True Mate After Betrayal

The messenger raven arrived at dawn, its black wings cutting through the gray morning mist like a blade through silk. I was feeding Summer her breakfast—oatmeal with honey, the only thing that seemed to stay down lately—when I heard the familiar tap against the window.

My hands trembled as I unrolled the parchment, Summer's concerned eyes tracking my every movement.

"Alpha Pierce Stone has fallen in battle against rogue forces while defending Shadowridge Pack territory. The pack mourns their brave leader."

The words blurred. My chest constricted, and for one terrible moment, I couldn't breathe. Pierce was dead. The mate who had rejected me, who had sent Summer and me away like unwanted baggage, was gone. I should have felt relief. Maybe even satisfaction.

Instead, I felt hollow.

"Mama?" Summer's small voice cut through my spiraling thoughts. "What's wrong?"

I forced myself to smile, tucking the message into my pocket. "Nothing, sweetheart. Finish your breakfast."

But everything was wrong. Despite the rejection, despite the incomplete bond that still pulled at my soul like a fraying thread, Pierce had been my mate once. The Moon Goddess herself had chosen us. And now he was dead, and I hadn't even been there. Hadn't said goodbye. Hadn't told him that I'd forgiven him, even though I wasn't sure I had.

I had to go back. I had to see for myself, pay my respects, find some kind of closure to this nightmare that had become my life.

* * *

Two nights later, I slipped through the forest paths I'd once known as well as my own heartbeat. The moon hung heavy and full above the trees, painting everything in shades of silver and shadow. Summer was safe with Old Martha, the rogue she-wolf who'd taken pity on us when we had nowhere else to go.

The closer I got to Shadowridge territory, the more my wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin. Something felt wrong. The forest was too quiet, the usual night sounds muted and strange. The bond—that cursed, incomplete mate bond—pulled at me with unexpected strength, almost vibrating with an intensity I hadn't felt in months.

He's dead, I reminded myself. You're just imagining things. Grief does strange things to the bond.

But when I crested the final hill and looked down at the pack grounds, my heart stopped.

Torches. Hundreds of them, blazing against the night sky. Music drifted up from the clearing—not the mournful dirges of a funeral, but something bright and celebratory. Laughter echoed through the trees, punctuated by howls of joy.

My legs moved without conscious thought, carrying me closer. I stayed in the shadows, moving between the ancient oaks that ringed the ceremonial clearing. The same clearing where Pierce had been crowned Alpha. Where we'd completed our mating ceremony five years ago, his teeth marking my neck, my soul binding to his.

My fingers unconsciously touched the scar. It burned.

I pressed myself against the rough bark of an oak tree, peering through the branches, and my entire world shattered.

Pierce stood in the center of the clearing, very much alive. His dark hair caught the torchlight, his powerful frame draped in ceremonial robes I recognized—the Alpha's chosen mate ceremony robes. He was smiling, that devastating smile I'd once loved, his arm wrapped around a woman in white.

Jazmine Webb.

The pack's former Omega, who'd been nothing but kind to my face, who'd offered to help with Summer when she was a baby, who'd looked at me with what I'd thought was sympathy when Pierce announced our exile.

She wore my mother's moonstone pendant around her neck.

"Brothers and sisters of Shadowridge Pack," Pierce's voice rang out, strong and vital and completely, utterly alive. "Tonight, we celebrate not just my survival, but the beginning of a new chapter. Jazmine Webb has agreed to be my chosen mate, my Luna, and together we will lead this pack to greatness."

The crowd erupted in cheers. I watched, frozen, as Pierce pulled Jazmine close and kissed her. Watched as my pack—the pack I'd served as Luna, the wolves I'd cared for, protected, loved—celebrated their union.

He'd faked his death. He'd faked his own death to avoid the shame of openly rejecting me and choosing another mate.

The bond pulsed with sick recognition, confirming what my eyes were showing me. Pierce wasn't dead. He'd never been in danger. This had all been a calculated lie.

I should have run then. Should have disappeared back into the forest before anyone noticed me. But my feet remained rooted to the ground, my eyes unable to look away from the nightmare unfolding before me.

"Speech! Speech!" someone called out.

Jazmine stepped forward, her hand resting possessively on Pierce's chest. Even from this distance, I could see the triumphant gleam in her eyes. "Thank you all for welcoming me as your new Luna. I know some may remember me as an Omega, but Pierce saw my true worth when others couldn't. Together, we'll make this pack stronger than ever."

She paused, and her next words turned my blood to ice.

"And soon, we'll deal with the loose ends that Pierce's previous... mistake... left behind."

The way she said 'mistake.' The way Pierce's expression flickered with something dark and satisfied. They weren't just talking about me. They were talking about Summer.

My daughter. My baby, who was already vulnerable because her wolf hadn't awakened yet, who faced discrimination daily because of her late-blooming condition.

I forced myself to remain silent, to keep watching even though every instinct screamed at me to transform and tear them apart. I needed to know everything. Needed to understand the full scope of their betrayal before I decided what to do next.

The Moon Goddess help me, I would make them pay for this.