My Alpha Went Mad After I Died

Ten years after he rejected me, I ran into Alpha Gregory at Crimson Pack's private party. He was the high-and-mighty pack leader, picking up the tab for the whole venue just to spoil his mistress on her birthday. And I was nothing more than a cocktail waitress. He pretended not to see me the entire night. Until I swallowed my pride, begging a guest for a little extra tip. Staring at my gaunt, hollow face, he grabbed my chin, his voice dripping with venom. "You'd rather demean yourself serving drinks than apologize to me after our rejection?" "Samantha, have some fucking self-respect!!" I didn't care. I simply pointed at his glass. "So... can you spare a tip?" Ten miserable years had burned away whatever love we once shared. All I cared about was saving enough money. To buy my final cycle of wolfsbane antidote. "Groveling for pennies like a beggar!" "Samantha, is this how low you’ve sunk?" Maybe he felt humiliated in front of his crowd. Alpha Gregory’s face twisted with disgust. Makes sense. A small tip was pocket change to him. To me, it was the only way to afford the medicine keeping me alive. Mina clung to his arm with a sweet giggle, staking her claim. She wore an off-the-shoulder designer dress, flaunting the dark, fresh hickeys on her neck. The drunken crowd started cheering. "Kiss her! Kiss her!!" Gregory didn't hesitate. He pulled her waist against him and crushed his lips onto hers. He popped open over a hundred bottles of vintage wine just to make her smile tonight. While I had to scrape together thousands of tips just to afford a single drop of life. Mina stepped toward me, a smug smirk dancing on her lips. "Gregory has been waiting for your apology for a decade. But you'd rather accept the rejection and clear glasses in a filthy club? Don’t you feel ashamed?" I knew she was trying to trigger me. Years ago, if any woman provoked me like this, I would have dragged her by the hair and slapped her silly. Now, I only gave her an empty stare. "I earn my own living. What's there to be ashamed of?" Mina’s smile vanished, instantly replaced by malice. "You want a tip? Then show me how desperate you are." I was used to her games. Instead of lashing out, I reached for an empty glass bottle on the table. Gregory shoved Mina behind him instantly, glaring at me like I was a threat. *Smash!* Glass exploded against my own forehead, shattering into pieces. The entire room went dead silent. "Alpha Gregory, everyone's having a hard time." "There's no need to torture a poor waitress..." Mina whimpered softly into Gregory’s chest, and his eyes instantly hardened. "You trying to stick up for her?" He cut the pack warrior off, his cold, arrogant tone laced with rage. "Shut your mouth if you don't want to get exiled from Crimson Pack!" The warrior recoiled, forced to smile awkwardly. "Alpha Gregory, I just didn't want a scene hurting our pack's reputation..." The sudden exertion triggered the wolfsbane venom deep inside my veins. A sickening wave of agony hit me, forcing me to drop to my knees. Wiping the warm blood dripping down my temple, I grabbed a second bottle from the counter. Gregory’s hand clamped around my wrist like a steel vise. "Samantha, are you fucking suicidal?!" "Is this enough sincerity for a tip, Alpha Gregory?" *Slap!* A brutal blow sent me flying across the floor. My ears rang violently. My bare elbows scraped against the jagged glass, blood pooling on the tiles. Gregory towered over me, his hands shaking with fury. "Even for money, there's a limit to how cheap you can be!" "When you finally die, I'll pay for your damn funeral! Until then, don't expect a single cent from me!" I clutched my bleeding wounds and dragged myself up, shaking uncontrollably. Cruel and merciless. That was the Alpha Gregory I remembered. The buried nightmare from ten years ago came flooding back without warning. *"You poisoned my drink, you bitch! My parents were attacked and I couldn't even hear their Mind Link!"* *"You killed them!!"*Pulling myself back to reality, I looked up at him with a bloodied, bitter smile. "If this isn't enough for you, Alpha Gregory, I can smash another—" "Enough!" His eyes suddenly caught the small pill bottle that rolled out of my apron. He snatched it from the floor before I could reach it, reading the faded label. "Ten moonshade painkillers in one dose? Are you trying to kill yourself?" Back when we were freshly mated, Gregory brought home one woman after another. None of them played fair. To climb into the Luna position, someone slipped an aphrodisiac into his drink. I found him in heat and gave myself to him to neutralize the poison. Yet when he woke up, he blamed me for drugging him—claiming that night made him miss his parents' frantic psychic screams for help. From that day on, he unleashed hell on my birth pack, crushing Ridge Pack into dust. I begged him to listen. I told him Mina was the maid who spiked his drink. Mina squeezed out a few tears, and he believed every word she said instead. That terrible night, rogue wolves raided his family's manor. His parents' distress calls vanished into thin air. By the time he broke out of the haze and rushed home, his parents were already torn apart in pools of blood. Ridge Pack fell. Gregory rejected our bond, and