Alpha's STOLEN Mate (by Abigail Hayes) novel Chapter 97

Chapter 97

Frost

72

Sleep refused to come that night. I lay in my sparse room, staring at the ceiling as Kaius’s words echoed in my mind. She has beautiful

eyes and a pure

heart.

The guilt was overwhelming. Scarlett didn’t deserve someone like me-someone too broken to accept what she offered so freely.

It wasn’t about the scent. It had never been about losing my natural wolf smell. That was just a convenient excuse, a way to protect her

from the truth: I didn’t believe I could make any mate happy. Not with the darkness I carried inside.

Moonlight filtered through my window, casting silver patterns across the bare walls. Unlike Kaius’s luxurious quarters or even the comfortable rooms most pack members enjoyed, mine was deliberately austere. No decorations, no personal touches-just a bed, a desk,

and the ghosts of my past.

My earliest memories were of my mother and sister being used. Not as wolves, but as property. As slaves. I was too young, too weak to do anything but watch as they were summoned at any hour, used in any way the alpha and his warriors desired.

I’d tried to fight. Tried to become stronger. But strength came slowly to a child born into servitude.

“We are slaves,” my mother had told me once, her voice gentle despite the bruises on her face. “We belong to the alpha. It’s his right to use us however he sees fit-it’s the natural order, like the mate bond itself. Some things cannot be changed, Frost. Don’t waste your energy fighting reality. Just grow strong and leave this place.”

But I never understood. How could they be property just because they were born to the wrong parents? They were wolves, same as any alpha. What gave anyone the right to own another person?

One memory haunted me more than the rest. I’d carved a small wooden bird for my mother, spent weeks getting every detail right. When I gave it to her, her face had lit up with genuine joy-the first real smile I’d seen in months. She’d been admiring it, turning it over in her

hands, when the alpha had entered.

“Still being lazy?” he’d drawled, snatching the bird from her fingers. “It’s time for you to service my warriors. Get moving.”

The implication was clear, and it made my stomach turn even now.

“This is a nice carving,” he’d continued, examining my gift with mock appreciation. “Shame that you’re both just like this bird-pretty things in a cage. You can’t fly away. You belong to me.”

I’d lunged at him in rage, a child’s desperate attack. He’d kicked me aside effortlessly, laughing as I hit the floor.

“Frost, you need to understand something. Your entire family exists in my pack at my mercy. You have no freedom. You are mine. All of you.” His smile had been cruel. “When you’re strong enough, you’ll understand how the world really works.”

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Chapter 97

That night, I’d made a vow. I would never let anyone I cared about-especially women-suffer because of my weakness. I would become stronger than anyone, no matter the cost. I would protect them.

But as I grew older and began to understand pack dynamics, I realized something that shattered me: slavery wasn’t the only form of

ownership. The mate bond itself was a kind of possession-an undeniable, inexplicable claim one person held over another.

The thought terrified me. What if I became like that alpha? What if the bond made me possessive, controlling, abusive? What if I hurt my

mate the way I’d watched my mother and sister being hurt?

Even now, rationally, I knew I would never harm Scarlett. I would love her, protect her, cherish her. But the irrational fear remained-that by accepting our bond, I would somehow trap her, limit her freedom, make her another caged bird.

She deserves better than to be bound to someone like me.

The wind shifted outside, rustling through the trees. I shook my head, trying to clear the dark thoughts, but found myself thinking

instead of Elowen.

From the moment I’d first seen her at that public execution ground, something had resonated in my chest. She’d looked so small and vulnerable, her eyes darting around with barely contained fear. Yet she hadn’t begged or broken down. She’d faced her fate with dignity.

She reminded me of my mother and sister-someone who needed protection from the cruelties of pack life. I’d felt an immediate, overwhelming urge to shield her from harm.

But as I got to know her, I’d realized she was fundamentally different from the women I’d grown up watching. Where my mother had accepted her fate with resigned grace, Elowen fought back. Where my sister had learned to make herself small and invisible, Elowen stood

tall and demanded respect.

The trauma was there-I could see it in her eyes, recognize the signs of someone who’d survived something terrible. But instead of being broken by her past, she’d forged herself into something stronger. She faced life with courage and even humor, refusing to let darkness

consume her.

When she’d transformed into her white wolf form, I’d known with absolute certainty: this was my queen. Not just Kaius’s mate, but the leader I would follow into death itself. She commanded loyalty in a way Kaius never could, not through power or fear, but through the

sheer force of her resilient spirit.

And that was the problem.

I smiled bitterly at the moonlight. Kaius, if you knew what I really felt, would you kill me for treason?

Because the truth I could barely admit to myself was this: my feelings for Elowen went beyond loyalty. Beyond the respect a beta owed his alpha. Somewhere along the way, watching her transform from a frightened girl into a powerful leader, I’d developed feelings that had no

place in my heart.

I would never act on them. Would never betray Kaius or dishonor Elowen. But they existed, a guilty secret I carried like a stone in my

chest.

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Chapter 97

民國

The night was growing late. Tomorrow I would need to visit that unpredictable witch and address my scent problem. While I didn’t particularly care about the loss of my natural smell, being completely scentless made me less than a true wolf. And I’d noticed other

changes too-subtle shifts in my strength and healing that worried me.

The forbidden drug’s effects were unpredictable. For all I knew, I might be slowly transforming into something other than werewolf. I

needed Lysandra to examine me, to tell me whether I was still fully myself or becoming some kind of monster.

Just another reason Scarlett deserves better than me.

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Alpha’s STOLEN Mate