2. Escape the Truth

Everything around me twisted and blurred, like I'd fallen underwater. When he moaned her name, the room pivoted, and everything came back into harsh focus. Cast's hands on her sweaty skin, Selena's fingers twisted in his wet hair.

They'd obviously been at it for some time. No wonder neither responded to my texts.  

The agony was immediate and sharper than I'd thought possible.

I looked down at the small box in my hand. The pregnancy test I'd planned to show him, the future I thought we'd share, felt like a bomb now.

"Why?" I barely recognized my voice as I threw it at them. The box hit him square in the chest. His head snapped up, and his eyes shot open. The test tumbled out and landed on his bare skin between them.

The room went dead silent. They both froze with their eyes locked on the test like it was about to detonate. I took a single step back and turned toward the door. I didn't have a plan. I just knew I needed to get out and breathe. 

But the deep, commanding Alpha tone in Cast's voice made me freeze. "Lila, don't move."

I hated how I stopped, hated how he could still control me like that. 

He pushed Selena off and yanked his pants up. I kept my back to him as he moved toward me with that same dark resolve I'd once trusted. He reached past me and clicked the lock on the door, sealing us all in his office.

I wanted to gag. He smelled like sex. Like... her. 

"You don't get to leave like this," he said as he pushed between me and the door. 

His voice dropped, lower than I'd ever heard. "We're talking about this."

"Talking?" I barely recognized my own voice either. "Is that what you were doing with her? My best friend, Cast? My best friend!" 

My husband. My mate. My fated mate... sleeping with my best friend.

Selena flinched and continued pulling on her clothes, but Cast stayed rooted in place, blocking the door. 

He reached for me, but I stepped back.

"Don't you dare," I snapped. "You think an apology is going to fix this?"

He dropped his hand as he finally registered I wasn't just going to turn a blind eye to this. "Lila, it's not..."

"Don't. Not one more word," I interrupted. A strange, intense anger fueled me and gave me strength. "You think I want to hear you justify this? She was supposed to be like a sister to me! You were supposed to be my mate."

Selena finally finished pulling the rest of her clothes on. I scoffed as I watched her sit down on the chair they had just been fucking in to put her heels back on. "Lila, I...I didn't mean... Really, you have to believe me. I didn't mean..."

"No. You meant it," I shot back. "You knew exactly what you were doing. The both of you."

Cast stepped closer and tried to grab me again. I stepped out of his reach just in time. "I'm sorry. I really am, Lila. I swear I'll do anything to make it right."

I laughed. "Make it right? Do you think there's any part of this that's fixable?" I backed toward the door until I felt the cold wall press against my shoulders. "I'm done. I'm leaving you, Cast."

He glanced down and noticed the test lying face down on the floor. His eyes never left mine as he bent to pick it up, turning it over in his hand. He finally looked at it when the results were face up.  

"You're not leaving," he growled, his eyes glowing faintly as he looked back up. "If you're carrying my child, you're not going anywhere."

"Yes, I am," I said, trying to hold onto the anger that had kept me going so far. "I told you, it's over."

He stepped closer until his chest was almost touching mine. "You think you can just leave? Just walk away from me?"

"That's exactly what I'm doing," I shot back. 

"You're my mate," he growled. "You're the Luna of the pack. You can't just leave. That isn't how it works."

My back touched the wall again when he stalked towards me. "Watch me."

He turned from frantic cheating husband to a dark, aggressive Alpha in a couple of blinks. I watched him change from one side I knew so well to another I'd only seen when he was furious. "If you want a divorce, you'll give me my heir first. Then I will raise my son, my alpha son, without you. If it is a girl, well... I will raise her too."

I froze. "What did you just say?"

He growled and cracked his neck. "You heard me. You owe me an heir. If you want to leave, fine. I won't stop you. But not until you've given me that. Then you can go. I don't know why you would want to, though. You wouldn't have any other options. No one will want someone who divorced their fated mate and left their child so... willingly."

My world tilted. "You can't be serious."

"I'm dead serious," he growled. "I need an heir, Lila. A strong one. I would prefer the Luna help raise him, but you're useless to me if you leave. I'll make up for your deficiencies as a Mother and raise him correctly."

I stumbled back.

This wasn't the man I had married. This wasn't the man I had loved. It was impossible to breathe as I looked at him. He just stared back at me with cold, unfeeling eyes. Eyes I'd seen a thousand times when he was dealing with the pack's issues.

Castor didn't love me.

He never had. He only cared about the pack and the heir I was required to give him. The one he was now threatening to take away from me. 

Over my dead body.

I straightened my shoulders. "Get out of my way."

He just glared at me as he stepped aside.

I couldn't stop shaking as I left the office. The image of them together was seared into my mind like a wound that wouldn't stop bleeding.

I fumbled with my keys, trying to keep my tears at bay, but they came anyway.

I just needed to get home. Get away from all of this.