The car rolled to a stop, and Jonathan killed the engine with the weariness of a man who had already lived three lifetimes before breakfast. The siblings emerged—Jonathan with the grace of someone escaping a hostage situation, and Azura clutching the big bag like it contained the Holy Grail wrapped in tissue paper.
She was ready. More than ready. Her fingers twitched with the overwhelming urge to sprint into the house, find Selena, and shower her with snacks, clothes, and possibly a tearful apology speech that would make Hallmark movies look emotionally restrained.
But first—Adrian.
She had to dump the alpha before she could cling to the female lead.
Think of it like taking a shower, Azura. You can't roll around in Selena's protagonist halo if you're still covered in Adrian's alpha stink. Clean break first. THEN redemption arc. The order of operations is CRITICAL.
She turned to Jonathan with the trusting eyes of a baby deer who had decided this particular wolf was now her tour guide.
"Lead the way, dear brother!"
Jonathan side-eyed her but said nothing. Probably because his daily quota for "what the hell is wrong with my sister" had already been exceeded before 9 AM.
As they walked through the pack grounds, pack members greeted them with respectful nods and bows. Azura noticed something peculiar—the greetings were always directed at Jonathan first.
"Beta Jonathan, Miss Azura, good morning."
"Beta Jonathan, Miss Azura."
"Beta Jonathan—"
Azura's ears perked up. Beta? She squinted at her brother's back, reassessing him like a poker player who just spotted a hidden ace.
Oh. OH. My brother is the Beta? The second-in-command? The guy who probably has actual authority and warriors at his disposal?
She stared at him with renewed interest. A slow, calculating smile spread across her face.
This changed things. If she ever needed backup—say, if an alpha got a little too salty about being dumped, or if a villainess's past sins came back to haunt her borrowed body—she now had a brother with actual political power. He was a walking "get out of jail free" card, and she was absolutely going to abuse this privilege.
Jonathan felt her gaze boring into the side of his skull like a dentist's drill. He shuddered involuntarily.
"I don't know what you're thinking," he said, not even turning around, "but whatever it is—just don't do it."
"Huh?" Azura blinked innocently. "Even if I was thinking about how I want to worship you because you're my amazing, incredible, wonderful big brother?"
Jonathan shuddered harder. A full-body tremor. The kind usually reserved for people who just heard something skittering in the walls.
"Yes. ESPECIALLY don't do that. Don't plan anything about me—good or bad."
Because in current Azura's twisted universe, "good" probably meant something like organizing a surprise party that accidentally summons a demon. Or writing him a heartfelt letter that somehow gets him arrested for treason.
With her, the distinction between "blessing" and "curse" was purely theoretical.
Azura pouted. "You're no fun."
"I'm alive. That's the goal."
They rounded a corner, passing through the garden on their way to the training grounds. Flowers bloomed in carefully arranged beds. A fountain gurgled peacefully.It was all very picturesque. Very serene. Very—
And then Azura spotted him.
A figure in the distance. Broad shoulders. Commanding presence.
She squinted. That silhouette... those shoulders... the way he stood like he owned every molecule of air around him...
Her brain clicked into recognition mode.
Adrian. It had to be Adrian. The Alpha. Her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend. The man she was about to dramatically dump in favor of becoming Selena's professional hype-woman.
"Ah, it's the Alpha," Jonathan said, following her gaze.
But then his eyes narrowed. His expression shifted. Something was off.
"Wait—"
Before he could finish his correction, a maid carrying a mountain of dirty laundry came barreling around the corner like a laundry-powered missile.
WHUMP
"OH!! I'M SO SORRY, BETA JONATHAN!!"
The maid's face went white as the sheets she was carrying. She bowed frantically, probably already writing her last will and testament in her head.
Jonathan, to his credit, just sighed and waved a hand. "It's fine. Just... be more careful in the future."
He turned back to where Azura had been standing.
