Rejecting The Alpha Who Hid Our Bond

“For four years, I secretly cared for my fated mate, Alpha Gideon. I spent my days as a lowly Omega scrubbing floors, but my nights were spent digging for rare healing herbs to sneak into his meals. But when the noblewoman he intended to marry publicly accused me of using dark witchcraft to seduce him, Gideon said absolutely nothing. He let the angry mob drag me into a freezing, damp basement to scrub iron pots. He let the Elders forge my evaluations to banish me to the deadly Northern Border wasteland. Even when they publicly stripped me of my pack mark and condemned me to freeze to death as a hunted Rogue, the great Alpha just stood there in silence. "She is nothing but dirt," the nobles laughed, while he turned a blind eye to protect his reputation. I didn't understand. I had ruined my hands in the dangerous woods just to keep his food perfectly clean of the silver that burned our kind. Why was I just his dirty secret? How could the strongest warrior in the North be too cowardly to defend his mate in the light? Looking at his golden eyes one last time, the bone-deep bond in my chest finally snapped. "I, Sophia, reject you, Gideon, as my mate." I wiped my tears, packed my frayed linen bag, and walked out into the winter snow. This time, I chose to live for myself.”