Chapter 1: I was just a tool to be used by him!

Allene’s POV

Today was supposed to be my fifth wedding anniversary with my mate, Leonard Amari, but instead of lounging in the reservations I had carefully planned for us, he was on the tracks, racing for his biker group after his mistress, Jessica, had begged him to.

And for what? To win against a rival group, to humiliate the rival girl who made a bet with her.

My heart was in my throat as he flew out of the last turn, the bike howling beneath him, tires screaming so loudly that I feared the worst.

Growing up, I had always wanted to be part of the group, but after my parents died five years ago defending Leonard’s alpha parents, I had buried every dream I ever held. I had reshaped my entire life into one thing, being his mate, his Luna and loyal shadow.

Leaning so far over the rail where I stood, it felt like the asphalt itself would swallow him whole. It had been months since he raced, months spent consumed with pack politics and welfare as his father had commanded him to, but when Jessica begged him to return to the track to lead their group to victory, he hadn't even given her request a second thought.

He rushed straight to it. With no hesitation or pause despite his father's commands to focus on pack duties.

I remembered the countless times I had asked him to race, then when he was still staying away from the tracks due to his father's orders, begged him even after I got permission from his father, when Lyra, my best friend, had fallen sick and needed a surgery I and her family couldn’t afford.

There had been a racing competition then with a huge cash prize. I had pleaded with Leonard to race for her sake, so I could save her. But he had vehemently refused.

He gave excuse after excuse, about losing touch with the tracks, about the competition being beneath him, how an alpha shouldn’t be seen competing with “lowly racers,” as he called them.

And when I begged him for the money instead, even pleading he lent it to me so I'd repay sometimes in the future, he had shut me down without blinking. Lyra wasn’t his friend. His wealth wasn’t meant for strangers.

That was his final answer.

Even though he had more than enough from his grandfather’s inheritance, he refused to help. In the end, when Lyra’s health deteriorated and she stood on the edge of death because her surgery bill remained unpaid, a volunteer organization stepped in.

They raised the funds after a charity event, an event Leonard forbade me from attending because he said it was a “lowly cause” for an Alpha’s Luna.

I swallowed back the sting of that memory just as the screams and cheers from the crowd snapped me back to the present. Leonard had crossed the finish line.

He had won.

He pulled into the slowdown lane, kicked the stand down and yanked off his helmet. His wild grin split across his face as the crowd roared his name, chanting, screaming and worshipping him like they always had.

He threw both arms up, soaking in sweat and glory, then strode straight to the podium like he owned the world. He always did. Back then, years ago, when he was still king of the racing tracks, the people had roared for him the same way. He was the alpha’s son afterall, destined for admiration.

The marshal handed him the massive trophy and he lifted it high with both hands, chest heaving, eyes blazing with pride.

“Today I want to thank everyone present to witness this win from the Eagle Racers,” he began, his voice booming over the speakers while the crowd fell silent in anticipation.

And from the first breath of his speech, I knew he was returning to the tracks, his father who stood amongst the spectators didn't at all seem angry. Instead was overjoyed that his son was being proclaimed the best racer in the whole northern packs.

He spoke as though he had been gone for years, as though this was some grand comeback. But it had only been a few months. Just a few months away, yet he was so eager and desperate to reclaim the thrill he once lived for.

But that wasn’t even the least of my concerns. Despite everything, I still smiled. I tried to be happy for him, happy for his win, for what this meant for his team.

Leonard loved racing. For years, back when we were still students, he trained endlessly under different coaches before he ever met me. And when he did encounter me and secretly asked me to tutor him in exchange for protection from the Academy’s golden students who bullied me relentlessly, I had accepted.

I had coached him with his bike since I had none of my own. I had trained myself only because of Lyra’s kindness as she had let me use her old bike when no racing group wanted to take me in. They all believed I was unfit. As a wolfless omega, I never needed anyone to explain why.

“I’ll first of all like to extend my thanks to my father, who raised me into the man I am today and to the lady who has held me down for years, coaching and tutoring me till I became the eagle I am today on the racing tracks, her support, love and guidance broght me here” Leonard announced, pausing as his gaze swept over the crowd.

He was searching for me.

He had to be. I was the only woman he could possibly mean.

The only woman who had ever coached him, trained and believed in him back then from the academy days when his father was against his choice of career.

Even weeks ago, when he told me about his plans to race for his team in order to shame a rival group and keep their number-one position among all the northern packs, I had supported him wholeheartedly.

I had trained him again, just like he wanted. I had poured myself into helping him prepare, disobeying my father in-law who forbade such activities. What I didn't know was that it was going to be on our anniversary and the fact that it had been because Jessica asked him to.

I straightened my dress with trembling hands, anticipation fluttering in my stomach as I waited for my name.

But to my shock and utter confusion, he didn’t call me.

“Jessica Sanders…” he said instead.

The crowd erupted into wild cheers as Jessica strutted toward the stage, hips swaying, hair bouncing as she stepped beside Leonard in a position that was never meant for her.

My throat tightened. Bile burned up my chest as I watched Leonard kiss her cheek.

Back in the Academy, I always knew about Leonard and Jessica’s closeness. But after my parents died protecting his and I was betrothed to him as his mate, a so-called reward for my parents’ bravery as mandated by the alphas council, I had hoped that he would learn to love me.

That time would soften him.

That maybe fate would favor us, afterall, we had been friends then.

But five years have passed. Five long years. And that day never came.

“Jessica is such a good coach!” someone screamed from somewhere in the crowd.

I held back my tears, held back the breaking pieces of my heart, as Leonard, my husband and mate, paraded Jessica before his teammates.

He ignored me completely.

Ignored me, the woman who had helped him reach this level.

Ignored me, the woman who had sacrificed dream after dream so he could flourish.

I had given up everything for him, for the future he swore he would build with me.

Yet here I stood, hidden in the crowd, while he celebrated another woman in the role that should have been mine.

As their smiles stretched wider and the crowd’s screams roared like thunder, I felt something inside me fracture.

And all I could wonder was a question.

How much more could I take from Leonard before I finally reached my limit and became fed up?