Chapter 208: The Billion-Dollar Broken Heart

Alpha Thunderfang’s heart started hammering again at a rate that suggested what came next was going to be difficult for him to say. The hammering was the only honest preview of what was coming. Everything else, the water, the blanket, the calm voice, was camouflage. The hammering was the truth.

"I sent Alpha Starborne a new offer that got his attention. He invited me to your auction after the Moonfire, and he informed me that the current highest bid was twenty million. I had stayed until the end of the final score announcements for the sole purpose of cornering him. My plan was to offer him one hundred million."

The number sat in the air and Nova sat under it. It was so large that it didn’t feel real. But the fact that this man had made multiple offers for her before she even knew who he was and she had no idea until now was doing something to her chest that sat between guilt and grief.

"Nova, don’t worry about the cost. You had no control over it. I was fully prepared to go to one billion in the arena if it meant I got you out before that auction."

Alpha Thunderfang’s heartbeat kicked up a notch against her spine and stayed there.

"But that didn’t happen because you qualified for the actual Moonfire, which, admittedly, was something that I had not accounted for given that slaves got an automatic zero in the wolf category and ranked low in fertility. I was very wrong on that assumption. That was the single most badass thing I have ever seen."

He held out the water bottle for her again and she drank it without a word. Then he continued, because the telling had momentum now and the momentum was not something he could stop even if he wanted to.

"I wanted you to finish what you started and shove it to the elders. So I pushed for that. So did Emberclaw. That was the one thing we were aligned on that night. And I had naively hoped that the fire would pair us because you were my fated mate. But, that’s when things went sideways."

He let out a long breath, the exhale of a man remembering the moment his plan collapsed and something bigger replaced it.

"When the priestess treated you poorly, I saw red and was seconds from crossing that clearing. An Alpha defending a slave tells every elder exactly who she is to him. They were already looking for any reason to pull you and I wasn’t going to hand them one. So I stayed where I was. You didn’t flinch and handled her. But I need you to know that in no universe was that ever acceptable."

His acknowledgement of that meant more to her than she could put into words and made her eyes burn. She blinked it away before any tears fell. "She disrespected me and I survived it. She took her robe off and I am still recovering. Those are different injuries, Alpha. The second one is worse."

He let out a laugh behind her. A real one. Then something softer replaced it. "Landon. You don’t have to call me Alpha."

The name landed somewhere warm in her chest and stayed.

She didn’t repeat it. The not-repeating wasn’t a rejection. It was a woman holding a new word in her hands and turning it over before she committed to the weight of it. She was in the habit of calling him Alpha and realistically, he was probably going to need to say that a few times for it to fully sink in because calling him Landon felt like breaking the rules.

He moved forward without pressing it further.

"When the fire went completely out for you, I almost shifted. Tavian held me back. That confirmed what my wolf and I already suspected. The whole thing was corrupt. But then the fire turned white and exploded into the sky for you. Everyone started to get paired and it turned into what the Moonfire should look like all along."

He paused long enough for the fire to pop twice, choosing his next words carefully.

"I wanted to claim you as my fated mate. Every Alpha in that clearing would crown his fated mate if he had one. The High Elders Council knew that. If I had claimed you as mine, they would have made sure the sale did not happen. Emberclaw shot himself in the foot when he announced it. So I bid on you."

The last sentence came out like it cost him something. She felt his exhale move through her hair. It was slow, as if he were releasing something heavy with it.

"I was prepared to go up to one billion. But if I came out with that right away, that would have announced to the elders what my intentions were with you too loudly. It would also have exposed you to every Alpha in that clearing what I was willing to do to get you. So I came in at forty-five million."

The realization hit her like a punch to the sternum. She had misread every single thing this man had done ever since that opening bid. At one point, she thought he was the masked bomber who had abducted her, and the only reason he bid on her was to finish the job.

She felt him swallow against the back of her head.

"Then my lovely brother pitched the idea of you being Celeste’s slave in Thunderfang, a slave-free pack, knowing full well that was not going to happen. Brilliant angle. He could pitch it. I could not. Emberclaw already showed his hand and went the opposite angle. I understood it. When I was paired with Celeste, I knew that if I rejected her outright, Starborne would retaliate and Derek would lose you. You would have gone to another bidder and we both would have lost you. I wanted you in Thunderfang and safe, even if it meant I couldn’t have you."

His chest expanded against her back and held. The held breath of a man stepping off a ledge he had been standing on for two weeks.

"Derek is one of the best men I know. I told myself you were in good hands. He stepped up. He took care of you. He treated you well. I watched you light up for him, and I thought, he deserves her more than I ever could." His mouth pressed to her hair and stayed. The staying was the punctuation on a sentence his voice couldn’t finish cleanly. "So I stood down."