My Alpha's Love Language Is Lying

Werewolves danced wildly around the bonfire.

Across the raucous pack, I saw Kaelen Payne suddenly stop kissing. He had sensed my call through the mind-link.

Under the moonlight, his face was clearly visible, and his expression went still.

Seeing this, the she-wolf named Lyra Tucker quickly grabbed his arm. "Who's calling you?"

Her spiritual power sensed our mind-link. She let go of his arm, her eyes reddening as she stared at him. "Kaelen! You promised you'd be mine tonight! You said you'd spend the festival with me. It was my only wish, and you agreed."

Tears welled up in her eyes, and even I felt a pang of pity. My fingertips trembled from the burning pain in my soul.

Kaelen hesitated for a few seconds, then severed our link. He cupped Lyra's face, kissed her, and murmured, "I gave you my word. I'll keep it. Don't be sad, honey."

He soothed her with a smile, yet a fraction of mind slipped back to me. His voice whispered into my mind through our private link.

"My Luna, I'm handling an emergency on the border. A band of Rogues broke the northern line. It's a mess. Let me sort it out, then I'll answer you, alright?"

I'd never doubted our mate bond. Even with his days packed from dawn to midnight, Kaelen still told me everything—who he met, which Alphas were on our side, and which kept their distance. With him, I never had to wonder or worry.

That perfect Alpha was now holding another she-wolf, whispering love to her, while feeding me lies through the mind-link. "Babe, don't be mad. It was so sudden, I didn't have time to tell you. I swear, I know I was wrong."

His calming Alpha presence rolled through the link, feeling warm and intimate. But it made my stomach turn. He was trying to soothe me with the power of the mate bond.

"Darling, forgive me this once. I love you."

A ripping pain tore through my chest. My knees nearly gave out, but a pair of strong arms caught me just in time.

The voice of my Beta, Brenna Grant, broke through the mind-link, snapping me back to reality.

I stubbornly reached out through the mind-link, demanding an answer from him.

"Kaelen, where are you?"

My vision blurred, but I still reached through the mind-link. "You swore to the Moon Goddess your soul would always be honest with me. Do you remember?"

Brenna watched as I trembled and broke down completely.

She lifted her head, spotted the couple not far away, and froze. A heartbeat later, rage flared in her eyes.

"Oh my Moon Goddess, that's Kaelen, isn't it? That's Kaelen! They're so shameless!"

Her hackles practically stood on end. She growled, ready to shift into her wolf and fight for me. "I'll rip them apart!"

I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

She stared at me in confusion as I shook my head, my eyes reddening.

Kaelen's brow furrowed in hesitation before he closed our mind-link, and I felt my heart sink.

"Don't."

The word scraped out of me. Tears splashed onto Brenna's hand as I gripped her tighter. "Don't go!"

Fireworks burst to their highest arc. Lyra looped her arms around Kaelen's neck and kissed him under a thousand sparks.

Pain clenched my heart like a fist, and every breath felt like dragging air through glass. Still, I forced the words out to Brenna.

"I want to know…" The calm I'd been clinging to shattered. "I want to know how far they've gone. I want to know who I lost to."

Kaelen and I had been mates for three years. We'd known each other for seven years.

Everyone said a werewolf's mate bond couldn't be broken. But even love blessed by the Moon Goddess could wear thin under the grind of time.

I thought we'd be the exception. But it turned out we weren't.

I followed Kaelen from the end of the festival until he left.

He kept splitting his mind, checking on me through the mind-link again and again.