My Ex Regretted Losing Me, But I Already Found My True Alpha novel · Chapter 1 of 16
Chapter 1: Arrivals
Juno lands for her grandfather's birthday and her brother, her ex and the girl who framed her are waiting; when Torin grabs her arm, her mark shows.
The arrivals doors slid open, and my brother stepped straight into my path.
"So you finally came crawling back," Kendrick said.
I stopped with my suitcase handle still in my fist.
Three years.
Three years across the ocean, and the first thing he did was block the door.
He wasn't alone.
Torin Branden stood on my left, close enough that I could smell his cologne.
It was the same cologne.
I had bought him the first bottle for his twenty-fifth birthday.
On my right stood Odette Lark, in a white coat, with her pale hair pinned up.
Around her neck hung a moonstone on a thin silver chain.
My mother's moonstone.
I had left it on my dresser the night I ran.
"Hi, Juno," Odette said softly. "Welcome home."
"I'm not home," I said. "I'm visiting. I'm here for Grandpa's birthday, and then I'm gone."
Kendrick laughed.
People dragging suitcases turned to look at us.
He didn't lower his voice. He never did.
"You're here because you have nowhere else to go. Three years, no calls, no money. What happened, did Europe get tired of you?"
"Norway," I said.
"I don't care where." He put a hand flat on my suitcase so I couldn't roll it. "Here's how Saturday goes."
"Grandpa turns eighty. The whole pack will be there. Every Alpha from here to the border."
"And the High Alpha of the Northern Council is coming to give me his blessing."
He leaned in.
"So before the toast, you're going to kneel in front of Odette and apologize for what you did to her."
"Out loud. In front of everyone."
I looked at Odette.
She lowered her eyes.
"I pushed her?" I said. "Is that still the story?"
"It's not a story," Torin said.
His voice was quiet, the way it used to be at night.
"I pulled her out of that river, Juno. She wasn't breathing. I did mouth to mouth on the bank while you stood there."
"I stood there because I didn't touch her."
"Please," Odette whispered. "Please don't fight over me. Not here."
She put her hand on Torin's arm.
He covered it with his own.
Three years ago, that hand was supposed to wear his mark.
Kendrick checked his watch.
"You'll stay at the house because Grandpa asked. You'll keep your mouth shut until Saturday."
"You'll kneel. And then maybe the pack forgets you ever embarrassed us."
"No," I said.
The word came out very calmly.
Kendrick's jaw went tight.
"What did you say?"
"I said no. I'm not kneeling to her. I'm going to see my grandfather."
Torin stepped closer.
"Juno. Listen to me."
He dropped his voice so only I could hear.
"I waited for you. You know that? I told Odette I needed time. I still wear the ring on a chain some nights."
I stared at him.
"Just do this one thing on Saturday. Kneel, say sorry, make Kendrick happy. After that, I'll sort it out. I'll take you back."
"Take me back," I repeated.
"Even after everything." He actually smiled. "I'm not a cruel man."
Behind him, Odette's sweet face went perfectly still.
Then she stepped forward with a paper cup in her hand.
"I got you a latte," she said. "Oat milk, like you used to..."
Her foot caught on nothing.
The whole cup came at my chest.
It was hot.
It soaked through my sweater and down my stomach, and I hissed through my teeth.
"Oh my God," Odette gasped. "I'm so sorry, I'm so clumsy..."
"It was an accident," Kendrick said, before I'd opened my mouth.
A woman by the car rental desk was filming us on her phone.
I set down my suitcase.
I started to pull the wet cardigan off one shoulder so it would stop burning.
Torin grabbed my arm.
"Don't make a scene," he said. "Not after she tried to be nice to you..."
His grip jerked my cardigan down.
The collar of my sweater went with it.
Cold airport air hit my bare left shoulder.
Torin stopped talking.
His fingers slid off my arm.
On my shoulder, where every wolf in that terminal could see it, was a pale crescent of scar.
A bite.
Healed silver-white, the way only a true mating mark heals.
Odette made a small sound.
Kendrick's face drained.
Torin stared at the mark.
For three years he had pictured me alone.
He had pictured me waiting.
His voice cracked on the only thing he could ask.
"Juno," he said. "Who marked you?"
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