After My Mate Betrayed Me with My Childhood Enemy

The ballroom was suffocating again, but this time, the air felt thick with something far more sinister than just body heat and perfume. It was my birthday. I should have been happy. I stood near the head table, my hand unconsciously drifting to the cool, smooth surface of the moonstone pendant resting against my collarbone. It was the only piece of my mother I had left, a tether to the woman whose place I was trying so desperately to fill.

"Happy birthday, June," a voice purred from behind me.

I stiffened. I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. The cloying scent of vanilla and orchid hit me before she even moved into my peripheral vision. Millie Perkins.

I turned slowly, smoothing my hands over my gown. "Millie. I didn't know you were invited."

She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. She held a glass of dark red wine in one manicured hand. "Oh, your father insisted. He said it was time to let bygones be bygones. We’re practically family, aren’t we?"

My wolf bristled. *Threat,* she growled. *She wants to hurt us.*

"We are nothing alike," I said coldly, turning away to find Lucas. He was across the room, talking to his Beta, refusing to look in my direction.

"Oh, come on, June. Don't be like that," Millie cooed, stepping closer. Too close. "Let's make a toast. To the future."

She lunged forward. It happened in slow motion. Her heel caught on absolutely nothing on the polished floor. She stumbled, her body colliding with mine with surprising force. The wine glass tipped, splashing crimson liquid all over the front of my white silk gown. But she didn't stop there. Her hand shot out, grasping for purchase, and her fingers curled around the delicate silver chain at my neck.

*Snap.*

The sound was like a gunshot in the sudden silence of the room. I gasped as the weight vanished from my throat. The moonstone hit the marble floor with a sickening *crack*, shattering into three jagged pieces.

Silence descended on the ballroom. I stared down at the broken stone, my heart fracturing right along with it. That necklace had survived wars. It had survived my mother's death. It hadn't survived Millie Perkins.

A roar tore from my throat, raw and primal. "You did that on purpose!"

I raised my hand, my claws threatening to extend, ready to wipe that feigned look of shock off her face. Millie shrank back, whimpering theatrically.

"June! Stand down!"

The command slammed into me like a physical wall. My father's Alpha voice. My body froze instantly, my arm locking in mid-air, fighting against the compulsion but failing. My knees buckled, and I fell to the floor, right next to the broken shards of my mother's legacy.

Alpha Hamilton marched over, his face red with anger. Not at Millie. At me.

"Look at you," he spat, glaring down at his pregnant daughter. "Attacking a guest? On your own birthday? You are hysterical."

"She broke Mom's necklace," I choked out, tears burning my eyes. "She did it on purpose, Dad!"

"It was an accident!" Millie cried, dabbing at fake tears. "I tripped! Oh, Alpha Hamilton, I am so sorry."

"Apologize to her," my father commanded, the Alpha tone brooking no argument.

My jaw clenched so hard my teeth ached. "No."

"*Apologize*," he roared, the power of it forcing my head down. "Now!"

"I... I'm sorry," I whispered, the words tasting like ash. Humiliation burned hotter than the wine soaking my dress. I looked up to see Lucas watching from the crowd. He didn't move. He didn't step forward to defend his mate. He just watched, his face an unreadable mask.

***

I couldn't stay in that house. The walls were closing in, the whispers of the pack members crawling over my skin like insects. *Unstable. Emotional. Weak.*

I stripped off the ruined dress and pulled on dark leggings and a hoodie. I needed air. I needed to breathe.

I slipped out the back servants' entrance, heading for the tree line. The cool night air usually calmed my wolf, but tonight she was pacing, agitated and whining. We walked for what felt like hours, circling the perimeter of the pack grounds, until a familiar scent stopped me dead in my tracks.

Pine and rain. Lucas.

He wasn't in our bedroom. He was out here, near the old training grounds. But beneath his scent was that sickly sweet vanilla.

I moved silently, my training on the Northern border taking over. I became a shadow, drifting through the underbrush until I reached the edge of a small clearing. The moon was full, casting a spotlight on the two figures standing near the old oak tree.

Lucas had his back against the bark, and Millie was pressed against him, her hands resting on his chest. My chest constricted, squeezing the air from my lungs.

"I can't take much more of this, Lucas," Millie whispered, her voice carrying in the still night air. "She looked ready to kill me tonight."

"She won't touch you," Lucas murmured, his hand stroking her hair. The tenderness in his touch was a knife to my gut. He never touched me like that anymore. "I won't let her."

"But the bond..." Millie whimpered.

"The bond is a shackle," Lucas hissed, his voice filled with a bitterness that terrified me. "The Moon Goddess made a mistake. You are my Chosen Mate, Millie. You always have been."

I clamped a hand over my mouth to stifle a sob. My knees hit the dirt, but I didn't feel the impact.

"Then why are you with her?" Millie asked, tracing the line of his jaw.

"You know why," Lucas sighed, resting his forehead against hers. "The merger. The territory. And... the heir. Once the pup is born and the alliance is cemented, things will be different. She is just a vessel, Millie. A vessel for the legacy we need."

A vessel. That was all I was to him. An incubator for his power.

I didn't stay to hear more. I couldn't. I crawled backward until I was safe to run, and then I sprinted, tears blinding me, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm of betrayal.

***

The next morning, I didn't knock. I slammed the heavy oak doors of my father's study open so hard they bounced off the walls.

"Why is she here?" I demanded, storming into the room. "Why is Millie allowed on our land?"

My father was sitting behind his desk, but he wasn't alone. Sitting in the wingback chair by the window—my mother's favorite chair—was a woman I hadn't seen in years. Adele Perkins.

She looked up from her tea, a serene smile playing on her lips. She looked exactly as I remembered her: beautiful, cold, and utterly venomous.

"Hello, June," Adele said smoothly. "You're looking... flushed."

"Get out of her chair," I snarled.

"June!" My father slammed his hand on the desk. "Show some respect! Adele is my guest."

"Respect?" I laughed, a shrill, broken sound. "She destroyed Mom! She is the reason Mom is dead! And you're drinking tea with her?"

"That is ancient history," my father said dismissively, standing up to pour Adele more tea. "Adele and I... we are reconnecting. She will be spending more time here. I plan to integrate her back into the pack."

"Over my dead body," I whispered, horror washing over me.

"Don't be dramatic," he scoffed, waving a hand at me as if I were a buzzing fly. "You are letting your pregnancy hormones cloud your judgment. You are emotional, June. Unstable. Perhaps it is time you took a step back from your Luna duties until the pup is born. You clearly can't handle the stress."

I looked from my father to the woman who killed my mother, seeing the smug satisfaction in Adele's eyes. I was alone. Completely and utterly alone.