MISTAKEN GROOM

I could hear the underlying tension in Professor Garrett’s voice as he questioned my sudden decision to study abroad.

“Aisha, are you sure? Once you go, it could be at least three to five years,” he said, his brow furrowing with concern. His voice was gruff but sincere, like a father figure who’d watched me grow up.

Over the years, he had encouraged me many times to expand my horizons, to leave the pack and explore life beyond our territory. But I’d always refused, choosing to stay because of Karl. Because of love. Or what I thought was love.

“I’m sure,” I replied, my voice steadier than I felt inside. There was a calm finality to my words, as if by uttering them, I was severing a part of my old self.

I used to think my relationship with Karl was perfect. We seemed so close, almost like a mated pair destined to be together, but I didn’t realize that the bond I had treasured was merely an illusion.

I had loved Karl since we were young. My feelings for him ran deep, like a river that had always known its course. But Karl? He had never been mine. Not really. His heart belonged to Tanya, the Alpha’s daughter.

Together, they were the pack’s golden couple—both beautiful, talented, and revered. They had everything: wealth, power, and each other. Even though Karl wasn’t high born like Tanya, their chemistry was undeniable.

But Tanya’s father, the Alpha, had never approved of Karl, a mere Beta with no actual status, so their relationship was turbulent, marred by arguments and constant breakups.

Each time Tanya shattered Karl’s heart, I was the one who picked up the pieces. I would stay up all night making him herbal remedies for his hangovers, talking him down from the emotional cliffs Tanya had pushed him off.

I comforted him until he was ready to crawl back to her again, like a wounded wolf returning to the place it had been hurt. And every time, I would watch him go, my heart breaking a little more.

Then, when Tanya went abroad, leaving Karl behind, he seemed truly lost. It wasn’t long before she found a new partner, an influential wolf from another pack, no doubt of a higher rank than Karl could ever hope to be.

That night, Karl had drowned his sorrow in bottle after bottle of beer. Pain dulled his usually bright eyes, his voice raspy and raw.

“Why did she leave? Am I really not worthy of being loved?” he asked, his voice cracking. He looked so vulnerable, like a pup that its owner had abandoned.

I hugged him, holding on as if I could keep him from falling apart. “No, it’s not like that, Karl. You still have me,” I whispered. “I will always be by your side.”

That night, for the first time, he looked at me differently—like I was someone he could hold unto, someone who could fill the void Tanya had left behind.

Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the desperation, but Karl reached for me, and I let him. We tore down the walls that had kept us apart, letting our emotions spill out in a messy, fervent embrace. It felt like the world was shattering and being rebuilt around us, like something primal had been unleashed.

When I awoke the next morning, Karl was already up, sitting on the edge of the bed with a cigarette dangling from his lips. Smoke curled around him, masking his expression. He looked at me, and for a moment, I thought I saw regret in his eyes. But then he spoke, his voice surprisingly steady.

“Aisha, let’s be together from now on. I’ll forget about Tanya,” he said. It was a declaration, not a question, or so I thought.

Joy surged through me. Was this really happening? Had I finally won his heart? I didn’t hesitate to accept his proposal.

From then on, we tried to live the life of a normal couple, if that even existed for wolves. We dated, got engaged, and eventually got married. I thought I had mated for love, but our bond was not like the deep, unbreakable bond shared between true mates.

It was more like a carefully constructed truce—fragile and easily shattered.

The first crack came when Tanya sent me a friend request on the pack’s social media app. It was as if she’d sensed that I had taken her place and had come back to reclaim what was hers.

I shouldn’t have accepted the friend request, but curiosity got the better of me.

Her posts were like a punch to the gut: pictures of her and Karl, together in the past, always looking so perfect.

Those moments were filled with laughter and affection, things I craved from him but rarely received. It made me wonder if he was with me because he loved me or because he couldn’t have her.

The truth of my marriage began to unravel, thread by thread, over the next three years.

On our first wedding anniversary, Karl left me alone to rush to Tanya’s side for a concert abroad. He’d claimed it was urgent, that Tanya needed his support.

A year later, I was sick with a fever, calling out for him in the middle of the night, only to find him on the phone with her, his voice full of tenderness I hadn’t heard in months. Then, there was the time I received an award from the pack’s council. They called Karl on stage to join me, but he had disappeared again—to comforted Tanya, who was apparently feeling “down” during another one of her trips.

I had hoped that when Tanya went abroad, Karl would forget about her. But the plane tickets he collected, like tokens of their bond, proved that their connection was alive and well.

He was still caught in her orbit, and I was the moon, always reflecting a light that wasn’t truly mine.

After I lost our unborn child in a car accident, Karl wasn’t there to hold me. Instead, he was watching the sunrise with her. The realization hit me hard. It was time to end this facade of a marriage.

“Karl, if you love her so much, I’ll set you free to be with her for good.” Those words felt foreign to my tongue, but there was a strange relief in finally saying them.

A wave of exhaustion washed over me, and I drifted in and out of sleep. I heard Karl’s voice distantly.

“Sorry, Aisha, but I probably won’t be back tonight. I still have work to deal with at the company.”

That’s when it all clicked into place. I had been a fool to believe him for so long. It was never about work. It was always about her.

“Okay, go ahead,” I replied, forcing my voice to stay calm. For the first time, I didn’t care if he saw through the mask I wore.

He hesitated, his eyes searching mine. In the past, I would have begged him to stay or demanded an explanation. But I didn’t even have the energy for that. I simply nodded, and with that, he was gone.

I stared at the empty space he left behind, whispering, “Karl, there is no more ‘plenty of time.’” Because deep down, I knew there wasn’t. Our future had crumbled, leaving nothing but dust and regret.

The next morning, I woke up to a call from one of Karl’s colleagues. “Hey, why didn’t Karl come to work today?” The question hit me like a cold splash of water.

“He told me he was working overtime,” I replied, my voice hollow.

The line went quiet before the caller mumbled something and hung up. I didn’t need to check Tanya’s social media, but I did anyway.

There she was, posting about her “sweet boyfriend” who had stayed the night because she’d felt scared alone. The picture showed Karl holding her close, and the look in his eyes was all the confirmation I needed.

I took a deep breath and dialed his number. It rang and rang before he finally picked up. “What’s up, Aisha?”

Before I could say anything, I heard a woman’s voice in the background, soft and intimate. “Karl, that’s too sensitive; we can’t do it.”

He fumbled to cover the phone, then muttered something about working late again. Before I could react, he hung up. I dropped the phone as if it had burned me.

Later that day, as I scrolled through Tanya’s posts, I saw Karl doing things for her that he’d never done for me. Cooking. Washing clothes. Kissing her at the top of a Ferris wheel.

[They say couples who kiss at the highest point will never part.] She had captioned the photo.

I laughed, the sound brittle and bitter.

“Fine, Karl. I wish you and Tanya a lifetime of happiness.” Because as far as the pack was concerned, we had always been a love triangle: the Alpha’s daughter, the small-time Beta, and the heartbroken Omega. But I was done playing my part.

It was time to let go.