Chapter 3

I sat on the slope facing the cabin, watching Kaelen and Lyra framed in the window. My mind drifted back to what he told me just two weeks ago.

"Something just happened at the mine our pack's been monitoring. I might not make it back in time for the festival."

Kaelen, who was usually so clingy, wore a look of regret. "Babe, you're going to the festival alone. I've never missed one. It just doesn't feel right."

I'd thought he truly felt guilty. I kissed him, smiling as I said, "It's alright. We've got plenty of time. As long as you want it, we can sneak away anytime for just the two of us."

The surprise I had prepared for Kaelen now served as a private hideaway for him and Lyra, as they tangled in the hot spring he'd once told me about.

When Brenna came back with the parchment, she turned my face away. "Don't look. It'll stain your soul."

She placed the parchment in front of me. "Look at this instead. It'll clear your head."

Lyra's portrait was drawn on the parchment. She was a newly promoted Gamma warrior who had met Kaelen during a Rogue sweep.

"She went after him," Brenna said, tapping the dossier. "There's a memory crystal. Watch it and you'll understand."

She placed the crystal in my palm. I poured power into it, and a scene unfolded—it was our anniversary last year. The pack's energy barrier had suddenly become unstable. Kaelen claimed he needed to repair it.

However, the patrol team's memory crystal had accidentally captured him and Lyra fooling around in my garden. Their breathless moans were tangled with Lyra's whispers.

"Kaelen, look closely. This is a blood oath sigil. Only top-tier warriors earn it. I'm not some Omega you can just toy with."

Lyra leaned over his shoulder and used a claw to carve a shallow mark across his chest, mirroring the sigil on her own. "I'm not a she-wolf you can buy off with resources. What I want is to be your only mate."

The scene was cut off.

I remembered the night Kaelen came back from fixing the barrier. He looked more worn than usual. I asked if something had happened, but he didn't answer. Instead, he pushed me down onto the bed and took me again and again.

When I was breathless and dazed, he guided my fingers across his chest.

The next morning, I saw the fresh claw mark on his chest and assumed I'd scratched him in the heat of the moment. I even felt guilty and sorry for him.

Kaelen just smiled, pinched my cheek, and said, "Every mark my little moon leaves is a badge of love."

It turned out it wasn't my mark at all. It was another she-wolf's challenge and claim.

Their secret affair had already begun long before I even realized it. So, all those excuses about pack duties were lies. He had actually been spending time with another she-wolf for the past year. Even the extra care he gave me was nothing but guilt after cheating.

It felt like my soul was torn apart. I watched the mate bond I had fought so hard to protect fall apart before my eyes. The love I was once so sure of had turned into a hollow ache, and my whole life felt like a cruel joke.

Sometimes, in the dead of night, I wondered if Kaelen ever laughed behind my back, amused by how easily he kept me wrapped around his finger.

As I stared at the tangled bodies in the cabin, I heard Brenna's voice beside me. "Just give the order, and I'll take a team in immediately. We'll drag them straight to the elders!"

I caught my reflection in Brenna's eyes, like a faint spark in the darkness I'd been drowning in. I held on to it as the realization finally sank in.

"I only want Kaelen and that bitch to pay the price," I said, looking her in the eye.

That night, Brenna and I sat on the hillside and snapped a photo with the cabin in the background. I posted it to my feed with the caption, "Thank you for being by my side all these ten years. You've always been there for me."

Right after Brenna hit the like button, Kaelen started reaching out to me through the mind-link.

I ignored it at first, watching him pace restlessly in front of the window. When he tried again, I finally answered.