The Alpha Who Regrets Losing Me Chapter 4 – A Stranger in the Dark

For a few monts after he spoke, neither of us moved.

The forest had gone so still that I could hear the faint rustle of leaves shifting overhead and the distant sound of water sowhere deeper in the woods. Everything else seed to have fallen away, leaving only the quiet space between us and the unsettling awareness that I was alone, beyond my pack’s borders, speaking to a stranger who carried the kind of strength that made my wolf restless.

He stood a few feet away, close enough for to see the sharp line of his jaw and the calm steadiness in his expression, but not close enough for to decide whether that distance was ant to reassure or warn . There was sothing unnerving about the way he carried himself. He did not look aggressive, and yet nothing about him felt careless or unguarded. He seed like the sort of man who noticed everything and revealed very little.

His last words still lingered in the air between us.

"Alpha Kael Blackthorn might have just made the worst mistake of his life."

I should have ignored him. I should have turned away and kept walking before this strange encounter beca sothing more dangerous than it already was. Instead, I found myself standing there, studying a man whose na I did not know and whose presence had already unsettled more than I wanted to admit.

My fingers curled slightly at my sides as I forced myself to hold his gaze.

"Why would you say that?" I asked.

The stranger’s expression did not change, though I thought I saw the faintest flicker of amusent in his eyes, as if he had expected that question.

"Because n like Kael Blackthorn don’t reject sothing valuable unless they fail to recognize it." he said.

His voice was calm, low, and far too composed for soone speaking about another Alpha. There was no hesitation in the way he said Kael’s na, and that alone told more than I wanted to know. Whoever he was, he was not intimidated by power.

I frowned slightly.

"You talk as if you know him closely."

He said, "I know enough."

That was not an answer. It sounded deliberate, as though he had chosen his words carefully and offered only the amount of truth he wanted to have. The realization made even more cautious.

The moonlight shifted through the trees above us, brushing pale silver across his face before leaving him half-shadowed again. He looked older than Kael, though not by much, and there was sothing more controlled about him. Kael carried his power like a blade, sharp and unmistakable. This man carried it like sothing quieter, heavier, and perhaps more dangerous because of that.

I lifted my chin slightly.

"You know a lot about and my pack for soone I’ve never t."

His mouth curved very slightly, though it was not quite a smile.

"And you’ve crossed pack borders alone in the middle of the night for soone who barely understands what she’s doing."

The answer irritated more than it should have.

Perhaps because he was right.

Perhaps because I was already tired of n who spoke in half-truths and looked at as though they understood more about my life than I did.

"I didn’t ask for your opinion." I said.

"No," he replied evenly, "but you clearly need soone to have one."

I stared at him in disbelief for a second, caught between anger and the absurd urge to laugh. Under any other circumstances, I might have turned and walked away the mont he said sothing like that. But tonight had stripped away whatever patience and politeness I usually carried, leaving with sothing far more raw and honest.

"Who are you?" I asked.

He was quiet for a mont, as if considering how much he wanted to reveal.

"A traveler," he said at last.

I almost laughed then, not because anything about this situation was amusing, but because that answer was so obviously incomplete that it bordered on insulting.

"A traveler?" I repeated flatly.

"Yes."

"That’s all?"

"For now."

I let out a slow breath and looked away from him briefly, trying to steady the exhaustion that had begun creeping into my bones. Between the rejection, the walk through the forest, and the ache still pulsing in the center of my chest, I was too tired for this ga.

My wolf stirred faintly inside , not with fear but with suspicion.

Friend or enemy?

The question rose in my mind so clearly that it almost felt like a voice of its own.

I studied him again, trying to force so kind of answer from what I could see. He had not threatened . He had not stepped too close. He had not reached for or made any move that suggested imdiate danger. But that did not make him safe. Wolves did not need to bare their teeth to be dangerous. So of the most dangerous ones smiled first.

The stranger seed to notice the shift in my expression.

"You’re trying to decide whether to trust ," he said.

"I’m trying to decide whether you’re a problem."

That earned the faintest trace of approval in his eyes.

"Good," he said. "You should."

The answer caught off guard.

For the first ti since eting him, I had expected reassurance, so smooth lie ant to lower my guard, but he offered none. If anything, he seed to prefer my suspicion.

He took a slow glance around the forest before returning his gaze to .

"You shouldn’t stay standing out here much longer."

"And why is that?"

"Because you’re alone, you sll like a broken mate bond, and there are wolves in these woods who would see that as weakness."

His bluntness sent a fresh wave of tension through my body.

My wolf bristled at the words, not because they were untrue, but because hearing them aloud made everything feel more real. I still carried the scent of Kael on , beneath the sharp ache of rejection and the cold air of the night. Any wolf with a trained nose could read the story of what had happened tonight without saying a word.

I hated that.

I hated that what Kael had done could cling to like a mark.

My jaw tightened.

"I can handle myself."

He tilted his head slightly, as though weighing the truth of that statent.

"Perhaps," he said. "But that doesn’t an you should have to."

For a mont, the forest seed to quiet even further.

His words were simple, but there was sothing unexpected in them, sothing that slipped beneath my defenses before I could stop it. Not pity. I would have recognized pity imdiately, and I would have hated it.

