1-The engagement party

CHAPTER-1

Aria’s POV:

You know that unsettling, queasy, gut-fraying feeling that churns your stomach when something horrific is about to happen?

Yes, that's exactly how I felt standing in this grand hall, hosting my engagement party.

I felt restless, my wolf too. She’d been whining in our shared mind space, mumbling words I couldn't quite decipher because of the loud crowd.

To make matters worse, my insides were gnawing, and it felt like something inside me was being torn apart. It was a painful feeling, but I ground my teeth and told myself it was just extreme wedding jitters, forcing a smile while my chest increasingly heaved with worry and pain.

However, whatever smile I could force disappeared when I noticed Rhett Blackstone, my mate and husband-to-be, was missing.

Rhett and I had come to the party together and he was standing right beside me a couple of minutes ago, but right now, there wasn't a single trace of him, not even a faint trail of his scent lingering.

Maybe he's greeting the guest or handling some of his pack matters. I said to myself, instead of making a fuss or worrying about it, but after ten minutes passed without him showing up, I couldn't help but get worried.

My father's cold eyes met mine, and he signaled me over. My heart started pounding in my ears as each step towards him felt like approaching hell.

My father, Alpha Cane Nightwind and I don't have that typical father-daughter relationship; he was just a cold, indifferent, and distant father who loved power and name.

I was born of his blood, Alpha blood and still it wasn't enough. I finished college as a first-class business major, completed my warrior training, excelled in combat and shifting, proved myself a thousand times over but it didn't matter. All because I was a woman. One that looked like her mother—the one woman my father hated so much.

It was safe to say that, he hated my mother and after her death, the hatred was transferred to me

“Yes, Alpha.” He favoured Alpha more than father in public.

“Where is Rhett?”

I lowered my gaze.

“I don't know. I’ve not seen him around”

“How can you not know where your fiancé went on such an important day?” His voice turned stern, like he was scolding a child. In his eyes, I never do anything right. “Find him! The guests from Nightwind and your Aunt Carina are waiting to meet him.”

“Yes, Alpha. I’ll find him,” I replied, not wanting to stay in his presence a second longer.

“And find your brother for me as well, will you?” His glare disappeared when he spoke of my younger brother, his golden son. My heart squeezed at his affection for my brother, but I just brushed it off like always, nodded, and turned my back on him to begin my search.

I walked through all the rooms where I thought Rhett could be but I couldn't find him and Roman. My brother was the life of every party and him missing this party was a wonder, so was Rhett missing his own engagement party.

My wolf’s restlessness made my head spin more, and the worry increased.

Maybe Rhett was in the garden? He was like me, he didn't like crowded places. Maybe he was getting some fresh air and got lost in time. I went to look in the garden but he still wasn't there.

How could I not know where my mate was? Father was right, I can't do anything right.

I turned my way to go back to my father, pondering on what to tell him as I walked past the foot of the stairs, when a sudden noise from the floor above caused me to halt in my tracks.

I ascended the stairs, slowly, step by step. When I reached the landing, I stopped straining to listen but everywhere was as quiet as a graveyard in the early hours of the morning.

“Is anyone here?” I called out. “Rhett, can you hear me?” I called out again but no reply.

At first, I thought I was hearing things, but then I heard it again, the unmistakable giggle from Roman and a low male groan.

This wasn't new to me.

Roman was into men and he was probably hooking up with someone from the party. The good thing was I knew where he was. I could easily come back for him.

Just as I was about to turn away and leave, I caught a whiff of Rhett's all too familiar scent and immediately my wolf perked up. I charged up to the door, ready to knock, then I heard it. First, it was the sound of hips thrusting into each other in perfect sync, then came the voices.

“Oh God, yes!”

“You love that, don't you my love!” Rhett groaned.

I froze, my heart pounding. No it couldn't be. My trembling hands clutched the side of my dress while my teeth ground against each other.

“You bet I do, you monster,” came my brother’s groan shortly after.

