Chapter 25

My Cheating Mate

Emma pov

Day two of the trial, and the pack house meeting room was even more crowded than yesterday. Word had spread about the testimony, about the details of Jeremy's affair and Vanessa's crimes. Everyone wanted to witness the future Alpha's public reckoning.

I sat in the front row next to my father, my hands clenched in my lap. Yesterday had been my testimony—showing the video, recounting what I'd overheard, describing the rogue attack at the motel. Reliving every moment of my humiliation in front of hundreds of pack members.

The looks I'd gotten afterward ranged from pity to respect to judgment. Some thought I was weak for still caring about Jeremy. Others thought I was strong for staying. Most just seemed uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Today was Jeremy's turn.

He walked to the witness stand slowly, his movements still careful from his injuries. He'd been discharged from the hospital three days ago, against Dr. Reeves's recommendation, specifically so he could testify. But he looked terrible—pale, drawn, dark circles under his eyes that suggested he wasn't sleeping.

Or that his wounds were bothering him more than he was letting on.

Alpha Richard, presiding over the trial in his official capacity, nodded for Jeremy to begin. "Please state your relationship with the defendant, Vanessa Quinn."

Jeremy's voice was steady but quiet. "We were friends since childhood. When I turned eighteen, we became involved romantically. That relationship continued until I mated Emma six months later."

"And after you mated Emma Smith?"

A pause. Jeremy's jaw clenched. "The relationship with Vanessa continued. We had an affair that lasted the entire six months of my mating."

Gasps and whispers rippled through the crowd. Even though my testimony yesterday had covered this, hearing it from Jeremy's own mouth made it real in a different way.

"Did your mate know about this affair?"

"No. Not until she walked in on us." Jeremy's voice cracked slightly. "She came to bring me lunch at my office. Found Vanessa and me—" He stopped, unable or unwilling to continue that sentence. "She witnessed the affair firsthand."

Vanessa sat in the defendant's box, shackled and under guard, but her expression was anything but repentant. She looked almost gleeful, watching Jeremy destroy himself with the truth.

"After Emma discovered the affair, what happened?" Alpha Richard continued.

"She left pack lands. I didn't know where she'd gone. I hired a private investigator to find her." Jeremy swayed slightly on the stand. Was he okay? "When I located her, rogues attacked. Four of them, organized and well-trained. They were trying to kill Emma."

"And what evidence did you have that Ms. Quinn was responsible for hiring these rogues?"

"She called me after the attack. She was—" Jeremy paused, his face going a shade paler. "She was angry that I'd gone after Emma. During the phone call, she made references to the rogues, to the attack. Said things that made it clear she knew about it before I mentioned it."

"Can you be more specific?"

Jeremy recited the conversation, Vanessa's words damning her with each sentence. The pack listened in horrified silence as he described how she'd tried to have Emma killed.

Then came the harder questions. The council members took turns interrogating him about the affair—how long, how many times, whether he'd planned to reject Emma, what he'd promised Vanessa.

Each answer was like watching Jeremy flay himself alive. He held nothing back, admitted everything, took full responsibility for his choices.

And he was getting progressively paler.

"Are you feeling alright, son?" Alpha Richard asked, concern bleeding through his official demeanor.

"I'm fine," Jeremy said, but his hand gripped the edge of the witness stand like it was the only thing keeping him upright.

"Let's take a brief recess—"

"No. I need to finish this." Jeremy straightened, though the effort clearly cost him. "Vanessa Quinn hired rogues to attack my mate. When that failed, she recruited more rogues and led an assault on pack lands that killed seven of our wolves and injured dozens more. She did this because I refused to reject Emma and mate with her instead."

"That's not true!" Vanessa's voice rang out from the defendant's box. "Tell them the truth, Jeremy! Tell them you promised to be with me! Tell them you never loved her!"

"Quiet," one of the guards ordered, but Vanessa ignored him.

"We were supposed to be together! You said you'd get rid of her! You said—"

"I said a lot of things I shouldn't have," Jeremy cut her off, his voice stronger now despite his obvious physical distress. "I made promises I had no right to make. I treated my mate like garbage because I was too selfish to honor the bond the Moon Goddess gave me. And you—" he turned to look at Vanessa directly, "—you took advantage of that selfishness. Manipulated it. Used it to justify murder."

"I loved you!" Vanessa screamed. "Everything I did was because I loved you!"