It sounded more like fact.

I looked away from him again, toward the split in the trail ahead. One path disappeared toward the mountains, dark and uncertain, while the other curved toward the human towns in the distance. Neither option looked particularly welcoming.

I knew the forest well enough to survive in it for a night or two, but surviving was not the sa as being safe. He was right about that much.

Still, accepting help from a stranger was its own kind of danger.

"What do you want?" I asked quietly.

His gaze rested on for a mont before he answered.

"At the mont, nothing."

"That’s hard to believe."

"It should be."

Again, that strange honesty. Again, that refusal to ease my mind.

I pressed my lips together, frustrated by how difficult he was to read.

Most wolves gave themselves away eventually. Pride, temper, impatience, arrogance, fear, sothing always surfaced if you watched long enough. But this man seed built of control. Even his stillness felt deliberate.

He took one slow step closer, not enough to crowd but enough to shift the air between us.

"Tell sothing," he said.

I did not answer.

His eyes held mine.

"When he rejected you, did he look certain?"

The question landed harder than I expected.

Without warning, the mory returned with painful clarity. Kael standing in front of , his face cold, his voice unshaken, the entire pack watching as if I had beco so public spectacle for them to study. I rembered the way my chest had caved in when he said the words. I rembered the silence that followed. I rembered the humiliation.

But I also rembered sothing else.

A flicker.

A brief hesitation in his expression before it disappeared.

I had almost convinced myself I imagined it.

I swallowed.

"Why does it matter?" I asked.

"Because certainty and regret rarely live far apart."

I stared at him.

"You speak as though you already know he regrets it."

He looked toward the direction of Blackthorn territory once more, as if the answer might be written sowhere beyond the trees.

"I know n like him," he said.

"They mistake control for strength. They make decisions quickly because they believe hesitation is weakness. Then later, when the silence cos and no one is watching, they begin to understand the cost."

The words settled into more deeply than I wanted them to.

Not because I wanted to believe Kael regretted it. I didn’t know if I wanted that at all.

Part of wanted him to suffer for what he had done.

Another part wanted to never think of him again.

But the truth was more complicated than either of those things, and I was too tired to untangle it.

The stranger’s gaze dropped briefly to my wrist, to the hand I had unconsciously pressed against the center of my chest.

"You’re still in pain," he said.

I straightened imdiately, removing my hand as if I had been caught revealing too much.

"I’m fine."

"No, you’re not and it wasn’t a question."

The words were neither cruel nor gentle. Just direct.

And sohow that made them worse.

"I said I’m fine."

He held my gaze for another mont, then gave a slight nod that made it clear he did not believe but had chosen not to argue.

A branch snapped sowhere to our left.

Both of us turned instantly.

The sound had been faint, but in the silence of the forest it cut through the air like a warning. My wolf rose sharply inside , alert and ready now in a way she hadn’t been monts before.

The stranger’s entire posture changed.

It was subtle, but unmistakable.

The calm observer vanished, replaced by sothing harder, sharper, more focused. He looked toward the trees with the stillness of a predator listening for movent.

I felt it a second later.

Scents drifting through the wind.

Not one wolf.

Several.

Unfamiliar.

My pulse quickened.

The stranger stepped slightly in front of without making a show of it, as if the motion were instinctive.

"I thought so," he said quietly.

I looked at him.

"You knew soone was out there?"

"I suspected."

The scent grew stronger.

Rogues.1

I had never t them directly, but every wolf knew the sll of packless predators who moved through borderlands and hunted weakness wherever they found it. My body tensed on instinct.

How many? The trees remained dark, giving away nothing.

I lowered my voice.

"Are they following ?"

"Possibly" he said. "Possibly they were already nearby and noticed you crossing alone. Either way, standing here discussing it won’t help."

I hated how calm he sounded.

I hated even more that his calmness made my own fear easier to contain.

My wolf pressed forward inside , ready to fight if necessary, but we both knew I was still raw from the rejection, still carrying the weakness of a torn bond. If rogues attacked now, I could survive, but not without risk.

The stranger looked down at briefly, and for the first ti there was no distance in his expression, only a sharp, assessing focus.

"You have two choices," he said.

"You can keep questioning while they circle closer, or you can accept that whatever else I may be, I am not the most imdiate danger in this forest."

I held his gaze, my heart beating hard against my ribs.

Friend or enemy? The question ca again, stronger this ti.

But another truth rose beside it.

Whatever he was, he had not lied to . He had not softened reality, had not tried to charm into trust, had not pretended I was safe when I wasn’t.

In this mont, that counted for sothing.

Another rustle sounded deeper in the trees.

The stranger turned slightly, listening, then looked back at .

"You’re not safe out here alone," he said.

The words were quiet, but they fell with the weight of certainty.

And for the first ti that night, I realized he was not warning about the forest.

He was warning about what was already inside it.

Author’s Note — RoguesRogues are wolves who live outside the structure of a pack.Unlike pack wolves, they have no Alpha, no territory, and no laws to follow. Most rogues survive by wandering through borderlands, hunting alone or in small groups.Because they lack the discipline and protection of a pack, many rogues beco unpredictable and dangerous. Packs usually treat them as outsiders and potential threats, especially when they move close to territorial borders.