Shunned By An Alpha, Cherised By A Lycan

Chapter 276:

But love? I didn’t believe in that back then. Love was for fools, for the weak. I thought sex was enough—the fleeting satisfaction, the distraction from the chaos in my mind. I didn’t consider what it meant to her. I didn’t stop to think about how she gave me her heart, her trust, her vulnerability. And I took it all without a second thought.

Until Jasmine happened.

Jasmine—my mate, my everything. She tore down every wall I’d built around my heart with a single glance. She showed me what real love was. With her, I realized what it meant to feel complete, to feel that bone-deep connection that couldn’t be denied or explained. I hadn’t believed love existed until she showed me it was real.

And Isabelle… she saw it. She saw me fall for someone else while she was left in the wreckage of what we used to be.

Her words haunted me. “You left me empty. You ruined me.” By the goddess, I had. I hadn’t even noticed her spiraling into bitterness and jealousy. I didn’t see the monster she was becoming because I was too wrapped up in my own happiness. I discarded her like yesterday’s news, blind to the devastation I’d left behind. And now… that devastation had exploded into something dark, something deadly.

I felt the urge to punch something, to break apart the rage, guilt, and regret churning inside me. My fingers twitched with the need for violence, but I stayed still, forcing myself to feel every ounce of the pain I had caused her.

I wanted to scream that none of this justified what she’d done. That betraying the pack, conspiring with rogues, and trying to murder my mate were unforgivable. And they were. But now I also saw the twisted path that led her to this point. The betrayal, the loneliness, the way I had used her love and discarded her without a second glance. The line between villain and victim blurred in my mind. Yes,

Isabelle was guilty, but I wasn’t innocent either. I hadn’t pulled the trigger, but I’d loaded the gun and handed it to her.

I clenched my jaw, trying to suppress the storm within me. The weight of my choices bore down on my shoulders, suffocating and relentless. I had been so sure of my decision to punish her, to make her pay. But now, all I could feel was the echoes of her pain—a pain that I had helped create.

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Did that make me a monster too?

I shook my head, anger and confusion swirling together. I couldn’t let this cloud my judgment. Justice had to be served. But maybe, just maybe, justice wasn’t as simple as punishment. Maybe it was more complicated, tangled in the mess of emotions and mistakes we’d both made.

Isabelle’s face flashed in my mind—her defiance, her desperation, her hatred, and beneath it all, the lingering remnants of love and pain. I didn’t know what to do. For the first time in a long time, I felt lost.

Ace growled within me, torn between the thirst for vengeance and the bitter taste of guilt. We need to protect our mate, he snarled. But we also need to face what we’ve done.

I sank into the chair behind my desk, my head in my hands. What the hell was I supposed to do now?

Ryder’s POV

I pushed the door open slowly, my hand trembling more than I wanted to admit. The hinges creaked softly in the silence, and my heart pounded with each step I took into the dimly lit room. The scent of lavender and vanilla wrapped around me—Jasmine’s scent—a fragile comfort that barely held back the chaos swirling inside me.

There she was, curled up on the bed, her small frame wrapped in a blanket, her knees tucked to her chest. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders like a dark silk curtain, shielding part of her face.

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