Betrayed by Her Mates

Mina POV - 8 days to go

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“Goddess... Mina. Slow... Down!” Chloe puffs, as she tries to keep up. 

“I can’t,” Mina shouts over her shoulder. “My mum’s going to kill me if I’m late for my presentation.”

Chloe might have answered but after a couple hours of training, the woman looked about ready to keel over, let alone try and speak through her wheezes.

It is only the adrenaline and excitement pumping through Mina that keeps her going. She knows they should’ve stopped earlier, but once she got into the flow of their sparring, nothing was distracting her. Not even the tugs of a mindlink, trying to snag her attention. 

Well, not until Alastor butted into her thoughts, unrelenting like a bull charging a red cape, making her drop her guard and take a punch to the face. Her tongue runs over her split lip, tasting the tang of blood that she hopes feels worse than it looks. She needs to look her best when her and Owen are announced as fated mates, and would lay into Alastor if anything got in the way of that.

Williamina, where are you? Her mother’s sharp reprimand comes through.

Just doing the final touches to my make-up, I’ll be down in a minute. Mina reassures her, just as she rounds another bend. 

She grins as the packhouse comes into sight. In just a few hours, her and Owen would finally be an official couple recognised by fate and the pack. She has waited for this moment for years and can't wait another day more. 

Excitement buzzes in her veins as guests come into view, all adorning stunning dresses and suits. They collect at the packhouse entrance, slowly entering through the large main doors. Even from a distance she can recognise a few leaders of their closest allied packs including Luna Evelyn, her mates Kade and Aiden standing protectively at her side, but Mina can catch up with her later and instead swerves into a side street to take the backway to the packhouse before anyone can spot her.

Fatigue burns in her muscles, but she will have an entire evening of standing around greeting wolves and being congratulated on her newly formed bond, so she pushes through the strain. Thinking of Owen helps. She has the whole evening planned. First, their bond forming on the stroke of midnight when she finally turns 25, then a few hours putting up with the formalities of her role as future Luna of Clear Blue, and then the rest of the night will be just for them. It will be their first proper night together, and it would be perfect. Candles and chocolate covered strawberries, and then they’d kiss and mark each other and...

She rounds a corner into the backstreet that leads to the packhouse and stops. 

She freezes as she watches Owen tuck his finger the chin of a woman that isn't her and tilt her head up in the way he always does to Mina. Her blood runs ice cold as he presses his lips to hers and slides his hand over her waist that looks far too familiar to be a first touch. 

Mina's chest clenches as her head spins, and she stumbles back a step to regain some sense of balance. Her trainer scuffs the ground only slightly, but Owen is a warrior and jerks back from the woman pressed between him and the alley wall. It's Jessica, and she looks smug.

Owen's eyes fly wide, hand reaching for her, but Mina runs, already far down the street when she hears him shouting her name. 

She can't think, she just keeps moves. Her mind questioning everything. That was really Owen, right? And he was just touching and kissing Jessica? A part of her can't believe it, even as the moment replays over and over in her mind. Tears prickle in the corner of her eyes as every plan she had for the evening, for the future, crumbles away in a few stupid seconds. Her breath sits high and taut in her chest and she has to stop as she struggles to take a full breath.

"Mina!" Owen is only a step behind, faster than her and placing his body between her and the direction she needs to go.

She curses herself for stopping and tries to push down the rising venom inside her as she looks up at him with watery eyes. "Move, Owen. I need to go."

She tries to walk past him but he grabs her arm. She flinches at the touch and tries to yank free but his grip is firm and makes her wince.

"Look, Baby, I don't know what you thought you saw but..."

"Are you going to tell me I didn't see you and Jessica kissing?"

"It's not like that."

"Then what's it like?" Mina demands, her curiosity piqued. She prays there's some kind of answer that will justify him kissing another woman the night they're bond is supposed to form. With the crushing pressure of her role and the evening, any reason might do the trick to make her forget the stabbing pain in her chest as every second of silence passes.

Owen can't meet her eyes. "I'm under a lot of pressure, you know. Jessica was just helping..."

"By kissing you?" Mina has to control her voice as it strains to scream, but from here the guests would hear her.

"No. She was just helping me get some fresh air and it just happened. It's nothing serious, Mina, I promise."

At his words she remembers the casual brush of his hand over Jessica's waist and the small smile they shared before they claimed each other's lips. There was nothing spontaneous about the moment, nothing new, nothing unexpected. 

"I don't believe you." She whispers, the words making her soul wilt as they cement inside her. He's cheating on her. Mina feels the truth in the statement as it crosses her mind and feels sick at the torrent of questions that follow it. Is it just Jessica? Has he cheated on her for their whole 3-year relationship? Would he still go ahead with marking her tonight if she hadn't found out?

Her stomach rolls at the last question. If she hadn't seen him, she would be going into her presentation thinking he is the love of her life, all the while he is hooking up with other women behind her back. She'd be the laughingstock of the pack. A Luna's whose mate wanders.

Mina yanks her arm out of Owen's ignoring the burn of pain at his resistance.

"I don't believe you." She says again, stepping around him, but making sure not to turn her back to him. 10 minutes ago, he was the wolf she trusted the most and now she doesn't feel safe anywhere near him. "We're done, Owen."

Something flashes across him eyes and she backs up a few steps. He straightens and sneers, wearing an expression she has never seen before. "We're not done. We can't be." He huffs a laugh. "You're my fated mate, I can feel it in my bones, but even if you're not..." A darkness shadows his gaze making Mina shiver. "You won't have any other choice but to accept me."

Nausea twists through her but she doesn't dare to answer him. Not when she's sure her voice will shake and release the flood of tears she's desperately holding back. Instead, she shakes her head as she backs up, and when she's sure he won't follow, she turns and sprints to the packhouse.