“Oh God…you're so fucking hot. I don't think I can last.” Rhett's voice wafted through the slightly opened door, and my heart raced, pounding heavily in my chest as my body began to tremble.

Rhett and Roman…..My stomach lurched.

I felt like a bomb of fire exploded over my frame. It was bad enough that my fiancee is having an affair but what was worse is that he is cheating on me with my brother.

Then came the realization. The reason for my pain and wolf’s restlessness wasn't any wedding jitters. Rhett had been fucking Roman. In the werewolf world, when your mate has sex with someone other than you after marking and claiming you, you experience sharp pains and restlessness. If I were to betray Rhett, similarly, he would experience the same sharp pain and unsettling feelings.

Rhett knew this, but he hurt me on such an important day of our lives.

I stood in front of the door, fidgeting, praying this was a terrible misunderstanding of some sort. That I was imagining things.

Then, with a trembling hand, I pushed the door open, and the scene that greeted me was like a punch to the gut. I staggered backwards, my mind unable to process what I was seeing.

There, leaning against a table, arms plopped on the top and back facing Rhett was Roman, and standing behind him was Rhett, both completely naked.

Roman’s right leg was thrown over the tabletop, his hands gripping the edge while Rhett fucked….forcefully thrusted into him from behind. I can hear the slapping sounds mixed with their lustful grunts.

I stood there, frozen. Wide-eyed. My legs felt like stone. I couldn't move. My mouth opened but I was too stunned to make a sound. I felt paralyzed to my bones yet listening to the two of them have sex filled my soul with disgust. Every time I heard them, my soul felt like it was encased in ice.

“Oh yes…” Roman groaned into Rhett's mouth, the rumble of his voice bringing back to the unfolding scene. “fuck me harder, Daddy,

In response, Rhett straightened his spine, slapped Roman’s buttocks, firmly gripped his waist while simultaneously pressing his shoulder- bending him further across the table and grunted. “Stick you ass up”

“Okay Daddy,” Roman squealed like a happy toddler talking to their father, and I cringed.

It felt like I was watching a scene from a p**n film. I had never seen Roman naked before. As a child, yes, but right now, the sight of his cock hitting the table as Rhett thrusted in and out of him was both nauseating and gory.

I was bamboozled. Hurt. Shocked.

My breath caught in my throat, denying me the ability to breathe.

I felt sick.

How could my own brother do this to me?

If anyone would understand the devastation and stings of betrayal it would be Roman because we both saw how our mother's infidelity turned our Dad into a monster, incapable of loving his own child. How it turned our once warm, happy home into an unliveable cold cell for us…for me.

And Rhett? He had always claimed to be homophobic. No matter how much I've tried to foster a relationship between him and Roman, it didn't work. Rhett claimed he was scared of Roman and ignored him because he was into men.

Was it all a lie? Was it a deliberate scheme to blind me to what was truly going on?

How long has this been going on? I and Rhett have been dating for four years. Has he been fucking my brother for that long?

Goddess, please let this be a nightmare. This has to be a nightmare. I pinched myself hard and the sting registered immediately. Reality dawned on me like a slap to the face.

Father was right all along. I was incredibly naive and stupid!

“Jesus, Roman you're so fucking tight. I don't think I can last any longer” Rhett hissed, smacking Roman’s cheeks.

“Do I make you cum faster than Aria does?” Roman asked, arching his back.

“Fuck yes! You're hot? You're perfect? You're versatile! Aria is like a statue. She can't even do the simplest thing”

My lips curved with bitter self-mockery.

I had given Rhett my virginity. I had done things I once thought were morally wrong just to please him but he dared say this about me? That I am a statue?

For a moment, I thought to bring out my phone, video the entire scene, and televise it for the entire guest to see at the party, but I shrugged. I wasn't that type of person.

I finally made my decision. My wolf, Ivory, whimpered inside me, sensing my distress but agreeing with what had to be done. I mean I couldn't pretend this didn't happen. I couldn't unsee it.

