Fated to My Forbidden Alpha – Episode 14
Ethel remained in the corridor after Selene left the study, his hands trembling around the stolen ledger. Fifteen years of false leads had taught him to distrust miracles. This time he possessed the birthmark, matching age, moon pendant, and a record describing the blanket his wife had sewn.
His wolf recognized what reason still feared to claim. Even so, Ethel forced himself to wait. Selene had spent her life beneath other people’s decisions; she deserved certainty, not another powerful stranger pressing an identity onto her because his grief needed an answer.
Selene escaped into the garden, where moonlight silvered the paths and cool air loosened the pressure around her chest. Roses moved along low walls while the ballroom became a distant glow. She walked until the whispers, music, and impossible demands of two bonds faded behind the hedges.
Lyla observed that she was overwhelmed. Selene gave a tired laugh. Yesterday she believed she had no wolf; now she had Lyla, two Alphas calling themselves her mate, and a third Alpha looking at her as if she belonged to a memory he could not bear.
The wolf reminded her of one fact uncertainty could not erase: Selene was stronger than she had been yesterday. The truth drew a faint smile. Lyla could not solve the mystery, but she refused to let confusion reduce them to the powerless servant Blood Moon expected.
Footsteps sounded along the path. Alexander approached, then stopped several yards away. The deliberate distance eased Selene’s instinct to retreat. He said he had needed air rather than claiming he followed her, and his restraint made the quiet between them unexpectedly comfortable.
Alexander apologized. He had arrived, recognized the bond, and treated that recognition as permission to seek answers from her. Fate explained his instincts but did not excuse acting as if Selene owed him closeness before trust. He could not promise his wolf would become indifferent, but he could promise the man would remain accountable for every action taken in its name. The distinction was one Selene had never heard an Alpha make.
His honesty surprised her. Jackson apologized only when doing so protected his authority, while Alexander admitted fault without bargaining for forgiveness. Selene warned that her life was already complicated. Alexander answered that he did not want to make it harder.
“Then why did everything change when you arrived?” she asked. Alexander had no answer because he felt the same. Their bond hummed beneath the silence, powerful without demanding action, and mutual restraint created more intimacy than possession ever had.
Behind a marble column near the terrace, Tiffany watched them. Alexander listened to Selene and kept his distance when closeness would have been easy. By morning, gossip about Jackson’s hidden mate would spread beyond Blood Moon, destroying alliances Tiffany’s family spent years building.
If Alexander openly protected Selene as well, the servant would become untouchable. Tiffany remembered an iron chandelier in the neglected storage wing, suspended by an old support rope the steward repeatedly delayed replacing. An accident there could be blamed on careless maintenance.
High above the garden, Jackson watched from a balcony while his wolf repeated mine. He gripped the stone railing until cracks formed beneath his fingers. Below, Alexander gave Selene the respectful attention Jackson had never considered necessary, and she visibly relaxed.
Luke joined him and asked why another man speaking to Selene caused such fury if Jackson still intended to reject her. Jackson offered no answer. The future he claimed to want and the loss his wolf feared could no longer exist together.
Later, Ethel requested a private meeting with Alexander. In the library, he opened the archive ledger to Selene’s entry and said, “I think I found my daughter.” His voice broke despite every effort to sound like an Alpha rather than a father.
Alexander read the age, date, location, pendant, blanket, and concealed crest. The evidence aligned with Ethel’s history and the resemblance everyone had witnessed. If Selene carried Bloodwind blood, her unusual wolf and competing bonds might belong to a secret greater than romantic fate.
Ethel needed proof Selene herself could trust. Bloodline testing and her pendant could establish the truth, but the unanswered question remained whether Jackson knew her identity. If he did, years of forced labor and humiliation became deliberate abuse of a stolen heir.
By morning, exhausted guests prepared to depart while servants dismantled the celebration. Selene volunteered for the old storage wing, grateful for work far from Jackson and Alexander. The corridor smelled of damp timber and dust, with weak sunlight entering through one high window.
An iron chandelier hung above the passage, its crystals chiming whenever the floorboards shifted. Hidden on the upper landing, Tiffany wrapped both hands around the support rope. She had weakened the fibers before dawn and left one strand intact until Selene stood beneath it.
Selene paused to adjust the basket on her hip. Tiffany remembered every gaze from the previous night and pulled. The rope slid free, chains snapped with a metallic scream, and a widening shadow swallowed the corridor as Selene looked up.
Alexander rounded the corner as the chandelier plunged. His wolf exploded with warning, and he lunged toward Selene while Jackson felt panic tear through their distant bond. Iron and crystal fell faster than thought, leaving both Alphas only a single heartbeat to reach the woman Tiffany had decided must die.