"That wasn't love," Jeremy said, and something in his voice made the entire room fall silent. "Love doesn't hire assassins. Love doesn't attack innocent people. Love doesn't—"

He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes going unfocused. His hand slipped from the edge of the witness stand.

"Jeremy?" Alpha Richard stood.

Jeremy's knees buckled.

I was moving before I consciously decided to, racing toward the stand. My father and several guards beat me there, catching Jeremy before he hit the ground.

"Get Dr. Reeves!" someone shouted.

They lowered Jeremy to the floor carefully. His shirt was dark with something—blood? But from where?

My father pulled back Jeremy's jacket and cursed. "His wounds reopened. He's bleeding through the bandages."

"He shouldn't have been out of the hospital," I said, my voice shaking with fury and fear. "Dr. Reeves said he needed another week at least."

"He insisted," Alpha Richard said, kneeling beside his son. "Said he needed to testify."

And from the defendant's box, Vanessa's laughter rang out. High, manic, vicious.

"Look at him!" she cackled. "The mighty future Alpha, bleeding out on the floor! Is she worth it, Jeremy? Is your precious mate worth dying for?"

The guards moved to silence her, but her laughter continued, echoing off the walls.

I dropped to my knees beside Jeremy, taking his hand. His eyes were half-open, glazed with pain and blood loss.

"Stay with me," I commanded. "Jeremy, stay with me."

"Emma," he whispered. "Did I... did I finish?"

"Yes, you finished. You told them everything. Now stop talking and save your strength."

Dr. Reeves burst through the door with her medical bag. "Everyone back! Give me room!"

But I didn't move. Couldn't move. Just held Jeremy's hand while the doctor worked to stop the bleeding, while Vanessa's laughter finally died down to bitter silence, while the pack watched their future Alpha fight to stay conscious.

"I'm sorry," Jeremy whispered, his eyes finding mine. "For all of it. Emma, I'm—"

"Shut up," I said, tears streaming down my face. "Save your apologies. Just don't you dare die on me. Not now. Not when we're finally being honest."

His hand squeezed mine weakly. "Not dying. Just... tired."

"Then rest. But come back. You hear me? Come back."

His eyes drifted closed.

"Jeremy!" I shook him, panic clawing at my chest. "Jeremy, no! Stay awake!"

"He's lost consciousness," Dr. Reeves said, her hands moving quickly to pack his wounds. "I need to get him to the hospital. Now. Someone call an ambulance."

"No time," my father said. He scooped Jeremy up like he weighed nothing. "I'll drive. Emma, you're with me."

I followed in a daze, vaguely aware of Alpha Richard calling for a continuation of the trial, of Vanessa's guards dragging her back to holding while she screamed about Jeremy getting what he deserved.

In the car, I held Jeremy's head in my lap while my father drove like hell toward the hospital. Blood soaked through the makeshift bandages Dr. Reeves had applied, warm and terrifying against my hands.

"Why did he do this?" I asked, my voice breaking. "Why did he push himself so hard?"

"Because he needed you to see," my father said, his eyes on the road but his voice gentle. "Needed the pack to see. That he was taking responsibility, no matter what it cost him."

"It's going to cost him his life if he doesn't stop being an idiot," I said, pressing harder on his wounds to slow the bleeding.

Jeremy's eyes fluttered open briefly. "Worth it," he mumbled. "You're worth... everything."

Then his eyes closed again, and no amount of calling his name would make them open.

"Drive faster, Dad," I said, terror making my voice sharp.

"Already am, baby girl."

We screeched into the hospital entrance. Orderlies were already waiting—someone must have called ahead. They took Jeremy from my arms, loaded him onto a gurney, and raced him inside.

I tried to follow, but a nurse stopped me gently. "Let them work. You can't help him in there."

So I stood in the emergency entrance, covered in Jeremy's blood, shaking with adrenaline and fear, and watched the doors close between us.

He'd testified. Had told the truth even though it destroyed him. Had stood up in front of the entire pack and taken responsibility for everything.

And Vanessa had laughed. Had mocked him for bleeding, for suffering, for nearly dying.

Whatever sympathy I might have had for her—whatever small part of me that had wondered if she'd been manipulated too—it died in that moment.

She didn't deserve mercy.

She deserved exactly what Jeremy had said.

Death.

And I would make sure she got it.

But first, I needed Jeremy to survive.

Because I wasn't ready to say goodbye.

Not now. Not ever.

Please, Moon Goddess, I prayed silently. Please let him be okay.

I can't lose him. Not like this.

Not when we were finally finding our way back to each other.