My Cheating Alpha Found Me in His Rival's Shirt

I smelled her before I saw her.

Roses. Thick, sweet, cloying roses, clinging to my mate like a second skin.

I stood at the entrance of the Silverpine ballroom in my champagne backless gown, a small velvet box in my hand. Inside was a silver cufflink engraved with the date Callum Ashford, Alpha of Silverpine, kissed my forehead under the full moon three years ago.

*No other woman will ever leave her scent on me, Sienna. I swear it.*

Tonight was our anniversary. The night I became his Luna.

*Maybe it was just a hug,* I told myself. *Just a hug.*

Then the door to Callum's private lounge opened.

Brielle Hart walked out in a silver-white gown. My gown. The one the seamstress had fitted to my body two weeks ago. A fresh red mark bloomed on the side of her neck.

She spotted me and smiled like she'd been waiting all night.

"Sienna! Sweetheart." She glided over and touched my arm. "You look lovely. So... classic."

"That's my dress."

"Is it?" She tilted her head. "Callum said it would look better on me. He was right, wasn't he?"

I pulled my arm back. "Enjoy the party, Brielle."

"Oh, don't be like that." She leaned in, voice dropping to a purr. "He told me you're a little too reserved. That you can't even give him what a mate is supposed to give. Poor thing. I'm just helping out."

My fingers tightened around the velvet box until the corners bit into my palm.

*Don't cry. Not here. Not in front of the whole pack.*

I turned to leave.

And then I heard him.

Callum's laugh carried from the bar, low and easy. He stood with his Beta and two of his friends, glass in hand.

"Yeah, I slept with her," he said. "So what? It's just a body thing. Sienna's my Luna. That doesn't change."

His friend whistled. "Man, you're not scared she'll walk?"

Callum grinned. "She's my mate. Where else would she go?"

The room tilted.

Because I already knew. I'd known for months. Every time he touched Brielle, the bond between us stung like a needle pushed straight into my chest. I'd wake at two in the morning, gasping, clutching my ribs.

And once, I'd asked him about it.

*It's probably stress, Sienna. Get some sleep.*

He knew. He felt me hurting through the bond. And he never stopped.

I walked toward the bar. Conversations died around me, one by one.

Callum's smile faltered. "Sienna. When did you get here?"

"Long enough."

I slid the ring off my finger. Three years of wearing it had left a pale band of skin underneath. I dropped it into his champagne glass. It sank to the bottom with a soft clink.

"Callum Ashford," I said, loud enough for the whole ballroom. "I want to break our mate bond."

Silence.

Then someone gasped. Someone else dropped a fork.

The grin slid off Callum's face. He set the glass down and grabbed my wrist, his grip hard enough to bruise.

"Don't do this," he said under his breath. "You're embarrassing yourself."

"*I'm* embarrassing myself?"

"Stop being a brat. We'll talk at home."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Callum, honey, wait." Brielle hurried over, hands raised like a peacemaker. "Sienna, please, I never meant—"

Her glass of red wine tipped. Right down the front of my gown.

Cold soaked through the silk. Red spread across champagne like a wound.

"Oh no!" Brielle covered her mouth. "I'm so clumsy!"

People stared. They waited. I knew what they expected. Quiet Sienna. Obedient Sienna. The Luna who swallowed everything and smiled anyway.

I laughed.

It came out of nowhere, sharp and strange. Callum blinked at me like he didn't recognize me.

I picked up a full glass of wine from the bar and threw it in his face.

He staggered back, red dripping from his jaw onto his white shirt.

"You don't get to betray me," I said, my voice shaking but steady, "and still call me yours."

I walked out.

Nobody stopped me.

Behind me, I heard Brielle burst into tears. And I heard Callum's voice, soft and soothing, turning toward *her*.

He didn't follow.

---

The rain came down in sheets.

I walked along the empty forest road that cut through pack territory, heels in one hand, the ruined dress plastered to my legs. Gravel sliced my ankles. After an hour, I couldn't feel my toes.

Headlights swept over me.

A black SUV slowed and stopped. The window rolled down.

Cold gray eyes studied me from the driver's seat.

"Get in," a deep voice said. "You're freezing."

I knew that face. Every wolf in Silverpine knew it.

Ronan Blackthorn. Alpha of the Ironfang Pack. The one man Callum feared.

I stepped back. "No, thank you."

He didn't argue. He opened his door, climbed out into the downpour, and shrugged off his black coat. Then he walked around the car and draped it over my shoulders, his body blocking the wind.

The coat was warm. It smelled like cedar and snow.

And my wolf, who had been silent and curled up inside me for hours, let out a low, aching whine. A sound I had never heard her make before.

Ronan went still. His pupils shrank to pinpoints.

His nostrils flared. I watched him catch Callum's scent on me. Then something else. His gaze dropped to my wet cheeks, and his jaw locked.

"You've been crying," he said quietly.

"It's rain."

"It's not."

I pulled the coat tighter. "What do you want from me, Alpha Blackthorn?"

He reached into his pocket, took my hand, and pressed his car keys into my palm. His fingers were rough and hot.

"You can drive," he said. "I'll sit beside you. Just don't stay out here alone."

I stared at the keys. Then at him.

No orders. No commands. No Alpha voice pressing down on my spine.

"Why would you help Callum's mate?"

"I'm not helping Callum's mate." He opened the driver's door for me. "I'm helping a woman walking barefoot in a storm."

I got in.

He leaned across me to pull the seatbelt over my chest. His shoulder brushed mine. He was close, so close I could hear him breathing, slow and controlled. Rain dripped from his dark hair onto my collarbone.

He clicked the buckle into place and didn't move away right away.

Heat crawled up my throat. My skin burned under his coat. My heart slammed against my ribs, hard and fast, and I hated it.

*I was betrayed two hours ago. What is wrong with me?*

Ronan's gray eyes lifted to mine. Something flickered there. Something careful and dangerous.

"Your heart's racing," he murmured.

"I'm cold."

"Sure you are."

Then the bond snapped tight inside my chest.

Not my pain this time.

*His.*

Miles away in Silverpine, I felt Callum stagger. I felt his hand slam over his heart. I felt his shock rip through the bond like lightning.

He'd felt it.

He'd felt exactly what was happening to me in this car.

And for the first time in three years, Callum Ashford was afraid.