I surrendered everything. To hide from his pack's bloodthirsty vengeance, I lived on the run, starving in back alleys. A few years later, Gregory actually sent someone with an allowance for me. For the first time in ten years, he extended a hand. Only for reality to slap me in the face. To get that money, I had to kneel and apologize to Mina. I snapped. I refused his charity and screamed through the Mind Link: "Gregory, you blind idiot! I didn't drug you! It was that maid you brought into the house, Mina Clark!!" Gregory severed the psychic link. That very night, humiliated beyond repair, my parents jumped off the sacred Ridge altar to their deaths. I wept and begged on the streets just to bury my parents. But Gregory put a bounty of silence on my head—anyone who dared lend me a dime would face the wrath of Crimson Pack! I had nowhere left to run. From an Alpha's fated mate, I became a dirty bar waitress. Meanwhile, Gregory paraded Mina around every royal pack gala. He even rented a luxury yacht for three straight days to celebrate her birthday, all to buy her a smile. I watched their happiness through cracked screens, choking down dry bread with my tears for ten agonizing years. Misfortune never came alone. The pack healer diagnosed me with late-stage wolfsbane poisoning. Paying off old debts drained every penny I had. I was completely broke, let alone able to afford the costly antidote. I ended up pouring drinks in a borderline dive bar, only to run into Gregory again, his face stormy and dark. "Samantha, you're unbelievable." "I get that you poisoned me for power and wealth. But you framed Mina. You owe her with your life! How much money do you want? Tell me, and I'll burn it at your grave!" I let out a broken chuckle as a tear slipped down my face. Fine. If he wanted my life as payback, he could have it. Living like this was exhausting anyway. I rushed into the bathroom to wash off the blood, but Gregory followed me inside. He shoved me against the wall, gripping my chin to kiss me. He claimed it was "compensation." I bit down hard on his hand until the taste of metallic blood filled my mouth, spitting it out on his shoe. "Get the fuck away from me!" Gregory's face darkened, his laugh cold and mocking. "Tips? Bullshit, you're just desperate for cash. Five hundred bucks for one night with you—how's that?" "Stop playing pure! Didn't you drug me years ago just to get your claws into my money?" "Gregory! Keep your filthy hands off me! You make me sick!" His fist slammed into the wall right beside my ear. Enraged, he found new ways to humiliate me. He ordered me to deliver a package to a cheap roadside motel room. Gregory stood at the doorway in a bathrobe, scanning me up and down with cold amusement. I knew Mina was lying in his bed. I didn't care anymore. I said nothing, dropped the bag on the floor, and turned on my heel. Gregory cracked. He chased after me, grabbing my bruised arm. "Hold on! Is that how you treat a paying guest?" His voice carried a tremor of panic he couldn't hide. Fresh blood soaked through the bandage around my arm. The metallic stench of blood wafted out, churning my stomach with nausea. Seeing my complete indifference, he slammed the door in rage. "Get lost, then!" Two days later, I showed up at the dive bar. The manager hurled a termination notice straight into my face. Then came the barrage of curses. "How dare you mess with Mina? She sent people to tear this place apart! That's Alpha Gregory's favorite pet!" "You're not getting paid a dime. Don't drag us down with you—pack your crap and get the hell out!" A vicious spasm of wolfsbane ripped through my chest. I slid down the wall, gasping for breath. I swallowed a dozen pain pills before whispering weakly: "My fault. I shouldn't have provoked her."Ten years. My parents were gone. I broke my back doing the dirtiest jobs, fighting just to exist at the bottom of the world. I lived on the meager pay from this miserable job, and now even that was gone. Where was I supposed to go? The poison flared violently. I collapsed onto the floor, cold sweat rolling down my forehead, too weak to move a finger. My phone buzzed—the pack healer clinic calling to collect. "I held the final course of antidote for you like you asked! Do you want it or not?" "Three days. Pay the balance in three days, or we dump the vial. Don't say I didn't warn you!" My voice was desperate and cracking. "I just got fired... I don't have the money right now. Please, give me a few more days..." The receptionist snapped, shouting over the line: "Do we look like a charity to you? If you're broke, don't waste our time getting treated!!" Before I could beg again, the line went dead. To scrape together the funds in three days, I called my father's old pack ally, hoping to retrieve some remaining assets. His voice was icy. "To be honest, you're not getting a single cent back." "Everything your father invested here belongs to us now!" A chill went straight to my bones. My voice shook with terror. "That's a breach of pack treaty! I'll take this to the Elder Council!" The man on the other end laughed arrogantly. "Be my guest. Crimson Pack has already promised to back us with their elite enforcers!" "I heard you're dying for cash. Let's see who outlasts who, little orphan." Gregory