Chapter Sixteen: Janice Needs to Leave the Pack

Brock's Perspective –

The complexities of life as an Alpha were never more apparent to me than now, as I grappled with the intricacies of the mate bond that tied me to Stephanie Silverton. My nerves were frayed from hours upon hours of grueling interrogations, probing the minds of Yadiel's captured men whilst wrestling with my own internal turmoil. The weight of walking away from my mate, feeling the unseen tug on my very soul, left both my wolf and me in a state of heightened tension. To exacerbate the situation, Janice's unwarranted admission of love, made brazenly in the presence of Stephanie's brother—a man who viewed me with nothing short of revulsion—deepened the sting of betrayal. In facing Janice's affections, I confess, I may have lost my temper in an unbecoming manner.

I had overheard the entirety of the heart-to-heart by the lake's edge—a familiar sanctuary we had known since our toddler days—where my beta and Janice discussed the rawness of her emotional wounds. I chastised