Ashley’s POV
I walked back into the room, my thoughts swirling with the chaos of the day. After a quick shower, I slipped into something comfortable-just a simple casual outfit. The soft fabric was calming against my skin, but my mind couldn’t quite relax. I sat down on the couch, trying to find focus, when Steven strode into the room.
His expression was dark, frustration radiating from him like a storm ready to break.
“Did you get the phone?” I asked, already knowing the answer from the scowl on his face.
“No,” he admitted, his tone sharp with annoyance. “They were too many of them, and they’re too fast.”
A laugh escaped me, and I couldn’t help the teasing edge in my voice. “So the mighty, ruthless Alpha lost to his two sisters and cousin brother?” I said, letting the mockery drip from every word.
“Just shut up and focus on your work,” he snapped, clearly in no mood for my jokes.
“Oh, I’ve stopped working,” I replied nonchalantly, leaning back on the couch as I crossed my arms.
His eyes narrowed, sharp and piercing. “Are you done with the designs then?”
I shook my head, letting my defiance show. “No, I’m not.”
“Then why did you stop?” he asked, his frustration simmering just below the surface.
“Because I have a question,” I said firmly, my voice steady. “And I won’t continue until you answer it for me.”
He exhaled heavily, clearly irritated but trying to mask it with indifference. “And what question might that be?”
I leaned forward, my gaze locking with his. “What happened to you? Something bad happened, didn’t it? Something that changed you. What was it?”
His face darkened, the muscles in his jaw tightening. “My life is my life, Luna,” he said coldly. “It’s none of your business.”
I didn’t flinch. “I’m your Mate, Steven. Your life isn’t yours alone anymore. You don’t have to go through everything alone.”
His eyes flashed with anger, his voice rising. “Just get on with your work. We had a deal, and you must honor it.”
I shrugged, feigning indifference even as my heart ached for him. “I’ll break the deal then. I’m not working anymore until you tell me what I want to know. Go ahead and kill Maya-I’ve already told you I don’t care about her. I hate her, even.”
His fists clenched at his sides, his temper flaring. “You… I need those designs by tomorrow, Luna. My clients are coming to see them!”
“Then I suggest you start talking,” I said, meeting his anger with calm defiance as I patted the chair beside me. “Come on, take a seat.”
For a moment, he hesitated, then let out a long sigh and sat down. “You want to hear my story?” he asked, his voice low and bitter.
I nodded, bracing myself for what was to come. “I’m listening.”
And then he began, his words heavy with the weight of his past. “My mother was born with the destiny of being the Luna of the pack,” he started, his voice carrying a mixture of pride and pain. “She grew up to be a very powerful wolf, the best the pack had ever seen. Everyone wanted her-every eligible wolf tried to claim her as their mate because marrying her meant claiming the Alpha position.
“But my mom… she fell in love with an Omega. An outcast. The weakest among the wolves. And yet, she made him her mate. The lowest wolf in the pack became the Alpha of the Oakwood Moon Pack because of her.” He paused, his gaze distant, as if lost in the memories.
I stayed silent, allowing him the space to continue.
“My mom had a younger brother, Albert-Liam’s father. We all lived like a happy family in the mansion. My dad’s younger brother, Freya and Freja’s dad, would often bring them to stay with us. We were all happy-until the day Liam’s father decided my parents weren’t fit to lead the pack. He gathered an army in secret and attacked us when we least expected it.” His voice cracked slightly, but he pushed on.
“My mom came to get me. We ran. I was just a boy, but I’ll never forget the sight of my father’s lifeless body on the floor, lying in a pool of his own blood.”
The raw pain in his voice hit me like a punch to the chest. I wanted to say something-anything-but I knew this was his story to tell.
He went on, his words like daggers. “My mom was chased by Albert’s men. To protect me, she left me at a lakeside in a remote, quiet place. She erased my memories, leaving only a faint promise that she would come back for me when the time was right. For months, I stayed there, waiting, not knowing the horrors she was enduring.”
I bit my lip, tears stinging my eyes as the pieces of his past fell into place.
“That’s… that was how we met,” I whispered. “You went through all that, and I thought you were just some nameless boy without memories…”
“Just listen,” he said sharply, and I nodded, swallowing back my emotions.
