Chapter 3

My hands shook as I stared at the picture.

She was sleeping on his chest, her pregnant tummy on his body.

His eyes were closed, but hers were open.

She was looking directly at the camera.

Smirking.

I was still trying to process this when she sent me another message.

A text this time.

“Don’t frown too much, Cara. He came back to the woman he wanted first.”

Anger surged in my chest at the audacity of this woman.

I furiously typed a reply, “What did you do to him?”

Her answer came immediately.

“Nothing he didn't want or enjoy, little Omega.”

I rolled my eyes, "You're a liar. This mate bond is real and I'm sure you will regret this soon!"

She sent laughing emojis back.

"You're so gullible it's boring doing this. But fine, I'll clear up your doubt. Go and check the wedding ring he gave you on your mating day. Our initials are written inside.”

I threw the phone onto the bed, my eyes blurring with tears.

No.

She was lying.

She had to be.

Antonio had loved me for five years. He had defended me when everyone called me useless. He had stayed beside me after every failed attempt to have a child.

She’s trying to use my emotions to destroy the great love we have; why else would she send me this? 

Desperate to prove her wrong, I went to the wardrobe where the servants had dumped some of my belongings.

Antonio's mating ring had been mixed with my jewellery so I picked it up.

He rarely wore it because shifting damaged metal, but he had placed it on his finger during our mating ceremony.

I turned it under the light, my heart beating loudly.

To my dismay, two letters were carved inside.

A & A.

Aliya and Antonio.

Two people who should have never been together in any way but right now are lying together in one bed, naked, and now, their initials are engraved on his wedding ring.

A gasp of pain escaped my dried lips.

My mind went back to the first time he looked my way, during that summer I turned eighteen.

I’d been nobody in this Pack before then but he noticed and spoke to me.

But I remembered it was also the night Aliya and Damian sealed their bond.

It also occurred to me that Antonio had been quite drunk.

Did this mean that everything he was confessing to me wasn't actually meant for me but... her?

Am I a second choice to my mate?

No.

I can't let her lies and deception get to me. I won’t let Aliya win.

The door opened early the next morning, I don’t know how I slept but the door opened and Antonio walked into the guest room as though nothing had happened.

He was wearing yesterday's trousers and a clean shirt.

So the picture wasn’t fake.

"Why are you here?" I asked, my eyes narrowed at him.

"This is my Pack house,” he deadpanned.

"You know what I mean, Antonio," I grunted.

He noticed the phone and ring on the bed.

His expression changed slightly.

"What is it this time?” he exhaled sharply.

I got out of bed, picking up the phone. I swiped it open and put the image in his face.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“Cara…”

"Did you sleep with her? Did you defile our bed, sleeping with your dead brother’s mate?!”

He only looked away, not a word offered in defence.

"Answer me!” I snarled, my hands and voice shaking.

His jaw tightened, “We were both grieving."

My heart stopped, the admission slamming into my head.

"So you did it."

He blinked and turned to me, grabbing my shoulder.

"Don’t overthink this baby, what happened last night changes nothing between us."

I stared at him in horror.

"Are you crazy? You slept with your brother's mate in our bed and you want the world to just continue flowing?”

"Lower your voice,” he growled, his Alpha aura seeping out again.

But I was too distraught to care.

"Why? Are you worried someone will hear the truth?"

"I'm worried you will humiliate yourself."

"I'm humiliating myself?"

"Yes, you’re clearly overreacting; you make it sound like one night spent comforting my brother’s mate is the end of the world."

I picked up the ring and threw it at his chest.

"Fine, explain that! Was this made for her?"

He caught it and looked at the initials.

"It was made a long time ago."

"For Aliya?"

"Yes,” he muttered.

The answer came without shame.

"She was supposed to choose me," he continued. "Then Damian was named future Alpha, and she chose him instead."

"So I was what you settled for."

"You were my mate,” he shrugged.

"That isn't an answer, you can’t just sweep this aside.”

"It is the only answer that matters. We have to move on Cara. No more digging into the past.”

Tears burned my eyes, my world was crumbling before me and I couldn’t stop it.

"Did you ever love me?" I whispered.

His expression hardened, "You have been beside me for five years. If you still need me to prove your place every time another woman enters the room, that insecurity is yours."

"You slept with her!"

"I made one mistake after watching my brother die, that’s all it was!”

"A mistake is you wearing the wrong outfit, not fucking another woman! As though that wasn’t painful enough, you also marked her?"

For the first time, he looked surprised.

"What are you talking about?"

The door opened.

Aliya entered wearing only a robe.

There were dark marks across her chest and shoulders.

And between her neck and shoulder was a fresh bite, just like in that picture.

"This," I shouted, pointing at the mark. 

Aliya touched it and smiled.

"Antonio wanted everyone to know I was under his protection."

Antonio rubbed his forehead.

"Aliya, you should be resting."

He wasn't angry with her.

He wasn't even ashamed.

"You’re not even denying it. You really did mark her," I gasped.

"She was distressed,” he said flippantly.

"So you put your teeth into her neck?"

"It is not a full mate mark. Stop acting as if I rejected you."

"You think that makes this better? You might as well have!"

Aliya grabbed his arm.

"Daddy, the pups are moving again. It hurts."

Antonio immediately turned to her, ignoring my anguish.

"Let's get you back to bed."

In a last dash of desperation, I took the pregnancy report from beneath my pillow.

"Antonio, wait. I have to show you this.”

"Not now, Cara,” he growled, like my voice was irritating him.

"You said that yesterday."

"Because every problem does not become more important just because it belongs to you."

Then he left with her, and I crumpled to the ground.

I looked down at the report in my hand, my head racing with thoughts that tore me to bits.

No, this cannot be happening.

Aliya came here because she knows if we have a proper conversation, he’ll come back to his senses.

So I got back on my feet, grabbing the file tighter.

I would make him listen.

I would put the proof in front of his face and ask him one final time whether our family mattered to him.

So I followed them to the Alpha wing.

When I reached the stairs, Aliya was waiting for me with that smirk on her face.

Alone.