Page 34 of Alpha's Exiled Mate
“Where are you going, Perock?” Sophia’s voice, weak but alert, stopped me. Her eyes fluttered open, her hand reaching for me, pleading. “Please, don’t leave me.”
I frowned slightly. “You’re awake.”
“I was so frightened,” she whispered, tears tracing her cheeks. “That monster… its eyes… I thought I was going to die.”
“You’re safe now,” I said evenly. “The maids will look after you, and your husband will be summoned to escort you home.”
A flicker of hurt crossed her face. “Where are you going?”
“I need to ensure the princess’s safety.”
Her fingers gripped my sleeve, trembling. “Please, Perock, stay with me, just for a moment. You’ve never treated me like this before. Could you offer me some comfort?”
I gently freed my arm. “Sophia, our past is over. You have your husband, and I have my wife. She is the one I should care about most at this moment.”
Her expression froze, then twisted into a blend of anger and sorrow. “You’ve changed, Perock. You were never so cold to me.”
“People change,” I replied simply, turning toward the door. “Rest well.”
Leaving the infirmary, I strode through the corridors, a growing unease gnawing at me.
Protecting Sophia had been instinctive—not just for old promises, but because a noble’s injury in my palace would fuel Jackson’s campaign to discredit me. Yet, the rogue’s attack was too precise, its massive form and glowing red eyes unnatural, its movements deliberate. It had torn through the palace but targeted Viossi, as if drawn to her.
This was Jackson’s doing, I was certain.
The healer soon reported that Viossi was unharmed, only shaken, and resting in her chambers. Relief washed over me, but it was fleeting, replaced by the persistent image of Orin cradling her, his arms a shield where mine should have been. My wolf stirred, a low growl rumbling in my chest, bristling at the thought of another man claiming her protection.
Carrying this tangled knot of emotions, I returned to my study, only to freeze at the sight before me. Viossi stood by mybookshelf, holding the crescent pendant Sophia had given me, her fingers tracing its surface with a quiet intensity. The door’s creak startled her, and the pendant slipped from her grasp, shattering on the floor with a crystalline snap, a crack splitting the crescent.
“Why did you touch my things?” My voice was low, dangerous, each word forced through clenched teeth. Anger surged, a molten tide threatening to consume my reason.
“I-I didn’t mean to…” she stammered, rising, reaching for me, her voice trembling. But her approach only fueled my fury, each step a spark to the blaze.
“What is this?” My face must have been ghostly, twisted with rage and grief. “Do you know what you’ve done?”
The anger overwhelmed me. I surged forward, shoving her back. “Get out! Now!”
The force was too much—she stumbled, crashing to the floor. A flicker of regret pierced me, but the rage smothered it. I knelt, gathering the pendant’s fragments, heedless of the sharp edges cutting my fingers, blood welling as I tried to salvage what she’d broken. This pendant held my past with Sophia, a vow of forever, now ruined.
Yet, beneath the fury, a quieter voice whispered - I don’t want her to know too much about Sophia and me.
“Perock, please, let me explain…” she sobbed, reaching out, tears blurring her green eyes.
Her tears stirred a storm of conflicting emotions, but I refused to yield. “Get out!” I roared, my voice raw with an anger even I didn’t recognize. “Don’t make me say it again.”
Her eyes filled with tears, her lips quivering, but she didn’t argue. With a small nod, she rose and fled, her footsteps fading as the door slammed shut.
Only then did I realize how far I’d lost control. I’d never lashed out like this, not at servants, not at nobles. Why did sheprovoke such a reaction? My wolf growled, restless, as if she’d touched something deeper than a pendant, something I wasn’t ready to face.
I stared at the broken pendant, its once-smooth surface marred with scratches, the crescent’s crack a mockery of my past.
Sophia had said that as long as the moonlight endures, the promise between me and her will never break. Now, both pendant and promise lay in ruins.
Strangely, the anger subsided, leaving not the expected grief but a hollow calm. The pendant had been my obsession, a tether to a past I couldn’t release, yet now my thoughts were consumed by something else—worry and guilt. Had I been too harsh? She’d acted out of curiosity, and I’d cast her out with a cruelty I didn’t recognize. Her tears, those green eyes shimmering with hurt, cut deeper than I’d expected, echoing the fear I’d seen in them during the rogue’s attack—not of the beast, but of my indifference.
The next morning, I sat in my study, poring over reports, but my mind wandered to the night before. Should I apologize? Explain my outburst? The idea unsettled me—I never explained myself, never apologized. Yet her wounded expression haunted me, disrupting my focus.
Glancing out the window, I considered Jackson’s schemes. His attacks were escalating, aimed at destabilizing my rule, and targeting those closest to me was his sharpest weapon. I needed to bolster the palace’s defenses, especially around Viossi.