Chapter One: Six Years, and Still Not Enough

Meeva's pov

"You reek of her." I told him before gently setting the porcelain cup in front of him. It contained tea, freshly brewed with ginseng and green roots.

"Who?"

Playing dumb?

Again, really hubby, is this the best you could do?

"A she-wolf" I deadpanned.

He turned around and sniffed himself, he then shook his head and curled his fingers around the handle of the cup.

"I am an Alpha, Meeva. I am bound to run into many wolves every day, so I don't get what you're accusing me of."

His tone had become slightly raised and I could feel my wolf recede further, anytime he acted like I was spouting rubbish, it hurt a great deal.

"Your hands, lips, torso.... they," my hands shook, "they scent of another woman."

He didn't know, but I had seen him in the office a few days ago. On the night of our anniversary, I had seen him bellowing like a mountain goat and driving his tool balls-deep into a random girl that I remembered from our last year's anniversary.

She had been touchy with him, and he in turn had been too invested in her. But yet, I chose not to think of it, I chose to trust him.

Meanwhile, on our anniversary night while I had complained of cramps and retired to the main house, he had been in his office, re-arranging her guts. Betraying my trust yet again.

"You don't have to lie to me Jared, just admit-"

"Admit what?" He cut me off, "are you forcing me to admit to something I have zero knowledge of. Wait, are you accusing me, are you accusing ME, your husband, and Alpha of this great pack of doing something you probably imagined in your head?"

Imagined in my head?

W-what...

"Jared, that's not...."

"Enough Meeva," he said, "You're very manipulative."

I attempted to speak but he raised his fingers to his lips.

"Let me finish. Never again in your tight stringed omega existence should you ever attempt to interrupt me while I speak. Do you understand?"

My fingers tightened, I felt like slumping to the ground and digging out the titles.

"I said, do you understand?"

I simply nodded, not wanting to enrage him further.

"Good." He leaned in closer, tentatively licking his lips, "maybe you're off your meds, yes...you've been having mood swings these few days, you've been off, uptight, stubborn, and apparently hallucinating about things that aren't true."

Each word felt like premium gaslighting.

I hadn't been on medication for years, I was fine, stable, my mood swings had been the results of his actions. Did he expect me to smile, after witnessing his infidelity?

"Our love feels feeble now." I murmured. "This....this wasn't what I envisioned for us."

I glanced at the ring on my finger, it didn't feel like a promise of eternal love between mates anymore. It felt like a trap. One that no matter how many times I tried to give myself a reason to escape I couldn't.

I was mated to him.

He was my mate, my world, my perfect pair, my everything, the only man I had ever known since I was eighteen.

I couldn't give up on us. Right?

"Gahhh," he spit the tea right out from his mouth and onto my dress. The hot liquid stung.

"This is your plan Meeva, to punish me for a scenario clearly borne from the figment of your imagination. You want to burn my throat?!"

He didn't even care that he had spat out the hot liquid on me. His green eyes hardened as he looked at me, like I was a pitiful piece of metal.

"The tea was hot like you requested; you should've at least blown on it before-"

He rose from his seat,

"Go inside the kitchen and make me a fresh batch of warm cream tea, not this herbal concoction."

I clutched the sides of my gown; it would take hours to brew the tea and even make the cream just how he liked it.

But I nodded anyways, I couldn't ever win with him. Afterall he was Alpha, and I on the other hand, a lowly omega. Even being Luna didn't change that.

"And Meeva," he called out as I started walking away, "make it lukewarm, not volcano temperature."

____

At this rate, I was sweating like a buffalo tied out and forgotten in the sun. But on the bright side, I had prepared the perfect cup of cream tea. Untying my apron and placing it on the wooden counter, I proceeded to place the tea cup on a ceramic tray.

I paused for a moment when I heard voices. It sounded like Jared, someone else, maybe arguing, maybe.... bantering. I increased the pace of my steps, wondering what was happening for Jared to sound that stiff.

Once I bent a corner to the living room, my nose caught a very pungent smell. Like sandalwood and coffee and something spicy, warm and...

I didn't know what it was.

A big man sat in front of Jared; an Alpha I could immediately tell. But he looked different, Jared looked like a twig compared to him. My husband who was at 6 '0 was overshadowed by this man who seemed to be about 6' 4 or 6 '5.

It seemed the argument was heated, I hid by the wall for a bit, to listen. It was about channels, trading channels, apparently.... Jared had tampered with his.

And when I heard the name of his pack from his lips, my stomach flipped. Brawnstorm pack, he was.... the notorious Alpha of the North, Alpha Kael.

But my stomach didn't flip with worry for Jared, it flipped because I had started to recognize where the smell my nose had picked up was coming from.

It was coming from him.

And apparently, he had smelt something too, because he sniffed the air and his neck did a complete turn to my direction.

Caught off guard I stumbled from my hiding spot, the tea nearly spilling over from the tray.

The man's golden orbs crinkled in confusion, and then his brow raised.

"Who do we have here?" He asked aloud, Jared, whose fingers had been briefly shaking, turned to me.

"My worthless Luna who had me wait two full hours just to prepare my tea."

I felt my knees go weak; shame burnt my cheeks as Jared degraded me in front of this Alpha. But the moment my gaze locked with his again, a subtle glow illuminated his eyes.

Mate.