"It's not actually—HUH?! WHERE DID SHE GO?!"
The space where his sister had been was now completely empty. Not just empty—suspiciously empty. The kind of empty that suggested someone had teleported with malicious intent.
Jonathan's eye twitched.
She had been standing RIGHT THERE. FIVE SECONDS AGO!
What Jonathan didn't know—couldn't have known, because the universe was actively conspiring against his sanity—was that the moment the laundry-wielding maid had body-slammed him, Azura had already bolted.
The man. The figure. The silhouette. He was walking away. Entering the tree-lined garden. Disappearing into the foliage like a plot device in a rom-com.
And Azura, fueled by determination and the desperate need to sever all ties with her soon-to-be-ex before she spontaneously combusted from guilt, sprinted after him.
Wait for me, Alpha Boyfriend Who Is About To Be Downgraded To Alpha Ex-Boyfriend! I have a breakup speech locked and loaded!
She left Jonathan in the dust. Literally. The man was still brushing laundry lint off his shirt while his sister was already halfway across the estate, running like she was being chased by the ghost of bad decisions past.
Her feet carried her through the garden. Past the roses. Past the fountain. Past a very confused gardener who watched her zoom by with the expression of a man who had seen things.
And finally—FINALLY—she caught up to him.
He had his back to her. A very broad back. A very muscular back. A back that screamed "I bench-press trees for fun and wrestle bears as a hobby."
His hair. His build. His presence. Everything matched the Adrian she had seen last night. The same Adrian who had looked at her with those intense alpha eyes. The same Adrian who was probably already planning their wedding, their future pack, and the names of their future werewolf puppies.
Azura's heart clenched.
Oh no. He's even more attractive from behind. This is unfair. This is a hate crime against single people everywhere. Focus, Azura. FOCUS. You're not here to admire the merchandise. You're here to return it.
She took a deep breath. Then another. Then one more for good luck because she was about to do something that might get her mauled.
And then she opened her mouth.
"ALPHA!!!!"
The man jolted. His shoulders tensed. His whole body went rigid like someone had just tased him between the shoulder blades.
But before he could turn around—before he could even process who was screaming at 8 AM in the garden—Azura launched into her speech like a verbal freight train with no brakes.
"ALPHA!! I'M SO SORRY!! EVEN THOUGH I KNOW YOU REALLY, REALLY LIKE ME—AND I MEAN REALLY, WHO WOULDN'T, I'M A DELIGHT—I CAN'T BE WITH YOU ANYMORE! RIGHT NOW MY WOLF IS IN DORMANT MODE! SHE'S ASLEEP! SHE'S ON VACATION! SHE'S GHOSTED ME! AND BECAUSE OF THAT, I'M NOT WORTHY OF BEING YOUR PARTNER! PLEASE DON'T BE ANGRY AND LET ME GO FROM THIS RELATIONSHIP! I'VE DECIDED TO STAY SINGLE FOREVER TO ATONE FOR MY MISTAKES! I'LL EVEN ADOPT 30 DOGS AS MY CHILDREN!!"
Silence.
Not just silence—the kind of silence that follows a nuclear explosion. The kind of silence where even the birds stop chirping because they're too stunned to function.
The gardener dropped his shears. CLANG.
A maid dropped her watering can. SPLASH.
Another maid who had been trimming the hedges dropped her entire basket of gardening tools. CLATTER CLANG BANG THUD.
Every single person in the vicinity stopped what they were doing and stared at Azura like she had just announced she was running for president of the Moon.
The man—the broad-shouldered, muscular, definitely-alpha-shaped man—stood frozen. His back still turned. His entire body radiating the energy of someone who had just been hit by a tsunami of words and hadn't yet figured out how to swim.
Azura, panting slightly from her verbal marathon, placed her hands on her knees.
There. I said it. I broke up with him. Clean break. No mess. No drama. Now I can go find Selena and start my new life as her professional bodyguard-slash-sister-slash-redemption-arc-enthusiast.
