002

Chapter 2

The music cut off so fast the silence felt violent. Every head in the room turned to me at once. Laughter rippled through the crowd, aimed straight at the bouquet still clutched in my white-knuckled fists.

"Don't even call Kieran your boyfriend, let alone your mate," someone sneered from behind me. "He only wanted one thing from you, and he already got it. You really thought he loved you this whole time? Even if the bond's real, he'll still reject you."

The room exploded with laughter, cruel and delighted. Only Finn stayed quiet, his jaw working like he wanted to say something and couldn't find the nerve.

"He's already moved on to the Beta's daughter," another voice chimed in, gleeful.

The words hit like a fist. My stomach dropped straight through the floor. My knees buckled. Tears flooded my eyes before I could blink them back.

Shame burned so hot I couldn't lift my head. This had to be a joke. A cruel, elaborate, unforgivable joke.

Somewhere near the cake, a boy I didn't recognize was already filming me on his phone, grinning like this was the best thing that had happened at the party all night. I turned away before I could see whether he'd caught the tears.

It had started with a party I was never invited to. Then the second I'd said the word mate, Finn's face had gone slack with shock and pity — like he genuinely couldn't believe I still didn't know.

I stood there, completely lost, drowning in a room full of strangers who all seemed to know something I didn't.

"She's actually pathetic," someone muttered nearby. "Thinking Kieran wanted her for real."

The whole night felt like a fever dream I couldn't wake from.

"Better put those flowers down," a girl called out, laughing, "or he'll throw them right back in your face."

I didn't turn to see who'd said it. I couldn't take one more second of their jeering, their pity, the way they looked at me like I was nothing at all.

I bolted for the stairs, taking them two at a time, desperate to reach Kieran's room and force the truth out of him myself. Their laughter chased me the whole way up, cracking something open in my chest, but I refused — refused — to believe any of it.

The fact that he'd thrown a party without telling me only made their words weigh heavier with every step. Please. Please let it be a lie.

I blinked hard, fighting tears, clinging to the last scrap of hope I had left. Even Ember trembled inside me, dread coiling tight.

When I reached his door, my hand froze on the knob. Normally I'd have walked straight in without knocking. Now I could barely make myself touch it.

My eyes dropped to the roses in my grip. The cruel words from downstairs echoed again, louder this time. Pain sliced through me so sharp I started crying without a sound.

A soft, unfamiliar voice drifted from behind the door. I couldn't wait one more second. I shoved it open, needing to see the truth with my own eyes no matter what it cost me.

It stopped me cold.

Kieran and a girl I'd never seen before were tangled together on the bed, mouths locked, bodies pressed so close there was no space left between them. His arms banded tight around her waist. Her fingers were buried in his hair. They moved like they couldn't get close enough, soft moans and breathless sounds filling the room and cutting straight through me.

Tears spilled down my cheeks as I watched his hands roam over her, touching her with the same tenderness he'd once shown only me.

My chest caved in on itself. I bit down hard on my lip to keep from sobbing out loud.

Who was she? How had she taken him so easily? What did she have that I didn't?

They were completely lost in each other, oblivious to the fact that I was standing there watching my entire world collapse in real time.

I wanted to disappear. I wanted this to be nothing more than a nightmare I'd wake up from, safe in my own bed. In that moment I hated myself for ever deciding to surprise him.

I had given him everything — my heart, my first time, my future — and he was already tangled up with somebody else like none of it had ever mattered.

The realization sliced through me like a blade twisting deeper with every second I stood there.

Somewhere behind me, the girl laughed at something Kieran murmured against her hair, low and private, the exact tone he used to save just for me. That sound alone nearly buckled my legs all over again.

I turned and fled down the hallway, heels striking the tile in rapid, frantic beats loud enough to draw every eye in the living room below. Kieran's friends, still riding the high of the party, started whispering and snickering the moment they saw my face.

What the hell had made me come here tonight?

Tears kept falling. I ignored every single one of them and pushed straight for the front door, desperate to get out before I fell apart completely in front of a room full of strangers.

Just as I reached it, Finn's hand closed around my wrist, stopping me so suddenly I stumbled and nearly collapsed into him.

"What happened?" he asked, urgent.

I ripped my arm free, shaking so hard my teeth chattered.

I couldn't look at him. I couldn't look at any of them. They all already knew. My mate was upstairs with another girl, and every single person in this house had known before I walked through the door.

"Just let me go, Finn!" My vision blurred with fresh tears.

"You saw them, didn't you?"

"I tried to stop you from —"

"Let me go!" My voice cracked wide open.

Someone in the crowd laughed. "Wow, she really thought she had a chance with the Alpha. What did he even do to her?"

The words shattered what little composure I had left.

"Lyra, please. Just breathe. I can explain everything," Finn begged, hands raised like he was trying to calm a spooked animal.

But the frustration and pain had already boiled over, hot and violent in my throat.

"How could you keep this from me?" I demanded, voice shaking so hard I barely recognized it. "How long have you all been lying to my face?"

The memory of what I'd just seen replayed on a loop behind my eyes, pain radiating through my chest with every beat. I never would have believed Kieran capable of this. Not in a hundred years.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Finn released me instantly and stepped back, leaving me standing alone in the middle of the entryway.

My gaze snapped up.

Kieran was coming down the staircase hand-in-hand with the same girl, moving with slow, infuriating confidence, completely unbothered by any of it. My heart hammered so hard I thought it might tear free from my ribs. I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

When they reached the bottom, he walked straight toward me until only a few inches separated us.

"Lyra?" he said, flashing that familiar bright smile — the one that used to make my knees weak.

The smile vanished the instant he actually looked at my face.

"What are you doing here? When did you get back? Why didn't you tell me?"

His voice had gone cold. Flat. Like I was an inconvenience he hadn't planned for.

I forced the words out through a throat gone tight with rage and heartbreak.

"So you wanted a warning first? So you could pretend nothing was going on and act innocent when I showed up? Is that it?"

I couldn't bring myself to look at the girl beside him. I didn't think I ever would again.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, a mocking little smirk tugging at his mouth. "What exactly are you accusing me of?"

Tears streamed down my face as I shouted, "Don't insult me with lies! I saw you! I saw everything you were doing in that room. You know exactly what I'm talking about!"

Kieran's expression went completely blank — the kind of blank that was worse than anger.

"Lyra," he said flatly, without a trace of emotion. "She is my second mate."

For a moment nobody in the entryway moved. Even the girl beside him went still, watching me with something that might have almost been pity if her mouth hadn't been curved in the faintest smile.

Behind them, Finn dragged a hand down his face and looked awa

y entirely, like he couldn't stand to watch whatever came next.