Three: The Return of the Dead Wife

DAHILA

I woke up to the sound of creaking. It was an intense kind of creaking that made it seem like the whole house was coming undone. I sat up scared, until I realized that the creaking wasn't coming from beneath the ground, it was coming from a room not so far from mine.

I didn't even need to strain my ears to hear what was going on because it was loud and clear since the night was dead quiet. It was the sound of the bed frame hitting against the wall, followed by pounding sounds, and then groans and grunts, and moans.

My husband was the loudest. This was the same man who barely made a sound whenever he touched me. Fresh tears fell from my eyes. I could hear them so clearly that I knew that every other person in the pack house could hear them too.

It lasted for hours. It lasted till I couldn't bear it any longer so I left my room but instead of going out to the forest to run my wolf like I wanted to, I found myself walking up to Lilith’s room instead. I stopped in front of her door where the moans and groans were the loudest.

My husband was both groaning and grunting like he was on the peak of ecstasy. The sound felt like needles on skin and a hammer against my heart but instead of leaving, I remained rooted to that spot till they were done.

Till my husband's groans became uncontrollable and then, he started crying. That made me stifle the maniacal chuckle that threatened to force its way out of my mouth. I heard Lilith console him while he rambled on like a baby.

“You know I never thought I'd see you again, that I'd experience this again, Lilith. You have no idea what this means to me.”

“It's just sex, Aaron,” her tone was coy, “I'm sure you got plenty of them from your wife.”

“You're my wife, Lilith. Even when I thought you were dead, you were still my wife.”

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.

“But you have a wife now. A legal wife. The whole country knows how much she has done for Shadow Claw Pack since she became your Luna.”

There was a brief silence and I expected him to speak up for me, to remember what we shared during the last month but Aaron only dismissed me.

“She's just my wife in name and paper alone, Lilith. You know you're my true mate and Luna.”

“But…”

“No more talking about another woman,” he growled suddenly, “we're not going to waste another minute talking about another woman when all I want to do is make up for the five years I was starved of your warmth.”

Then they were at it all over again.

By the next morning, the pack house was alive with the news of how Alpha Aaron couldn't stop touching his wife all night long. Lilith made her public appearance as if she had never left. She walked into my kitchen, as it had always belonged to her, and ordered that the breakfast be changed to her son's favorite food.

I put on a saccharine smile as I replied to her, “One of the chefs will prepare your son's meal separately but we cannot change the meal plan just because of him.”

“Just because of him?” Her sweet smile reeks of fauxness, “he's the alpha heir and because of everything he went through, he doesn't really like eating what others are not eating. The food on the dining table must be the same thing.”

“But they already started preparing the meal. They can't just…”

“Yes, they can, Dahlia. Come on, I know that you don't like that I suddenly returned and intruded on whatever fantasy you were building with my mate but come on, this is a five-year-old boy, you shouldn't extend your jealousy to him.”

“What? How did…” I was beyond flabbergasted. Around us, the cooks and kitchen staff were murmuring about what she just said while she had a triumphant smile on. I scoffed and turned on my heels.

I walked straight to my room where Aaron was dressing up for the day. The sight of him filled me up with so much anger that I wanted to slap him or push him out of the window but instead, I took a deep breath.

“So what's going to happen now?”

“What do you mean?” he didn't even look at me. He just busied himself with putting on his cufflinks in front of the mirror.

“Lilith has returned so I'm asking what will happen? Are you going to move her into another house because I'm not comfortable hosting your ex-wife under my roof?”

He looked at me then, confusion marring his face, “she's not my ex-wife. I didn't rescind her or divorce her. She was only gone because I thought she was dead.”

“Ohhh,” my tone was so sarcastic, “is she your wife then? Do you have two legally married wives?”

“Don't do this, Dahlia. Do you think I want to be caught up in the middle of all these? I'm equally lost and confused about the best way forward.”

“Ohh. What you were up to all night with her didn't seem like being confused or lost.”

With that, he had the decency to look ashamed as he averted his gaze from me, “You might not understand this because you've never had a mate but she's my mate, Dahlia and my wolf lost control.”

I nodded emphatically, “It must have been extremely difficult to respect the vows you made to your wife who, coincidentally made you into the alpha you are today.”

“Can we not do this, please? I thought you'd be at least happy for me that the woman I've mourned for five years not only returned in one piece but she did so with my first son and my heir. That should count for something. You should be above this pettiness and jealousy, Dahlia. I'm on my way to the council meeting now. They'll decide who should stay as my Luna.”

He didn't wait for my reply as he sidestepped me and walked out of the room. I already knew who the council would vote on to stay as his Luna. There was no way they'd choose a chosen mate over a fated mate with an heir.