Chapter 9
Alpha Kendrick’s face twisted, a flash of anger that he quickly shoved down.
“Don’t bring her up, he gritted out, his voice tight, but there was something in his eyes.
I smirked inwardly. I was definitely not Elena. She was the kind of girl who needed saving, while l? Not so much.
“Where’s Elena? Didn’t she come with you?” I asked, mostly out of curiosity–not trying to stir the pot. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be happy with whatever answer he gave, but I had to ask.
Elena was in rough shape. Depressed, sick… someone needed to look after her. If something went wrong, who would be
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responsible?
What if, in the future, Alpha Kendrick came to me and said he couldn’t go back to care for Elena because he’d come to see me? Wouldn’t that leave me feeling terribly wronged?
“Don’t bring her up,” he snapped again, his jaw twitching with barely suppressed frustration. “She and I are done.”
I took a step back, still watching him, feeling like I was seeing him for the first time.
Oh, he was a classic case of self–absorption. He didn’t care about Elena. He cared about his own pride. If he’d really loved her, he wouldn’t have left her in the first place. Instead, he’d chosen to chase some fantasy of their college love–only to realize it was already long gone. Now he was trying to pick
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up the pieces… but this time, I wasn’t one of them.
“Alpha Kendrick, you’re so boring,” I said, unable to hide my disappointment. “I really overestimated you, didn’t I? I thought you didn’t keep Elena back then because you thought you weren’t good enough for her. But nope. It wasn’t that. You just couldn’t handle the blow to your ego, so you pretended to be the bigger person.”
Before I could go on, he cut me off, stepping toward me with that familiar urgency.
He stepped closer, just like in the past when we argued, intending to pick me up and take me away.
But I didn’t obey Alpha Kendrick anymore.
Not this time.
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He wasn’t getting away with this again.
I wasn’t that same girl anymore.
Since he had come all this way to perform his dramatic “win–back” routine, I felt it was time to finally vent.
I shifted, using the self–defense moves I’d picked up at the Blue Moon Pack, throwing a quick elbow strike that knocked him off–balance. He stumbled, eyes wide, like I’d just slapped him in the face.
“You know,” I said, smirking, “I learned some self–defense moves back at Blue Moon. Never thought I’d use them on you though.”
It took him a moment to regain his composure. “Felicia, we’ve been through so much together,” he said, trying to reel
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me back in. “My feelings for you haven’t changed. I still love you.”
I used to love looking into his eyes. I could almost feel his love–or what I thought was love. But now?
All I saw were lies and the years I wasted waiting for him to see me as more than his backup.
Then, without warning, he pulled a ring out of his pocket and dropped to one knee.
“Felicia,” he started, looking up at me with that pleading look. “Let’s forget about Elena. She was just a-”
I didn’t even hear the rest of his words.
The sight of that ring felt like a punch to the
gut.
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I had imagined this moment for so long. I’d dreamt of the fancy proposal–maybe over a candlelit dinner, or on a rooftop with a view. But no. Here I was, standing on a beach in a plain shirt and jeans, at dusk, no flowers, no romantic setup. Just me and him, like we were picking up where we left off.
If this had happened before, I might’ve melted. I would’ve accepted the ring, ignoring the rest of the world.
But now?
All I wanted was to hurl that stupid ring and its box right at his head.
“So what?” I snapped, frustration bubbling up. “Do I really deserve to wait around all these years for this? Just to be your backup plan?”
