The Omega Who Rose from the Ashes: The Alpha's Regret

Bradley POV

The plane landed in the early morning, the ride back uneventful. I ripped off my tie in the car, already heading back to the hotel, my knee bouncing with restless energy. All I wanted was a hot shower and to curl up with my Luna, to breathe her in until the last few days of tension finally left my shoulders. My mind drifted once again to making things official, and I was not going to let anything or anyone stop me.

I wondered if I should propose marriage too. The thought sent a nervous flutter through my chest, an unfamiliar feeling for a man who commanded warriors without a second thought. I pulled out my phone and started searching for engagement rings, scrolling through dozens of options before settling on nothing in particular. There was a bit of traffic, but we reached the hotel in under two hours. I wanted to call Trishelle but decided to surprise her instead, imagining the way her face would light up when she saw me standing in her doorway. I sent Sam a quick text and slipped my phone back into my pocket.

Martha looked like she’d been through hell, but her sharp eyes missed nothing. She laid her hand on my arm. "Son, is everything okay? You haven’t seemed quite yourself these past few days."

I let out a humorless laugh, the sound scraping against my throat. "I’m just so tired of it all. Not having my mate, not to mention the lack of progress on my attacker, is making me imagine all sorts of things."

Martha squeezed my arm, a reassuring gesture that reminded me of simpler days, back when her worries were about scraped knees rather than assassination attempts. I placed my hand on hers, a real smile on my lips. "It’ll be alright," she whispered.

I felt the concern radiating from her and blinked back the tears threatening to betray me. This woman meant the world to me, just like my aunt Cynthia - both of them fierce and loving in ways that steadied me even when my own wolf couldn’t find his footing. I just nodded, and she gave one last squeeze before leaning back against her seat. I did the same, hoping she was right, even as my wolf paced restlessly beneath my skin, wondering the same thing.

We pulled up to the hotel, and I jumped out, not even waiting for my security detail to take their places. Impatience had never suited me less. I didn’t notice the old grey car parked across the street - too shabby for this area, though in hindsight I should have. I walked briskly in and headed straight to Trishelle’s room, my heart already lighter at the thought of seeing her.

I linked the guys, thanking them for their hard work and letting them know they were relieved from duty. They could liaise with Sam for updates and replacements until we got back to Goldmoon. Their "Yes Alpha" was all I allowed before I closed the link. I didn’t want anything else but my mate - not duty, not politics, just her.

Yet as I got into the elevator and punched her floor, my wolf’s uneasiness grew the closer I got. Something coiled tight in my chest, a warning I didn’t want to heed. I tried to tell myself it was just the strain of being away from her, but even I found my excuses empty to my own ears.

The elevator dinged open, and I stepped out, a man on a mission to bury my nose in her hair. I walked to her door, feeling foolish like a teen about to ask his crush to the prom, a grin already tugging at my lips despite the unease still simmering beneath my ribs. I paused at the door and took a deep breath to strengthen my nerves, but what I smelled made my eyes flash to gold in anger.

The scent of sex and Trishelle was pouring out from under the door, thick and unmistakable, curling into my lungs like poison. I could smell the man - the wolf who dared to touch her - and something inside me shattered and rebuilt itself into something feral in the same breath.

Without thought, I kicked in the door, my eyes darting straight to the bed. The sight made my blood boil, and my body began to shift, bones already grinding beneath my skin before I could even form a coherent thought.

Trishelle POV

I was asleep, my head nestled on James’s chest, when a loud crash woke us. We jolted up, me trying to cover my nakedness while James placed himself in front of me as best he could, tangled in the sheets. My heart hammered against my ribs, panic rising like bile in my throat. We both looked at Bradley, but he only had eyes for James.

"You bastard," Bradley and his wolf growled, his canines cutting into his lips. He was already beginning to change, and it looked like he wasn’t trying to stop it.

James’s wolf responded with a growl of his own, and he got on his hands and knees, ready to fight for his mate and his pup, a low rumble building deep in his chest that I felt more than heard.