“My mom ran, doing everything she could to stay hidden from his brother’s men for months. All the while, I was at the lakeside with you and your mother, completely unaware of the chaos surrounding us. A few days after you and your mother moved out of the cottage by the lake, my mom finally came to get me. The moment I saw her, everything rushed back to me-I remembered everything, and I knew with every fiber of my being that she was my mother, the one I had longed for all this time. My father’s brother, Albert, had hidden us away, and for years, we were always on the run, escaping Albert’s men. I grew up constantly on the move, alongside Freya and Freja, never staying in one place for long. But I grew tired of running. I was tired of always fleeing, of always looking over my shoulder with my family. So, I went to seek the guidance of the priestess. She told me that if I wanted to protect my family, I needed to be strong, and to gain that strength, I had to place my trust in the goddess. She said the goddess would protect me. To become strong, I was told I needed to undergo a 150-day fast. But this wasn’t the kind of fast where you just avoid food-this was a fast where you abstained from taking any life, no matter how small. She promised me that after the fast, I’d be strong enough to protect my family. The goddess would protect me, too, she assured me.
I was a fool. A complete fool to have trusted her. To have trusted them!” he said, his voice thick with anger.
“Anyway, I believed her, and I began the fast. I killed nothing-not even the smallest ant. For 150 days, I made sure I did not take a single life. My focus was on the fast, on making sure I didn’t kill anything-not even by accident. I didn’t think about my family, I didn’t think about anything else. I was consumed by the fast, thinking that if I just held out long enough, everything would be okay. But on the 150th day of the fast, Albert found us. He found our hiding place, and I saw them-his men, coming toward us. I wanted to fight them. I wanted to attack, to stop them from reaching our home. But I stopped myself. It was the last day of my fast, just one more day, and I would be strong enough. Strong enough to take on all of them. I believed that if I just made it through that day, the goddess would protect us. But I was wrong. I ran. I ran like a coward instead of fighting. That was my biggest mistake. Running didn’t solve anything, and that night, the fight found me anyway.
Albert and his men caught up to us. Mom and the twins’ father stayed behind to fight, while they asked me to get Freja, Freya, and her mate, Owen, to safety. I did as they asked, but when I returned, it was too late. The twins’ father was dead, and Albert’s hand was buried deep inside my mother’s chest. I wanted to help her, to do something, but I hesitated. It was the last day of my fast, and if I intervened now, everything I’d done up to that point would have been for nothing. I hesitated for just a moment, but that moment was all it took. Albert pulled out her heart right before my eyes. He was going to kill me too, but then there was a flash of lightning, and he stepped back, taking my mother’s body with him as a trophy. The goddess protected me, but she failed my family.
I completed the fast, and I became strong. But at the cost of my mother’s life. The next day, I saw her decapitated head hanging from a tree in the forest, left for the vultures to feast on. My mother!” he yelled, his voice breaking as the weight of the memory washed over him.
“I waited. I waited for the night to fall so I could get my revenge. I had planned to go alone, but Freya’s mate, Owen, figured out my plan and offered to come with me. I was so foolish to agree. If I had just gone by myself, if I hadn’t let him come with me, maybe he’d still be alive. But I didn’t. I let him come. And because of my weakness, he died. That night, I walked into the mansion Albert had claimed as his own palace, and I killed everyone there. Every single one of them. When I finally reached Albert, I ripped out his heart and decapitated him, just like he had done to my mother.
Albert’s wife came out with Liam, and she demanded that Liam fight me. I was ready-I was prepared to kill him the moment he made a move. But instead, he turned away, pulled out his own mother’s heart, and threw it on the ground. Liam had suffered at the hands of his parents, just like I had. His parents were bloodthirsty maniacs, and Liam was finally free.
Landon pledged his allegiance to me, and I showed him mercy. But I decided Liam would be the last person I would ever show mercy to.
When I left the mansion, I found Owen lying on the ground, dead. I had led him into this fight, and now he was gone. That was when I decided-no more. No more would I risk the lives of those I care about because of my own problems. I would solve them on my own. I would protect my family and my pack, but I would never let anyone else get hurt because of me again.
That night, everything changed. I became strong. I became ruthless. I killed anyone who threatened me, my family, or my pack. I was once weak, and I lost the one person who mattered most to me. So I decided, if I had to become the ruthless Alpha, the one everyone feared, then that’s what I would do. Because if they fear me, they won’t dare cross me.”
I stared at him, unable to hold back the tears that slipped down my cheeks. For so long, I had thought of him as a monster, a ruthless Alpha who cared for nothing and no one. But now… now I saw the truth.
He wasn’t ruthless. He wasn’t cold or unfeeling.
He was just… broken.