My Alpha Forced Me to Accept His Mistress

I barely made it to the pack clinic before Damien's hand clamped around my wrist, yanking me backward with such force that I stumbled against the wall. My chest heaved with sobs, the rejection ritual still burning through my veins like acid.

"You think you can just walk away?" he snarled, his amber eyes blazing with fury. "After what you did?"

I tried to pull free, but his grip tightened. "Let me go, Damien."

"Never." The word hung between us, heavy with five years of broken promises.

He dragged me through the clinic doors, his massive frame blocking any escape route. The antiseptic smell made my stomach turn, reminding me of all the times I'd been treated here after Aviana's "pranks."

"Everyone's watching," I hissed, aware of the staff and patients staring at us.

"Let them watch," he replied coldly. "You've embarrassed me for the last time."

The clinic receptionist, a young Delta named Lily, stepped forward hesitantly. "Alpha, perhaps—"

"Perhaps nothing," Damien cut her off with a glare. "I need space. Now."

Lily retreated quickly, and the other wolves followed suit, leaving us alone in the waiting area. Damien released my wrist only to grasp my shoulders, his touch bruising.

"Take it back," he demanded, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. "The rejection. Take it back now."

Aria whimpered inside me, the pain of the severed bond still raw. But something else was rising—anger, hot and clarifying.

"No," I said, meeting his gaze steadily.

Before Damien could respond, the clinic door swung open. Aviana swept in, her face partially red and blistered from the wolfsbane wine. Despite her injuries, her eyes gleamed with triumph.

"Darling," she cooed to Damien, completely ignoring my presence. "I thought we might need a peace offering."

She reached into her designer purse and withdrew something long and slender, wrapped in black leather. With theatrical flourish, she unwrapped it—a training cane with a silver tip gleaming wickedly under the fluorescent lights.

My blood turned to ice.

"Do you remember this?" Aviana asked softly, running her fingers along the silver tip. "I had it specially made. Just for you, Elowyn."

The room tilted sideways as memories crashed over me—high school hallways, ranked wolves circling me, the silver-tipped canes they used to test if I was truly "wolfless." The burn of silver against my skin, the laughter...

"No," I whispered, my body freezing in place. "No, no, no..."

Aviana's lips curved into a cruel smile as she extended the cane toward me. "Don't you want to thank me?"

I couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. The silver tip seemed to grow larger, more menacing with each passing second.

"Elowyn?" Damien's voice sounded distant. "What's wrong with you?"

I looked up at him, silently pleading for understanding or protection—anything.

Instead, he sighed impatiently. "Aviana is trying to make peace. Stop acting so weak."

"She's triggering me," I managed to gasp. "The silver—you know what it does to me."

Damien's expression hardened. "You're a wolf now. You're stronger than this."

But I wasn't stronger. Not here, not now, not with the mate bond still bleeding inside me and silver gleaming inches from my face.

"Take it," Aviana insisted, thrusting the cane closer.

I flinched backward, my spine hitting the wall. "Please, don't."

"Enough!" Damien snapped, grabbing the cane from Aviana's hand. "This is ridiculous."

For one hopeful moment, I thought he'd finally understood. Finally chosen me.

Instead, he handed the cane back to Aviana with a reassuring smile. "Maybe another time."

They left me there, trembling against the wall, while they whispered together by the door. Their voices carried just enough for me to hear.

"She'll come around," Damien murmured. "The bond is still there. She can't resist it forever."

Aviana's laugh was like shattered glass. "And if she continues to be difficult?"

"Then we'll deal with her properly," he replied, his tone chilling me to the bone.

---

Midnight found me slipping through the shadows of the pack house, my heart pounding against my ribs. The clinic was quiet now, most staff gone home for the night. Only the security system remained—and I knew exactly how to bypass it.

My fingers flew over the keyboard at the reception desk, accessing the network through a backdoor I'd discovered months ago. The screen glowed blue in the darkness as I navigated deeper into the system.

"Come on," I whispered, sweat beading on my forehead. "Just a little further."

The Pack Healer's private database required additional authentication, but I'd been watching Marcus Stone enter his credentials for weeks. Four more keystrokes and I was in.

File after file scrolled past as I searched for Damien's medical records. And then—

"There you are," I breathed, opening the most recent examination report.

My eyes widened as I read the diagnosis: severe oligospermia, sperm count virtually nonexistent, wolf practically sterile.

The room spun around me as realization dawned. Aviana was lying. She had to be.

But if she wasn't carrying Damien's child... whose was she carrying?

And why was Damien pretending to believe her?