Fated to My Forbidden Alpha – Episode 12
Silence weighed on the ballroom after Jackson’s glass shattered. Ordinary guests might have seen an Alpha losing his temper, but every leader recognized the first movement of a conflict capable of drawing entire packs into war. Jackson unclenched his bleeding fist while Luke stepped close enough to shield it from curious eyes.
His wolf raged at Alexander’s nearness to Selene, demanding he separate them and claim what he had denied for years. The cuts healed quickly, but humiliation remained. One gentle touch from another Alpha had stripped Jackson’s lies bare before his pack.
Alexander accepted a fresh drink without tasting it. Only Drake recognized the control behind each breath. The bond with Selene was real but obstructed, opening toward her with absolute recognition before catching against whatever already tied her to Jackson.
Two active fated claims violated every mate law Drake knew. Second-chance bonds appeared only after death or rejection severed the first. Alexander had no explanation, only the conviction that someone had concealed part of Selene’s history or interfered with magic older than pack authority.
Near the servants’ passage, Selene asked Lyla whether something was wrong with her. The question carried fifteen years of being called defective. Lyla rejected it at once: the truth was damaged, not Selene, and no impossible bond made her less whole.
Tiffany approached wearing a warm smile Selene’s sharpened senses could no longer trust. Her perfume failed to hide the sour edge of anger. She brushed imaginary dust from Selene’s shoulder, let her fingers hover near the crescent mark, and said Jackson wanted her in his private study immediately.
Jackson stood at the study window when Selene entered. Music from the ballroom reached them through thick walls, but the celebration’s strain followed them inside. A white cloth covered his injured palm while he made her wait in silence as another demonstration of control.
“You embarrassed me,” he said. Selene reminded him that someone had knocked over her tray. Jackson turned sharply and accused her of allowing Alexander to touch her, ignoring that she had been falling when he caught her.
Disbelief became anger. “You’re jealous after promising to reject me?” Selene asked. The contradiction tightened Jackson’s expression, but pride would not permit an admission. Instead, he said she belonged to Blood Moon, using the language of ownership rather than loyalty.
“No. I belong to myself.” Lyla rose inside Selene as Jackson stepped closer and filled the study with Alpha pressure. He warned that she had forgotten her place, but she held his gaze through trembling knees. “I finally remember it. My place is not beneath you, Jackson.”
The use of his name struck like a challenge. Jackson had expected Selene to remain available until he decided whether to keep or discard her. Now the awakened woman before him possessed a voice his rank could no longer silence.
Outside the study, Tiffany listened against the wall. Every jealous accusation confirmed that Jackson was not indifferent. Her family had invested wealth and influence in making her Luna, and one servant girl could now destroy that future without even wanting it.
“I won’t let that happen,” she whispered. If Selene disappeared, both scandal and rival bond would disappear with her. Tiffany began imagining an accident easier to manage than public disgrace, never questioning how quickly murder had begun to resemble a practical solution.
Elsewhere, Ethel questioned an elderly Blood Moon servant. She remembered Selene arriving as a feverish three-year-old after the old Bloodwind conflict, brought in by the former Gamma with no memory beyond her first name. No family was contacted, and the child was eventually recorded as an orphan.
Ethel asked whether she carried anything. The servant recalled a moon-shaped silver pendant Selene sometimes wore beneath her uniform. Fifteen years earlier, Ethel’s wife had fastened such a pendant around their daughter’s neck before the attack. It had been commissioned by a Bloodwind silversmith and engraved inside with a private blessing no enemy record should have known. If Selene still possessed it, the metal could provide both identification and preserved family magic.
Birthmark, age, name, and pendant made coincidence nearly impossible, yet Ethel forced himself to seek proof. He had followed convincing lies before. Selene deserved evidence she could trust, not a desperate stranger pressing the weight of fatherhood onto her.
On a moonlit balcony, Alexander caught the faint scent of fresh blood. The injury was minor, but the bond recognized Selene instantly. Concern struck before reason could measure the danger, and he moved through the crowded corridors while Drake called after him.
Inside the study, Selene and Jackson remained locked in confrontation. Neither noticed the small cut in her palm where broken glass from the tray had nicked her. One dark drop slid from her finger and marked the wooden floor.
Jackson’s wolf went still when the scent reached him. Beyond the door, Alexander’s exploded with protective recognition. Two mate claims locked onto the same blood from opposite sides of the room, increasing the pressure around Selene until the old walls seemed to listen.
Deeper beneath Blood Moon’s territory, another sleeping power stirred at the scent. It did not answer either Alpha bond. The call traveled through forgotten bloodlines and sealed stone, awakening a lineage that had been silent since Selene vanished—and something below the manor opened its eyes.
