Chapter 14

My Cheating Mate

Jeremy pov

I sat in my car down the street from Beta Marcus's house, watching the door Emma had just closed. The finality of it felt like a physical blow—like watching the last chance I'd ever have with her disappear behind wood and paint.

My wolf howled in my head, a sound of pure anguish that made my chest tighten until I could barely breathe.

We'd lost her. Really, truly lost her.

And it was entirely our fault.

I pulled out my phone and stared at the screen, not really seeing it. My hands were shaking. From blood loss, exhaustion, or fear—probably all three.

What had I done? What the fuck had I done?

For the first time since this whole nightmare started, I let myself really think about it. Really consider the magnitude of my betrayal.

I'd cheated on my mate. Not a girlfriend, not a casual relationship—my fated mate, the one person the Moon Goddess had chosen for me. The bond was supposed to be sacred, unbreakable, the foundation of pack society and wolf culture.

And I'd treated it like it was nothing. Like Emma was nothing.

I thought about all the times she'd tried to talk to me about Vanessa. The careful, hesitant way she'd bring up her discomfort. The hurt in her eyes when I'd dismissed her concerns, told her she was being paranoid, made her feel crazy for trusting her instincts.

*"She's just teasing, Em. Don't be so sensitive."*

*"Why can't you be more understanding?"*

*"I can't cut her out of my life because you're insecure."*

I'd gaslit her. Systematically made her doubt her own perceptions, her own reality, because acknowledging the truth would have meant admitting what I was doing.

And the plan. God, the plan to use her as a broodmare and then discard her.

My stomach turned. Had I really been that callous? That cruel?

Yes. The answer was yes, and there was no justifying it, no excuse that made it acceptable.

Emma had baked me cookies. Had been coming to surprise me at work with homemade treats because she loved me, wanted to make me happy.

And she'd walked in on me fucking another woman.

The image made me want to vomit. I tried to picture it from her perspective—the shock, the devastation, the complete shattering of everything she'd believed about us.

And then she'd heard us talking. Heard me say I never loved her. Heard our plans to use her.

How had she even made it out of that building? How had she kept it together long enough to pack, to run, to survive alone for a week?

*"She's not weak—that's strength I was too blind to see."*

The words I'd said to Vanessa were true. Emma was strong. Stronger than I'd ever given her credit for. Stronger than I deserved.

Movement at Marcus's front door caught my attention. The Beta emerged, his face like thunder, and started walking toward my car with purposeful strides.

This was it. The reckoning I'd been dreading.

I got out of the car, standing in the street like a condemned man facing execution. Maybe that's what I was.

Marcus stopped three feet away from me. For a long moment, he just stared, his eyes flickering between brown and wolf-gold as he fought for control.

"Give me one reason," he said finally, his voice deadly quiet. "One reason why I shouldn't rip your throat out right now."

"I don't have one, sir." The words came out steady, resigned. "I deserve whatever you want to do to me."

"You're damn right you do." Marcus stepped closer, and I could feel the dominance rolling off him in waves. Beta might be second to Alpha, but Marcus was old, powerful, and currently furious enough to take on an entire pack. "My daughter just showed me a video, Jeremy. Do you know what was in that video?"

My blood ran cold. "Yes, sir."

"She watched you fuck another woman. Heard you planning to use her and throw her away." His voice cracked slightly. "She came to bring you cookies, and you broke her heart."

The pain in his voice—a father's anguish for his daughter's suffering—made something crack inside me. "I know. I'm so sorry. I—"

"Sorry?" Marcus laughed, but there was no humor in it. "You're sorry? My daughter has been hiding in a motel three states away, crying herself to sleep every night, because her mate betrayed her in the worst possible way. And you're sorry?"

"I know sorry isn't enough. I know nothing I say can fix what I did. But Marcus, I—"

"Beta Marcus," he corrected coldly. "You lost the right to use my first name when you decided to cheat on my daughter."

