 04
Ronan was already at the pack house when I walked in.
He sat on the couch, and the weight of his Alpha aura pressed down on the room like a hand around my throat.
Sera sat beside him, visibly uncomfortable.
Ronan’s gaze cut to me the moment I stepped through the door. Every word seemed to be squeezed through his teeth.
“You’ve got some nerve. What the hell was that message?”
“I teach you to recognize the dangers of reality, to make you stronger, and this is how you repay me? My mate?”
Sera rushed over and grabbed my wrist, playing the loyal best
friend. “Zoe, stop being so hardheaded. Everything Ronan’s
done is for you. Isn’t it better to tough it out now than get destroyed by those people later?”
I didn’t budge. She sighed and pulled out her phone.
“Fine. If you’re upset about the photo I posted. I’m sorry.
That’s on me. I’ll delete it right now. Don’t let something I did ruin your mate bond with Ronan.”
She hit delete right in front of me.
Ronan was across the room in a heartbeat, pulling Sera behind him.
“The photo has nothing to do with this. Stop blaming yourself.”
He turned to me, his tone dropping a fraction. “Enough. Cut it out.”
He pressed a high–grade moonstone into my palm.
“I channeled some of my Alpha power into it. It’ll accelerate your combat training.”
“Train hard. You’ve got the talent. You’ll make the council next year, easy.”
There was a time I would’ve begged him to spar with me.
Now it meant nothing.
Ravencrest had already seen what I was worth. I wasn’t the
weak, worthless person he thought I was.
held his gaze. His three precious lessons played behind my eyes like a highlight reel.
Something bitter curled in my chest. Almost a laugh.
He’d taught me so many lessons.
This time, it was my turn.
I smiled and took the moonstone. Heat flared across my palm immediately, and a surge of power rolled up my arm and settled deep in my chest. The constant ache in my back.
vanished like it had never existed.
My smile widened.
“All right. I’ll make the council next year. Count on it.”
Ronan’s face broke into a satisfied grin. The suffocating
pressure in the room eased, and he pulled me against his chest.
“That’s my girl.”
I closed my eyes and repeated his own words back to myself.
Don’t trust so easily.
Don’t believe every promise.
Find the lie hiding behind the truth.
Ronan thought he’d won. He had no idea I was already gone.
The next morning, I went back to the apartment I rented
near the academy and packed the last of my things.
Sera’s voice burst into my mind through the link, panicked.
Zoe! Get to the pack house now! Poppy’s gone!”
“That trick stopped working a long time ago, Sera.” My voice didn’t waver.
Last year, she tricked me into thinking Poppy had run into the pack’s restricted forest.
I’d crossed the silver haze barrier and nearly lost control of
my wolf, only to find out she’d shipped Poppy off to Ronan at an exchange summit in the next territory over.
Sera’s voice cracked like she was about to fall apart. “I’m not lying this time. I swear. She bolted. I’ve been searching for half an hour and I can’t… Someone saw her run into the forest…”
I cut the mind link.
Was this lesson four? Or five? I’d lost count.
But ten minutes later, my wolf started pacing inside me. “Zoe.
I think Poppy’s actually gone.”
I flew out of the building, shifted mid–stride, and ran for the pack house.
But when I arrived at the pack hall, Poppy’s scent was gone, and there was no excited little dog launching herself at me.
Sera was crying.
Ronan was supposed to be at the Alpha’s office for training. Instead, he sat beside Sera, thumbing the tears off her cheeks.
“Don’t cry. It was an accident. Nobody wanted this.”
swallowed hard. “Where is she?”
Sera’s sobs got worse. “I’m sorry, Zoe. I’m so sorry…
“I just wanted to help Ronan teach you another lesson.”
‘I was going to hide her. You’d come running back freaking out, and then I’d bring her out. Surprise.”
“But the second I got her outside, she ripped free of the leash and bolted straight into the forest… The patrol went in after
her, but she was already dead when they found her. The warriors buried her out there.”
My wolf howled inside me. I barely held her back.
After my parents, both Gammas, died in service to the pack.
grief swallowed me whole. For months I was so broken I couldn’t even shift.
Ronan had brought Poppy to me. “She’s yours now. She’s our family.”
Poppy put me back together. My wolf and I both claimed her as ours.
And now my mate and my best friend had turned her into a prop. Again and again, they’d used my family to make a point.
No punch could’ve hurt this much.
Red flooded my vision. I swung at Sera.
A hand caught my fist midair and squeezed until my knuckles screamed.
Ronan planted himself between us. His face was murderous.
“Poppy’s dead! And Sera’s hurting too. She didn’t do it on purpose!”
“If you’d come back when she linked you, Poppy would still be alive!”
“This is on you, Zoe. All of it.”
I resisted the crushing weight of his aura that nearly forced
me to my knees, and held his stare with ice–cold eyes. “Get lost.”
His expression darkened another shade. He didn’t move an inch.
Something inside me, the last thread holding everything together, broke.
I let my fist drop. Ronan’s shoulders eased.
I looked him dead in the eye. My voice was steady. “All right. I reject you as my mate.”
Ronan’s eyes blew wide. He nearly choked on the words. “Zoe, what? Over a dog? You…”
Yes! Over a dog. I reject you, Ronan, as my mate.”
The ice in my voice hit something volatile in him.
He dragged a hand through his hair. When his eyes came
back to mine, they were stone.
“I accept your rejection. Zoe Gray.”
I hope you never regret this. Get out of my territory. You’re not pack anymore.”
Pain ripped through my chest like a blade dragged across bone. Ronan flinched; he felt it too.
Through the agony, I caught it: that look in his eyes. The one that said, Beg me. Say you’re sorry and we go back to the way
it was.
I let him see my smile. Then I pulled myself upright through
the pain and didn’t look away.
I walked out of the pack house without looking back.
A vase shattered somewhere behind me. Sera screamed.
The next day, I stood in the airport with my suitcase and a
photo of me and Poppy. That was everything.
I’d barely sat down, thumb hovering over the power button, when my phone buzzed.
Ronan.
[Have you cooled off?]
[She was just a dog. I’ll let yesterday slide.]
(Once you make the council next year, I’ll get you a purebred
Samoyed. Show quality, Way smarter than Poppy.]
She was just a dog.
My mouth twitched. I didn’t reply.
Another notification..
Sera had posted again. She and Ronan at Starfall Kingdom.
[He promised me the fairy tale I never got to have.]
I felt nothing.
I popped the SIM card I’d used for four years and snapped it in two.
Powered off the phone.
The engines roared.
Through the window, Blackridge shrank to nothing. My heart
was already somewhere else, already running toward
Ravencrest and whatever came next.