I stared wide-eyed at both of them, fear and guilt making it hard to speak, my throat closing around words I couldn’t force out. Bradley took a step toward James, and James jumped off the bed, hoping it would give me a chance to ease myself away. He desperately wanted to look at me, to tell me to get out or lock myself in the bathroom, but he knew that second of distraction would give Bradley an opportunity he couldn’t risk.

I tried to speak, to grab James back, to try to stop Bradley, but I saw the ripple of fur on Bradley’s arms and legs. I heard the sound of bones snapping and reshaping, sickening and wet, and I closed my eyes, knowing that this time they would not stop.

I looked around at the door and saw a shocked Sam wearing nothing but barely zipped pants and a few of the warriors of both packs. Sam glanced at me, and in that one look, I felt his judgment and condemnation all at once, a weight that settled heavy in my stomach.

Yes, this was my fault. Yet deep down, I knew that they were both my mates, but I didn’t know how, and that uncertainty had brought us all to this violent, bloody moment.

There was a howl, and Bradley - now in his wolf form - lunged at the other wolf. They rolled on the floor, snapping and tearing away at each other, the sound of it filling the room with a chaos I couldn’t look away from. I wrapped the sheet around myself and edged my way to Sam, my legs trembling beneath me.

"Please," I begged, "please stop them from killing each other."

Sam tightened his lips and turned away from me in disgust. He would not help. I looked at the others, but they all lowered their eyes or looked away, leaving me utterly, achingly alone. I felt alone, a feeling I hadn’t experienced in so long, one that clawed at something old and buried inside me.

I stiffened my spine, determined to stop my mates by myself, but Sam grabbed my hand. He just shook his head, his look saying that if his Alpha died, it was my fault.

What? Did they think this was what I wanted? Did these fools believe that I somehow felt honored that two Alphas wanted me enough to fight to the death in a hotel room? The unfairness of it burned through me, hot and bitter, even as fear for both of them threatened to swallow me whole.

I could hear voices coming from the corridor and warriors trying to calm them. I looked up at Sam and could see that he was linking the others, but his grip on my hand stayed the same, unyielding as stone.

I heard a whine, and my eyes darted to the wolves. They were both covered in blood, with bits of their fur all over the room. James was hurt; his hind leg was bleeding profusely, but he wasn’t giving up. With a growl, he lunged at Bradley, and they were rolling around again, snapping at each other’s throats.

The scene was getting too much, and I began to feel sick, bile rising in my throat as the metallic scent of blood thickened the air. My pup became tense, and soon I began to feel pangs in my stomach. I doubled over, a cry escaping my lips. I felt my muscles tighten, and a sliver of fear clutched at my heart, sharper than anything I’d felt before.

I couldn’t be in labor. It was too early - I still had two more months. As an omega, I wouldn’t be able to be sure that I or my pup would survive, and that thought alone sent a fresh wave of terror crashing through me.

Another pain shot up my spine, and I fell to my knees, holding my stomach as if I could keep the babe within through sheer will alone.

Sam POV

I felt when Trishelle fell. At first, I thought it was dramatics, but when she began to cry, I knelt down. I looked at her and knew something was wrong, the color drained from her face in a way that set every instinct in me on edge. I linked Lorenzo and tried to reach Bradley, but the wolf had completely blocked me, lost in his haze of anger.

Trishelle moaned again, and I didn’t know what to do. She looked pale, and her breathing was ragged. She clutched my arm. "You have to stop them," she begged, even as another wave of pain crossed her face, her nails digging into my skin.

This was bad. Very bad.

I looked up to ask for help, but everyone was focused on the fight. I could feel the tension, and the peace that was formed between the packs was crumbling with every hit and bite of the two Alphas currently destroying the room. Years of careful diplomacy unraveling in a matter of minutes, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Just as I wondered where the hell Lorenzo was, a sudden energy was felt, quickly followed by a blast of wind. It moved the men standing at the door, and my reflexes were the only thing that kept Trishelle from the force of it, my arm wrapping around her instinctively.

Yet that didn’t stop the wolves. It was like they were locked in a battle as old as time, deaf to everything but the primal fury driving them toward each other’s throats.