After My Mate Betrayed Me

The morning light filtered through the curtains of our den, casting a warm glow on the rosewood table where James sat waiting for me. Eight years. Eight years of being mated to the Alpha of the Moonstone Pack. Eight years of pouring my heart and soul into saving his struggling pack with my scent creations. Today was supposed to be special.

"Olivia, my sweet Luna," James called, his voice carrying that familiar commanding tone that had once made my heart flutter. Now it just made my wolf, Lyra, stir uncomfortably within me.

*Something feels wrong,* Lyra whispered in my mind as I approached.

*It's our anniversary. He's probably planned something,* I reassured her, though the doubt in her voice echoed my own unspoken concerns.

James smiled as I sat across from him, pushing a small velvet box toward me. "For my loyal mate," he said, his eyes not quite meeting mine.

I opened it to find a delicate crystal bracelet catching the morning light, sending rainbow prisms dancing across the table. "It's beautiful," I whispered, genuinely touched by the gesture despite the growing distance between us these past months.

"You've been everything I could ask for in a Luna," he said, his words sounding rehearsed. He helped clasp the bracelet around my wrist, his fingers lingering a moment too long. "Your scents have made our pack prosperous. The Eternal Bond series was... inspired."

I smiled at the mention of my creation, named for what I thought our mate bond represented. The irony wasn't lost on me that he still took public credit for my work.

"I have something to discuss with you," James continued, his tone shifting to what I recognized as his 'Alpha business' voice. "I've decided it's time we honor Victoria properly."

My smile froze. Victoria Sullivan. His first mate. The one who had supposedly died before I came into his life. The ghost whose name he'd whispered in his sleep more times than I could count.

"Honor her?" I asked, the bracelet suddenly feeling heavy on my wrist.

"Monthly memorial rituals, starting with the next full moon," he stated, not asked. "It's been eight years since her passing, and the pack needs to pay proper respects. As Luna, I expect you to lead the ceremonies."

The air left my lungs. On our anniversary, he wanted to discuss honoring his dead mate? Lyra growled deep within me, a sound I rarely heard from my usually gentle wolf.

"I see," was all I could manage, my fingers unconsciously tracing the crystal beads of my anniversary gift.

"It's important to me, Olivia," he added, reaching for my hand. "Victoria was... special."

I nodded mechanically, a thousand questions burning in my throat. Why now? Why today of all days? But I swallowed them down, as I had done countless times before.

"I have pack business to attend to," James announced, rising from the table. "I'll be back late tonight."

With that, he was gone, leaving me alone with my thoughts and a bracelet that suddenly felt like a consolation prize.

---

Hours later, I balanced a carefully prepared anniversary dinner in my arms as I walked back to our den earlier than planned. I had spent the afternoon creating a meal of all his favorites—rare venison steaks, forest mushroom risotto, and blackberry tart—hoping to salvage what remained of our special day.

As I cut through the woods taking the shortcut home, a light in the distance caught my attention. The small cottage on the edge of our territory—James's private retreat where he claimed to go for "Alpha meditation"—was illuminated despite his claim of pack business in town.

Curiosity and a growing sense of unease propelled me forward. As I approached, a scent hit me with such force that I nearly dropped our dinner. Freesia and amber—a distinctly female fragrance—mingled with James's protective pheromones and something else... the unmistakable hormonal signature of pregnancy.

My enhanced perfumer's senses couldn't be wrong. A pregnant she-wolf was inside with my mate.

I crept closer, my heart hammering against my ribs as Lyra whined anxiously. Through the partially open window, the scene inside unfolded with crystal clarity: James kneeling before a beautiful dark-haired woman seated in a plush armchair, his hands tenderly cradling her swollen belly.

"Don't worry, Victoria," he whispered, his voice carrying easily to my enhanced hearing. "I'll handle everything. Soon you'll take your rightful place as Luna."

Victoria. Not dead. Very much alive and carrying what appeared to be James's pup.

The crystal bracelet slipped from my wrist, hitting the stone path with a sound that seemed to echo through the forest. Eight years of devotion shattered in an instant as surely as if the bracelet had broken instead of merely fallen.

In that moment, I knew nothing would ever be the same again.