She straightened up, dusted off her hands like she'd just finished a job well done, and gave one final nod of closure.
"Ahem! So, yes! I stand by everything I just said! Every single word! This is a formal, legally binding breakup announcement! Consider this relationship—CANCELLED! Terminated! Evicted from the apartment of my heart! Goodbye, my love, sayonara~!"
She didn't wait for a response. She couldn't. If she lingered, she might cave. She might look at his sexy body and forget all about her crisis.
So instead, she spun on her heel and sprinted—legs pumping, bag flapping, absolutely booking it through the garden like she was being chased by the IRS.
"Huh? Wait—"
The word barely registered in her ears as she disappeared around a corner, her only thought now:
Find Selena. Befriend Selena. Cling to Selena's protagonist halo like a barnacle on a battleship.
Behind her, the man she had just dramatically dumped finally turned around.
And if Azura had bothered to look back—if she had spared even ONE glance over her shoulder—she would have seen a face that was... familiar. But not quite right.
The same strong jawline as Adrian. The same dark eyes. The same alpha presence that commanded respect.
But this version came with gray streaks at the temples. And a look of profound, soul-crushing confusion that suggested he had just been hit by a breakup grenade without ever knowing he was in a relationship.
The former Alpha of the pack—who had stepped down from his position the night prior, passing the torch to his son Adrian—stared blankly at the spot where the woman had been standing.
His hand slowly rose to his chest, clutching at his heart like an elderly man in a period drama who had just received shocking news.
"I... what...?"
The gardener, still frozen with his shears on the ground, opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"Elder Alpha... sir... are you... alright?"
The former Alpha didn't answer. Because he wasn't alright. He was the furthest thing from alright. He had just been broken up with by his son's girlfriend.
And she had called him her love. And said goodbye. And said sayonara. Like she was a character in a sad anime ending.
He had so many questions.
Why? How? When did this supposed relationship even start? Did he accidentally woo her in his sleep? Was he the victim of a love spell? A curse? A bad dream he couldn't wake up from?
He looked at the gardener. The gardener looked at him.
"I'm sorry," the elder Alpha said slowly, his voice hoarse with bewilderment. "Did I just get broken up with? By someone I don't remember dating? Is that... is that even possible? Is that a thing that happens? Have I finally reached the age where my memory is so bad that I forget having a secret girlfriend?"
The gardener slowly picked up his shears and chose to remain silent, which was the smartest decision he had made all year.
---
Meanwhile, hours later, chaos erupted across the packhouse.
It started with a whisper. A murmur. A rumor that spread through the halls like wildfire soaked in gasoline.
"Did you hear? The elder Alpha was caught in a steamy breakup with Alpha Adrian's girlfriend in the garden!"
"She said 'sayonara' to him! How long were they sneaking around?!"
"IN PUBLIC! She said he was too old for her!"
"No, I heard she said his wolf was too weak!"
"I heard she said she'd rather adopt THIRTY DOGS than be with him!"
The rumor mill churned. It evolved. It mutated into a beast of misinformation that would make conspiracy theorists weep with envy.
By lunchtime, the story had become:
The elder Alpha seduced his son's girlfriend, she fell madly in love, then broke his heart in front of the entire garden staff, calling him a has-been who couldn't satisfy her desire, and now she's run off to start a dog sanctuary out of spite.
Jonathan heard the news while he was in the middle of a very important, very serious pack security meeting.
He choked so hard that coffee came out of his nose. Then his ears. Possibly his soul.
His internal scream was so loud that even his wolf, Zane, who had been sleeping, jolted awake in confusion.
Azura. You. Told. Me. You. Were. Breaking. Up. With. ALPHA ADRIAN. But instead of breaking up with him, you created an affair scandal—WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND'S FATHER! A MAN TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OLDER THAN YOU??!!