I couldn't go on with our wedding anymore. Not now. Not after I witnessed him burying his cock that was supposed to be preserved for me inside my brother's protruding asshole. Taking him back would be disgusting.

You know what else would be disgusting, going back to the party to tell my father what has happened. Sure he would hear of it, but not from me.

After a few more thrust, Roman and Rhett grunted together as they climaxed. They hadn't even noticed me even as Roman knelt on the ground and licked Rhett’s cum off his junk.

Seeing them like that made a wave of nausea crash over me.

I couldn’t watch them anymore.

“One more time before we go to the engagement party” Rhett said, fixing himself into Roman once again.

Slowly, he began to thrust into Roman again and as if finally sensing my presence, Rhett turned his neck back, coming face to face with my eyes that showed nothing but emotional detachment.

At once, colour drained from his face, and his eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost, and he pulled out from Roman in a jump start as if he had been jolted by an electric shock.

Startled by Rhett’s abrupt, unhappy ending, Roman turned, but he saw me. His face widened before he scrambled around the area, fishing for his discarded clothes, using his palm to cover his shaft, face awash with shock, however, without the slightest trace of guilt.

Despite the suffocating pain in my chest—four years of genuine affection not easily erased, I masked my feelings well, lips curved in a polite countenance. “Uhm, did I interrupt something?” I asked even though the answer was painfully obvious.

I was surprised at how calm I sounded when all I truly wanted to do was scream, cry, shout, and let my wolf out to tear them apart. Even if I did that, what would it change?

“Aria! What are you doing here?” Rhett asked. The room stank of cinnamon, sweat and sex, and every second I stood there, the threat of falling apart turned into an inevitability. I needed fresh air. Clean, untainted air.

I lifted an eyebrow at him. My voice was calm but my heart trembled as I admitted

“Oh, I was looking for my fiancée who left me alone at our engagement party,” I glanced mockingly at him, then smiled with innocent eyes at Roman, “and my brother, who was supposed to be the life of the party, only to meet them freaking off,” I said, sensing myself grow colder.

“Listen, Aria. It’s not what you think. It’s not…” Rhett tried to grab my hand but I flinched away from him. Only the goddess knew that hand had been.

“Don't you dare touch me.” The venom in my voice cut him up short. “I came looking for you because we were being called for our pre-nuptial rites, but that wouldn't be necessary anymore,” I said and slowly took off my engagement ring, holding it in my palm.

Rhett caught onto the act and his eyes widened. “Aria…baby, please don't do this. I promise this was a one-time thing. It will never happen again. It meant nothing, I swear” he pleaded with me. “I love you”

“You love me?” I chuckled, cold and bitter.

“You wouldn't recognize love even if it smacked you in the face. One shouldn't

cheat on someone they claim to love. Even if my life depended on it, I wouldn't cheat on you”

“I know, baby. I know. But please…one last chance. Let's talk it out please”

“There's nothing for us to talk about, Rhett,” I retorted.

I watched him with narrowed eyes. For the first time since I knew Rhett, he looked genuinely unsettled. His brow furrowed as he studied my face searching for the emotional, accommodating girlfriend he was used to manipulating.

“Please believe me. I never meant to hurt you. This was a silly mistake. It meant nothing. This is the first and last time”

A mistake?

“What do you mean ‘a mistake’, as if you slipped and fell onto his arms. You had him backed against the table with your cock going in and out of him and you dare call it a mistake?

As far as I could see, Roman hadn't forced himself on you. Even if he did, it would take considerable, concrete self-examination and thoughts for a person who wasn't into men to indulge in same gender sex!

This wasn't a mistake, Rhett. It was a premeditated, conscious action!” I spat bitterly, and at that moment, my eyes flicked to Roman, and funnily enough, the shock look on his face had been replaced with a smug smile, and that was all I needed to see to know that I was right.