Chapter 3

Serena's POV

"We're here to see Liliana Rosemary."

Even her name sounded gentle and sweet, it didn't match the conniving image that was her.

My mother-in-law grabbed my arm again leading me from the receptionist counter after we had been told where to find Lillian

My mate's mistress

It was such a putrid thought in my mind. When my mother-in-law Belinda wanted to drag me here my first instinct was to yell at her and command her to leave my presence with my lunar aura if I had to.

But morbid curiosity took over, I allowed her to drag me here while she swung the basket filled with sweets and treats.

Invisible shreds that tightened my chest kept coming when I saw it.

In all the years I have known her she has never done something so thoughtful for me.

Several times I had collapsed from the sheer weight of carrying the pack on my back, she had not so much as given me a generic get well card or even come to see me. In fact she would avoid me as if I carried some horrid contagious plague but when I recovered she was quick to load me back with work making a million excuses why she couldn't be there for me.

She saw me staring and tucked the basket away from my sight, muttering something under her breath.

We reached the wardroom and before entering she glanced back at me.

"Remember Serena's behavior , for now you are still Luna and you should act like it."

For now? I took a sharp breath saving my retort.

She walked in first, "Liliana!" She called out her name with a glee that had never been directed at me.

I came in after, she had Liliana wrapped in her arms and on the other side of the hospital bed was my mate Caden cautioning her.

"Reel it back, Mother, Liliana is still tired."

His mother pouted, "this is my first time meeting her, can't I show her my excitement?"

I was completely forgotten even as I stood in the middle of the room.

Humiliation that was already coursing through my veins intensified when she was the one to acknowledge me first.

"Luna Serena it's nice to finally meet you," her eyes perked with this wicked glint she quickly hid away afterwards, "I'm sorry, this isn't our first time meeting, is it?"

I marched forward, having enough of this disrespect.

I froze in my steps before Cadens stood between us, blocking my view completely but I had seen enough.

"Caden, that girl she-"

He grabbed my arm, herding me out of the ward room before I could finish my sentence. He finally stuck when we were in the waiting lounge and I yanked my arm away.

"Have you lost your mind?" I screamed, "that's a child!"

Under the harsh hospital lights I got a good look at the girl other than the scars I could see on her arms and some on her face. She looked too soft, edges that should have naturally sharpened on her body with age didn't, because she wasn't that age.

We were in our early thirties and he was messing around with a teenager.

His whole body went stiff, dragging his palm over his face like I was the one being impossible.

"She's not a child, she just turned 21," he said in full defense.

I had been running the pack finances for 3 years so the math clicked in my head immediately.

"She was 18 when you met her?" I said

He sighed; "Yes, eighteen and she's mature for a girl her age. She understands how the world works without being frigid and jaded like someone I know,"

His pointed comment hit me like a stab to the chest, all the feelings I had cried out last night were bubbling back up.

"Is that why you betrayed me?" My wolf was crying within me as I spoke, "is that why you threw away everything we had?"

As an Alpha's daughter I always knew that I was more of a pawn than a person, that one day I'd be shipped off to the man with the heaviest pockets.

I managed to dodge and escape for years but at 25 years old my father gave me a choice, either I was mated or disowned.

On my moon shifting anniversary he invited all the eligible bachelors, I wafted past them like a ghost waiting for the night to be over then I locked eyes with him

Caden Thornblood.

Tall, domineering and tactical.

He didn't throw himself all over me like the other men, confident that his energy was enough to reel me in.

He was right.

Before midnight he had me in bed, he was my first and it was a bit awkward but ultimately I chalked it as the best night of my life.

Until every other night became a variation of my first, the only difference was that it got worse.

More pain and less pleasure.

"Serena you are many things but you are not a fool surely you saw this coming, not only where you are incapable of giving me an heir but you couldn't even satisfy me in bed... "He took a deep breath looking directly into my now teary face as he continued.

"It's not like I jumped head first into an affair the moment I left, but Liliana was special I knew from the moment I rescued her from some enemy warriors." He took a long pause, "she is my mate Serena, my fated mate."

My jaw hit the floor, finding your fated mate was a rarity these days. Most people just settled on chosen mates.

I was gobsmacked, unable to and he saw that as an invitation to continue tearing my heart to shreds.

"I tried to resist her, I really did." He said that it was supposed to make me feel better.

"But it had been so long since I had been satisfied in bed. I thought I'd keep her with me to keep my morale up but it became something more," he let out a defeated sigh, "Serena, I'm in love with her.”