"Beta Marcus," I amended, bowing my head in submission. "You're right. About all of it. I was selfish and cruel and I threw away the best thing that ever happened to me because I was too stupid to see what I had."

"And now? Now that you've lost her, now you realize what you had?" He shook his head in disgust. "That's not regret, boy. That's just fear of consequences."

Was he right? Was I only sorry because I'd been caught, because Emma had left, because I was facing the loss of everything?

No. The realization settled in my chest with surprising clarity. I was sorry because I'd hurt her. Because I'd seen the devastation in her eyes, heard the pain in her voice, felt the way she'd blocked me out of the mate bond like I was poison.

I was sorry because Emma deserved so much better than what I'd given her.

"I love her," I said quietly, surprising myself with the truth of it. "I know I have no right to say that after what I did. I know I never showed it, never acted like it. But watching those rogues come after her, seeing her fight, talking to her—I realized I love her. And I've loved her for a while. I was just too fucked up to admit it."

Marcus stared at me for a long moment. "You love her."

"Yes, sir."

"Do you have any idea how pathetic that sounds? You love her, but you spent six months fucking Vanessa behind her back?" He stepped even closer, his wolf in his eyes now. "You don't get to love her, Jeremy. You don't get to decide you want her now that she's gone. That's not how this works."

"I know. And I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm not asking for another chance. I just—" I met his eyes, letting him see the truth. "I just want her to be safe. To be happy. Even if that means being without me."

"Noble words. Too bad they come too late." Marcus's fist connected with my jaw before I could react, sending me sprawling to the pavement.

I didn't fight back. Didn't defend myself. Just lay there, tasting blood, while the Beta stood over me.

"That," he said coldly, "was from me. Emma's planning her own revenge, and trust me, it's going to hurt a lot worse than a punch." He turned to walk away, then paused. "Oh, and Jeremy? Vanessa's been making threats. Against Emma. Against pack stability. Your father's put out a warrant for her arrest. She's to be brought in for questioning about hiring rogues to attack a pack member."

My head spun. "What? When?"

"About an hour ago. Seems the guards at your house found some interesting evidence—communications with known rogue contacts, money transfers. She's been busy." Marcus looked back at me with cold satisfaction. "Your mistress is going down, boy. And she's probably going to take you with her."

He walked back to his house, leaving me lying in the street, bleeding from a split lip and contemplating the complete destruction of my life.

My phone buzzed. A text from my father: "Emergency pack meeting. Tonight. 8 PM. Your presence is required."

Another text, this one from the pack's head enforcer: "Vanessa Quinn has fled pack lands. Considered dangerous. If you have information about her whereabouts, report immediately."

Vanessa had run. Of course she had. She knew the evidence would damn her, knew the consequences for hiring rogues to attack a pack member—especially the future Luna.

I pulled myself up off the pavement and got back in my car. My face throbbed where Marcus had hit me, but I welcomed the pain. It was nothing compared to what I'd put Emma through.

Tonight's pack meeting was going to be a disaster. My father would have to address my affair, Emma's disappearance, Vanessa's crimes. The pack would demand answers.

And Emma would probably stand up and show everyone that video.

I was going to lose everything. The respect of the pack. My position as future Alpha. Possibly my place in the pack entirely, depending on how severe the council decided my punishment should be.

All because I'd been too selfish, too arrogant, too blind to see what I had until it was gone.

I looked up at Marcus's house one more time. Emma was in there somewhere, probably planning exactly how she was going to destroy me at tonight's meeting.

And I was going to let her. Was going to stand there and take whatever she threw at me, accept whatever punishment the pack deemed appropriate.

It was the least I could do.

The only thing I could do.

I started the car and drove toward my empty house—the one Emma should have been in, the one that still smelled like her vanilla and honey scent even though she'd been gone for a week.

The house that would probably never be hers again.

I'd lost her. And I had no one to blame but myself.

My wolf howled again, and this time, I let the sound tear from my throat.

A howl of grief, of regret, of profound and irreversible loss.

The sound of a mate who'd destroyed his own bond and now had to live with the consequences.