Chapter 170
Logan's POV
"I am sorry, I can't do this, I can't continue with this union."
"Logan..." She called softly, her eyes watery, as she tried not to look at the crowd, "Logan, this isn't funny... We should continue with the union."
"I can't Katerina, I am sorry, till the goddess takes this breath, I have, I will not make another silly mistake..." She grabbed my arms, as I took a step back creating space between us.
"Logan, you can't do this to me, everyone is watching, my dad, the Pack, your pack, and mine..."
"Please forgive me but I can't do this, let me be selfish for once." I saw everyone's eyes on me, the place fell silent, and I scrubbed my palm across my face. I heard footsteps, I knew it was Mother, she had that stoic expression that she always wore when I was much younger.
“Logan, what are you doing?" Her voice was low but filled with authority, she was the female alpha of this Pack before I took over.
"I don't want this union, I don't want to continue living in fool paradise," I said almost like a child wanting his mother to let him off the hook.
"You know you can't bail out, you will go through with this, Logan,” she said, her voice unyielding. “The ceremony will go on and you will claim Katerina. The pack needs stability. The pack needs an heir from you.”
I let out a slow breath before lifting my gaze. “No.”
The word was quiet but firm. A single syllable that rattles the foundation of my mother’s carefully laid plans, not hers but what has been going on for years.
She narrowed her eyes. “You have to—”
“I don’t have to do anything,” I interrupted, my tone cold. “I will not bond with someone I do not love. I will not go throw these charades all in the name of protecting my Pack.” a silent growl erupted in the air from my Pack members, I know my words hurt their feelings. But I am sorry, I love them but I can't love them more than myself.
My mother’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Love?” she scoffed. “Love is a luxury, Logan. One we cannot afford. How many times, have I told you, that you weren’t born to love but you were born for duty? You are dying. Have you forgotten?”
The truth of it stung more than I wanted to admit. One month, three weeks, and some days. I don't know, but I know I was turning twenty by next month. That was all I had left. I had spent years, planning this day, enduring the weight of my condition in silence. It's not a secret, everyone in the pack knows about it and they always trust the Alpha to leave an heir that will protect them but I don't want that for myself and my kids.
“You need an heir,” she continued, stepping forward. “A legacy to leave behind. The pack cannot survive without strong leadership. That is what every Alpha does, that's what your father did as well.”
I clenched my fists. “So, you would force me into a loveless bond? Chain me to someone for the sake of duty? Produce an heir for the throne, because that is what everyone does.” my voice cracked slightly, betraying the pain beneath my anger. “I will not spend the last month of my life in misery just to fulfill your idea of responsibility. I will not bring forth a pup that has the same fate as me if my great grandparents and my father were okay with it, I am not okay with it.”
Mother’s nostrils flared. “This isn’t just about you, Logan. You have to think of your people.”
“I am thinking of them,” I snapped. “That’s why I’ve spent my life leading them, protecting them, and training others to step in my shoes when I am not here. But now… now I want to think of myself. For once, let me be selfish.”
"Logan, what are you doing? Don't tell me, you fell in love and you want to bailed out because of that?" I ruffled my hair, not able to look at my Pack's members not even Katerina who was teary. "You did?" I shut my eyes and nodded. "gracious me, Logan, what are you thinking?"
"I am sorry, I didn't know how this thing grew in my heart but I couldn't kill it and it just kept growing."
Mother’s expression softened, but only slightly. “And who is it?” she asked, her voice quieter now. “Who is it that you love?”
My jaw tightened. I thought I could forget about her, the last week, I sat in my room convincing myself that duty outweighed desire. But now, with time slipping through my fingers like sand, I couldn’t fight anymore, I just wanted to die in her arms.
“Akira.”
The name barely left my lips before the crowd growled, I could feel their animosity. They felt betrayed.
Mother’s face darkened. “A human?”
“She is everything to me, she was my fated mate before I rejected her,” I admitted, my voice raw.
"How possible is that?"
"A human mate for an Alpha?"
"Can she produce an Heir?"
"If she can, then fine, let him bring her?" I could hear the murmuring, but I turned my hearing off and focused on my mother, "...And if I have just a month or less than it left, I want them to be with her. Not with a stranger. Not with someone chosen for me. Not with Katerina."
Mother exhaled sharply as if I had just delivered a fatal blow. Silence hung between us, thick and suffocating.
Then, after a long pause, she turned toward the crowd.
“This is a mistake, everyone but don't give your Alpha a thought, the Ceremony will go on.”
“No..." I growl, and I think I just let out an alpha command, everyone falls silent. “I am sorry..." I murmured.
"You are mean," Katerina growled as she hit me while stood there like a stone, murmuring the words, sorry, before her father approached and pulled his daughter away. My heart is heavy with the weight of my decision. The wolves before me, my family, my people, they deserve my apologies.
"I have failed you," I began, my voice raw with emotion. "Not as a warrior, not as a leader, but as a wolf bound by honor. As an alpha, I was supposed to be selfless, yet I am selfish. I turned away from my chosen, unwilling to bear a child cursed by fate, I know this has been on since my forefathers but I refuse to follow those steps, I don't want this pain for my kid. In doing so, I turned away from the very principles I once swore to uphold. To put the Pack and everyone on it first, the Pack is family and family is the Pack. To rip my heart off, to be selfless but I failed in that aspect. Yes, I am one selfish Alpha."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd, but no one spoke. They all knew the story, yet hearing me admit it aloud made it real.
"I cannot lead you when my heart is torn, my soul in conflict. I can't love you when I bear the burden of losing someone I love in my heart. I will not bring my burdens upon you any longer and please, don't make me choose between the woman, I love and the Pack, I have known all my life." I swallow hard before I throw my head to the moon, the goddess bears me weakness, I love my Pack but I love Akira more, I am not going to blame her for giving Akira to me because Akira was the silver line in my dark days. "...From this moment forward, I, Alpha, Logan Wolfie Stark, denounce the Gold Moon Pack as my Pack and I resigned as the Alpha of this Pack..." A loud growl left my mother's lips. "And I hereby, transit my power as the alpha of this Pack, to My Beta, Meredith..."
"No oh..." Meredith growled, I bet he never saw this coming, "...Meredith Ramsey, will take my place and lead you with the strength and wisdom you deserve."
Gasps and whispers filled the air, but I did not wait for their judgment. I turned, my body already shifting, paws hitting the earth before I could hear their protests. I ran, vanishing into the forest, leaving behind the only home I had ever known. I heard paws, I know it was my beta and my gamma running after me but there is no going back.
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