Mated to the Ruthless Alpha Billionaire

I never meant to reject my mate. But I also never meant to survive the m******e of my pack… or carry the secret I now bear. The Moon Summit was a sea of growls, designer suits, and sharp perfume. Every Alpha from the four corners of the kingdom had come to posture, form alliances, and sniff out their fated mates. I kept my hood up, my scent cloaked with wolfsbane and crushed lilac petals. I had no business being here. “Don’t look anyone in the eye,” my aunt hissed in my ear, her grip bruising on my arm. “If he senses you, it’s over.” He. The Alpha I’d been running from since I was seventeen. The mate I had rejected under blood moonlight, whose name haunted my dreams like a curse: Kael Draven. Back then, he had been the heir of the Crimson Fang Pack — dangerous, spoiled, unpredictable. Now, he was Alpha of the wealthiest, most ruthless pack in the kingdom. A billionaire. A warlord. A man who made other Alphas tremble when he entered the room. And fate, that cruel b***h, had tethered my soul to his. I clutched the moonstone pendant around my neck, the only thing left from my mother. My wolf stirred restlessly inside me. He’s near. I felt him before I saw him — the way the air grew cold and heavy. Whispers rippled through the crowd. Then he appeared. Six feet four, broad-shouldered, with black hair tousled like sin. His custom suit hugged muscles I remembered clawing. Silver eyes scanned the room like searchlights. And then... they landed on me. Shit. “Run,” my aunt said, but it was too late. One second I was standing, the next I was pressed against a marble column with a growl vibrating through my bones. A scent hit me — cedar smoke and lightning. My knees went weak. His hand clamped around my wrist. “You.” His voice was gravel and fury. “You dared to show your face here?” “Let me go.” My voice cracked, but I forced my chin up. I wouldn't let him see me break. Not again. “You rejected me, Amara.” His breath brushed my cheek, cold and possessive. “Now I get to decide what happens to you.” “I had no choice.” “There’s always a choice.” His other hand cupped my jaw, forcing me to look at him. “And you chose wrong.” The crowd was still — watching, waiting, afraid. Even the Elders dared not interfere. No one crossed Kael Draven. “I’m not yours,” I whispered. “Not anymore.” His laugh was low and cruel. “You think saying it makes it true? You still feel the bond. Your pulse is racing. Your scent—” he inhaled sharply, “—betrays you.” “I don’t want you.” He leaned in, lips brushing my ear. “You lie too well for a healer.” I shoved him away, harder than I should have — my wolf lashing out. His eyes flared silver. The air sizzled between us. For a second, I thought he might mark me right there. In front of the entire Summit. Claim me by force. Instead, he stepped back, cold fury replacing heat. “Fine. Reject me again. Say it loud. Make it final.” My heart twisted. My wolf screamed don’t. But I had to. For his sake. For mine. For the little life back home who looked too much like him. So I swallowed the lump in my throat and said it: “I, Amara Black, reject you, Alpha Kael Draven, as my mate.” The silence was deafening. Then… pain. Like claws shredding my chest from the inside. Kael flinched — just barely. A flicker of hurt passed through his eyes, quickly replaced by ice. “Done,” he said flatly. “You’re no longer mine.” But as he turned to leave, his voice dropped low. “Run all you like, little wolf. The bond is broken… but fate isn’t finished with us.” And just like that, he vanished into the crowd. I stood there trembling, heart shredded, stomach twisting. Because I knew what he didn’t. I might’ve broken the mate bond. But I was still carrying his heir. The crowd slowly resumed its chatter as if nothing had happened. But inside me, everything was broken. I stumbled out of the ballroom, my heartbeat a ragged drum. The bright chandeliers blurred in my vision, pain twisting in my chest like barbed wire. I clutched the wall for support as the rejection bond burned through me — not just metaphorically. It felt real. Sharp. Final. I couldn’t breathe. I shouldn’t have come. I knew it was a risk, but the Elders had demanded the presence of every surviving bloodline, even rogues. They wanted to assess the balance of power before the next lunar alignment. I thought I could stay hidden. I thought I could be just another wolf in the shadows. But you can’t hide from fate. And you can’t hide from Kael Draven. The moment I looked into his eyes again, something inside me had cracked. The mate bond may be broken, but the memory of his touch, the echo of his scent… it all came back like a tidal wave. I was a fool to think it wouldn't. “Amara!” My aunt caught up with me outside, her expression tight with fear and frustration. “What were you thinking, standing that close to him?” “I didn’t mean to. He saw me.” Her eyes scanned my face. “Did he sense it?” “No.” I shook my head. “I don’t think so.” “Good.” She grabbed my hand and practically dragged me to the parking lot, heels clicking against marble. “We need to get out of here now. If he catches a whiff of what you’re hiding…” I pressed a trembling hand to my abdomen. Not flat, not round, but still holding the secret I’d protected with my life for the past five years. Aiden. My son. His son. A pup born from a bond I severed before I even knew I was carrying him. I never told Kael. Never intended to. I had escaped under the cover of darkness the night I rejected him — broken and bleeding after my pack was slaughtered by traitors. I thought I was saving him from becoming a target, too. But now, standing under the moonlight with my hands shaking, I wondered if I had made a mistake. Because fate was never done with wolves like us. Not when the blood that ran through our child’s veins was tied to something far more dangerous than either of us knew. That night, as we sped down the mountain roads, I stared out the window and whispered the words I’d sworn I would never say aloud again. “He’ll come for me.” My aunt tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “And this time,” I whispered, voice trembling, “he won’t let me go.”