didn't just get me fired; he sent his own warriors to back the thieves who robbed my family. Blood surged up my throat, followed by a tear-inducing wave of agony. I unscrewed the pill bottle, dumped another handful of moonshade herbs into my mouth, and swallowed them dry. Cold sweat soaked completely through my work shirt. I slumped against the dirty wall, letting out a bitter laugh. Why? Why could he wipe away my last sliver of hope with a snap of his fingers? All I wanted was to live.I dragged myself to Crimson Pack territory. Gregory was sitting by the bed, tending to a delicate Mina. "Why did you get me fired? Why did you send pack guards to protect those crooks? Do you have any idea what I'm—" Before I could finish, Gregory’s hand flew across my face, snapping my head back. His eyes were stone cold. "You still have the nerve to come here? You really won't admit your crimes until blood is spilled, will you?" "Samantha, running your mouth in the pack wasn't enough? You hired thugs to stalk Mina and drove her into jumping into the river! If I hadn't pulled her out in time, your miserable life wouldn't be enough to pay for it!" "No more excuses! You are getting on your knees and apologizing to Mina in front of the entire pack!" Hiring thugs to stalk her? He pushed me to the point where I couldn't even afford my medicine. Where on earth would I get the money to hire anyone? Every time his mood soured, he backed me into a deeper corner of hell! I laughed out loud, choking on the absurdity. "How about I die right now to pay her back? Would that satisfy you?" My words struck a nerve. His jaw clenched tight. "You owe her! Even your worthless life couldn't pay off your debt!" Ignoring my struggling, he dragged me out into the pack assembly hall. My stomach slammed hard against the stone stairs, white-hot pain shooting through my abdomen as cold sweat drenched my hair. A brief flash of panic crossed his eyes, but glancing back at the frail-looking Mina, he looked away. "Samantha, until the truth is settled, I forbid you to die!" Fine. Before I die, I'll settle it for good. I'll give him and Mina the "innocence" they so desperately wanted. The moment I was thrown into the hall, pack members swarmed in. "Samantha, you've been telling everyone Ms. Clark broke up your mate bond! Is that true?" "Exactly! Samantha, no matter how bitter you are, you can't slander an innocent woman!" I stood frozen. Mina had already bribed the entire crowd to tear me apart. There was no anger left in me. I just wanted to say my piece and never see their faces again. Gregory stepped closer, his fingers digging into my fresh wounds, his voice a low, threatening hiss in my ear: "Samantha! Watch your fucking mouth!!" I ripped my arm out of his grasp and raised my voice for everyone to hear: "Ms. Clark, I'm sorry! I made up all those lies to frame you. I hired those people to harass you! It was all my fault. Please, forgive me. I beg of you!" I locked eyes with Mina, but she immediately shrank back, unable to hold my gaze. A loyal pack member shouted in outrage: "A few empty words can make up for the trauma Ms. Clark suffered?!" "Kneel down! Beg until Ms. Clark is satisfied!" Tears welled in Mina’s eyes as she burrowed deeper into Gregory’s chest, her voice trembling. "I never stole Gregory from you... I wasn't the one who drugged him all those years ago..." Gregory wrapped his arms around her protectively, glaring at me with contempt. "Samantha! You can kneel for tips at a bar, but now you want to act like royalty?" Seeing my cold silence, he pulled out his phone and swiped rapidly. My phone buzzed. A high-definition video pinged my screen. "Samantha, take a good look. Isn't that you on that bed..." It was a recording of our mating night from ten years ago. But the edited captions painted me as a filthy, shameless whore who stripped naked to seduce the Alpha! At that moment, I understood everything. He wanted me dead. Swallowing the humiliating bile in my throat, I bent my knees and dropped to the cold stone floor. A bloody cough slipped past my lips, and I forced it back down. "Alpha Gregory and I only mated for political gain. In ten years, he never loved me. The only woman he ever loved was Ms. Clark. I was the one who poisoned his drink back then. I was the one who spread rumors to tear them apart..." "Alpha Gregory, are you satisfied now?" Since he had already condemned me, explanations were meaningless. Truth didn't matter to a dying woman. Clutching my aching stomach, I threw my head back and laughed uncontrollably. Watching my manic breakdown, Gregory roared: "What the hell are you laughing at?! Are you trying to piss me off until I lose my mind?!" That night, lying in bed, Gregory couldn't get the image of me kneeling out of his head. That hollow, despairing laughter echoed in his mind. An inexplicable panic gnawed at his chest. Just as he prepared to reach me through the Mind Link to demand answers, his phone rang with a call from the pack clinic. "Are you Samantha's ex-mate, Alpha Gregory? She left your contact info." Before Gregory could snap, the receptionist spoke in a cold, matter-of-fact tone: "She owed us a massive debt for her treatments. Just calling to let you know—the deposit for her antidote is completely non-refundable!"