After My Alpha Locked Me Away for Five Years

The bass from the ballroom above thumped through the ceiling of my tiny room, vibrating against my ribs. It was Alpha Hayes Stone’s twenty-eighth birthday. The entire Stoneclaw Pack was celebrating their ruthless, powerful leader.

And I, his fated mate, was sitting on a lumpy mattress in the basement, forbidden to attend.

I looked down at the braided leather wristband in my hands. I’d spent weeks working the dark material until it was soft enough not to irritate his skin. For five years, I had been Hayes’s secret. Unmarked. Untouched. He claimed he suffered from Bond Aversion—a rare condition where the mere touch of his fated mate caused him debilitating, agonizing pain. Because I was just a weak Omega with a dormant wolf, he told me I didn’t have the strength to heal him.

So, I stayed hidden. I endured the isolation, the claustrophobic walls of this room he called a 'Safe Room,' all to protect him.

But tonight, I just wanted to give him my gift.

I slipped out of my room, creeping up the servant stairwell. The pack house was loud, filled with the scent of roasted meat and expensive perfume. I navigated the shadows until I reached the VIP lounge. It was empty, smelling faintly of cedar and bourbon. I hurried toward the heavy leather armchair at the head of the table, placing the small box on the seat.

A crumb. That was all I wanted. A single smile when he found it.

Heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway. Two sets. One possessed the unmistakable, heavy tread of an Alpha.

Panic spiked in my chest. Hayes had strictly forbidden me from roaming the upper floors. With nowhere else to go, I dove behind the thick, crimson velvet curtains framing the floor-to-ceiling windows, holding my breath.

The mahogany doors swung open.

"Hell of a party, Alpha," Marcus, the pack Beta, chuckled.

"It’s adequate," Hayes replied. His voice, usually so strained and gentle when he spoke to me, was arrogant and deep. "Though Monica is already getting impatient. She’s been eyeing the door for the last ten minutes."

Monica. The pack’s high-ranking, seductive Healer. The one who supposedly gave Hayes 'sensory alignment treatments' to manage his aversion.

"Can you blame her?" Marcus laughed. "You two tore up the Alpha suite before the speeches even started."

My blood ran ice cold. My hands, still smelling of the leather I’d braided for him, began to tremble.

"I needed to take the edge off," Hayes said casually. The clinking of glass told me he was pouring a drink. "Being on stage requires a lot of energy."

"Speaking of energy," Marcus lowered his voice, though my heightened hearing caught every word. "How long are you going to keep Paisley locked up down there? Doesn't the whole 'Bond Aversion' act get exhausting?"

I stopped breathing. The world tilted on its axis. Act?

Hayes let out a harsh, mocking laugh. It was a sound that shattered my reality into jagged little pieces. "Faking a sickness is far easier than claiming a pathetic, dormant Omega as my Luna. Can you imagine the embarrassment, Marcus? Parading her in front of the council?"

"Then why not just reject her?"

"Because she’s useful," Hayes said coldly. "She’s my fated mate. Even unmarked, her raw spiritual energy feeds my wolf. She's a battery for my Alpha aura. I get the power to rule Stoneclaw, and I get Monica to satisfy my physical needs. It’s the perfect setup."

Tears pricked my eyes, but they didn't fall. The crushing weight of his betrayal didn't break me; it ignited something deep inside my chest. Five years. Five years of believing I was broken. Five years of hiding in the dark, suffocating in that basement because I thought I was saving the man I loved.

I wasn't his mate. I was his parasite's host.

I waited in suffocating silence until they finished their drinks and left the lounge. When the doors clicked shut, I stepped out from behind the curtain. I didn't look at the small box on the chair. It belonged to a ghost.

I moved swiftly, gliding back down the stairs to my basement cell. The walls that usually made me feel safe now felt like a cage. I pulled a faded duffel bag from under the bed and shoved in three shirts, a pair of jeans, and my sneakers.

Then, I closed my eyes.

I reached inward, searching for the mating bond. For years, I had poured my love, my patience, and my energy down that invisible thread, feeling only a hollow echo in return. Now, I saw it for what it was: a leeching cord.

With a hard, agonizing mental shove, I slammed a wall down over my end of the bond. I severed the emotional flow. A sharp, physical pain sparked behind my eyes as the connection went completely dark, but I didn't care. Let his aura rot.

I knelt by the corner of the room, prying up a loose floorboard. Beneath the dust lay a cheap burner phone. I had hidden it years ago, back when a tiny part of me still questioned my isolation.

I powered it on. The screen flickered to life, casting a harsh blue glow over my face. My fingers didn't tremble as I typed in the number I had memorized since childhood. The number of the boy who used to protect me, long before Hayes banished him.

Franklin, I typed. I need you to get me out of here tonight.

I hit send, zipped my bag, and turned my back on the Alpha of the Stoneclaw Pack forever.