Reborn To Reject My Alpha And Watch His World Burn Chapter 01
At the crown prince’s birthday banquet, my mate slept with his late brother’s widow.
When the crown prince’s young son caught them, the name Nolan Pierce blurted out in a panic was mine.
So everyone assumed I was the one tangled up with him in that private suite.
I became the scapegoat they used to cover up their scandal, and the woman mocked by the entire Kingdom of Eldoria.
Nolan’s mother stripped me of my authority as Luna of the Ironridge Pack. My own son called me a traitor to his father as he beat and kicked me. Nolan kept promising it was only temporary, that once the storm passed, he would tell the truth.
But after my reputation was ruined and I had nowhere left to go, he severed our chosen claim without a second thought. Then he brought his brother’s widow, Serena, to his side and prepared to make her the new Luna of Ironridge.
To keep me from exposing the truth, even knowing I was carrying his child, he had someone hold me down and forced a potion laced with a high concentration of aconite toxin down my throat.
The poison burned out my vocal cords and suppressed my wolf and my healing ability.
In agony, I lost my child.
Then I lost my life.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back at Prince Cedric’s birthday banquet.
Inside a private suite in the east wing of the Royal Castle, Nolan was panting and calling my name.
The royal guests gathered outside the door all turned toward the tightly shut suite, their faces alight with contempt.
In my last life, I couldn’t bear the thought of him losing his Alpha title. I was terrified Ironridge would lose the royal family’s trust, so I stepped forward and took the blame.
This time, I smoothed my gown and stepped out from the back of the crowd.
“Nolan, are you calling for me?”
…
The corridor fell silent.
I, Iris Dalton, stood under the lights, my gown immaculate. It wasn’t rumpled in the slightest, and I didn’t carry a trace of the scent of recent intimacy.
Prince Cedric’s expression darkened.
Ten minutes earlier, his youngest son, Milo, had run to the guards, telling them a man and a woman had broken into his private suite. When the Royal Guard arrived, all they heard from inside was Nolan calling my name.
And now, here I was, standing in the crowd.
Prince Cedric turned and ordered, “Seal off this floor. Bring out whoever is inside.”
But at that moment, the door swung open.
Nolan emerged, his clothes disheveled. He grabbed my shoulder and hauled me into his arms. He smelled of sweat, alcohol, and a heavy dose of scent neutralizer, but beneath it all, I still caught a trace of Serena’s sweetness.
Deep in my soul, my wolf let out a disgusted growl.
Nolan leaned close to my ear, whispering so only I could hear, “Serena accidentally drank some drugged wine. I had to help her. She’s all that’s left of Lucas. If this gets out, she’ll lose the royal protection granted to war widows, and Ironridge’s name will be dragged through the mud.”
“You’re my Luna. If you admit you were in the room with me, people will just think a mated couple got carried away. Help me this one time, Iris. Please?”
He said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if he had already decided I would obey.
Then he turned to Prince Cedric, his expression shifting to one of weary helplessness.
“My apologies, Your Highness. Iris had too much to drink and insisted I accompany her to rest. We have offended royal decorum, and I am willing to accept any punishment.”
In just a few sentences, he painted himself as a good Alpha indulging his mate—and me as a woman who had lost control and begged for sex at the crown prince’s birthday banquet.
Muted whispers rippled through the corridor.
Some of the guests stared at my chest and snickered. Others had already taken out their phones, no doubt posting the scandal to their Pack channels.
Nolan made no move to stop them.
He was only displeased by my silence. Lowering his voice again, he urged, “Admit it. There are no cameras in the suite. Serena already left through the staff passage. As long as we stick to the same story, no one will ever find out.”
“Don’t worry,” he added. “It’s only temporary. Once this blows over, I’ll clear your name.”
A temporary measure.
In my last life, that was the lie I believed.
I publicly admitted that I was the one who had dragged Nolan into the suite.
Later, Serena smiled from where she leaned against his shoulder and told me she had never been drugged at all. She and Nolan had been together long before he and I were chosen mates.
The former Luna, Vivian, knew. Ironridge’s core members knew.
They had all helped hide it from me.
Using the scandal as an excuse, claiming I had damaged the Pack, Vivian had the Pack Council strip me of my authority as Luna. Even Ethan, the son I had nearly died giving birth to, came home from the Royal Academy each day just to curse me, asking why I hadn’t died yet.
I dragged my battered body to Nolan again and again, begging him to tell the truth.
What I got instead was the news that he and Serena had registered a chosen claim—and the poison he used to ensure I would stay silent forever.
The agony that had ripped through my belly before I died seemed to return. I clenched my fists until my nails broke the skin of my palms.
Nolan frowned and shoved me a step toward Prince Cedric.
“Iris, you’ve always been the sensible one. You won’t make this difficult for me, will you?”
To become the gentle, obedient mate he wanted, I had suppressed my true nature for five long years.
And my obedience had bought me nothing but death—for me, and for my unborn child.
I wiped away my tears and shook off his hand.
“I never entered that suite with you.”
“Your Highness, please have the Royal Guard search the room. I, too, would like to know who, exactly, was in that royal suite with the Alpha of Ironridge.”
All the color drained from Nolan’s face.
He stared at me in disbelief, Alpha pressure instinctively rolling off him in waves.
Inside Ironridge territory, that pressure might have been enough to force ordinary pack members to their knees. But this was the Royal Castle. Royal authority outranked any territorial Alpha.
And besides, I had already died once.
I met his glare without flinching.
Prince Cedric studied me for a long moment, then raised a hand.
“Open the suite. Search it.”
The Royal Guard pushed the door open.