Denied by Destiny: Trapped in the Shadows of the Mate Bond

Alora POV

An awkward silence enters the car as Hector speeds off pack lands and I have to grip onto the leather seat from his fast driving. He wanted space between me and pack lands before I changed my mind.

I have to close my eyes, I couldn't watch Than's face in the car side mirror from what I have just done.

I will return, of course I will, this is my home.

The pack link becomes diluted down the further Hector drives out of the pack grounds. I am just about to tell him to pull over when he must sense my unease, and pulls the car into a car park on top of a hill.

I didn't want to be so far out that I could no longer feel the pack. Not being marked, the pack was my only contact link with Than...until he marked me. Then he could mind-link me wherever I was.

The hill was famous, some kind of human battle occurring here centuries ago that has now become a tourist hot spot.

Except for a few cars, it was quiet now, and for a moment I can sit in silence, my eyes casting out at the beautiful landscape in front of me.

I haven't been in Hector's presence for 4 years, and I have to find inner strength to be the first to talk. I don't look to him but I can feel his eyes on me, my cheeks reddening from his intense stare. He was taking me in, all of me.

"You always said you wouldn't lie to me..." I sigh out, my head resting comfortably against the head rest as I continue to look out at the view.

"I did, and I stand by that." His eyes follow mine to the view outside the front car window.

"Then why was she at your pack?"

"I found her in a coffee shop I own, my look outs had reported a female running from the Amber Desert pack throughout the night. His men were chasing her, she had escaped. Running for her life they said. She was asking about me at the coffee shop, I had to know what she wanted. Then I saw her..."

"And?" My eyebrows furrow, what did she take that she would run throughout the night to avoid being captured.

"I couldn't believe it..."

"You thought it was me?"

"When she turned, I knew instantly it wasn't you...Kaia... is different..." My heart sinks slightly at his choice of words, does he mean different in a positive way. 1 "Then what?"

"She wanted to join my pack, she wanted shelter from Than."

"Your pack...that's so odd to hear. I can't believe you are an alpha of your own pack." I glance at him, a soft smile forming upon my lips.

He had gone against the grain and made his own position in the werewolf world. He was training in

business, so to learn of him running his own pack is quite the turn-around.Exclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.

My eyes drop down as his hand lands on top of mine before pulling it into his, entwining our fingers together. He lifts our hands up to his lips and kisses the back of my hand gently, the tingles from his touch making me swallow the moan I want to let out. Our eyes find each other and I'm not sure how long we have gazed into each other's, until he starts talking again.

"I found you."

At first I'm not sure what he means, until it dawns on me... he found me. His eyes hold mine for that second too long, pain radiating in his as a I feel remorse tighten in my stomach.

I didn't want anyone to find me, not like that...I wasn't thinking properly at the time.

"I'm so sorry Hector. I never meant....to..." I struggle with my words, memories returning to me. Tears start to form in my eyes before a single tear escapes, dropping down my cheek.

"I became an Alpha for you..." He whispers, watching my tear fall.

"For me?" I never cared about titles, I would never reject someone based on their authority within a pack so why would he feel the need to become an Alpha for me.

"When I found you, you were barely alive. I raced you to the hospital, sounded the alarm. I wasn't allowed to stay, I was removed from the facility, from the pack. Without the actual words...banished. I was threatened with the Amber Desert warriors if I didn't comply." "Than?"

"No, Medea. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do...leaving you like that."

I take a moment to let his words sink in, how heart breaking it must have been for him to not only find me but then be turfed out of the pack, not knowing if I would survive.

The severity of what I did continues to haunt me. 1

"What's she like?"

"Kaia?"

"I found a photo of them on their wedding day...I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I can't believe he married her."

Hector doesn't respond and for once I was expecting him to have something bitter to say against Than for marrying another. Instead he turns his head away, opening his window, breathing in deeply.

"Grief makes people do odd things." He cryptically replies, his hand letting go of mine and clenching by his thighs.

213