Bella's POV

Bella's POV 

“Stop believing the voices in your head, Bella. It's not what you think!” My husband snapped.

“Not what I think?" I asked, my gaze darting towards the fallen gift box I had returned with.

" You're supposed to be at the council meeting. Why did you return? It isn't until tomorrow before the meeting ends!” He went further.

I stared at him in disbelief, my fingers trembling at my sides.

Today was our anniversary. I had returned from the council with the gift box, wanting to surprise him.

I thought he would prepare for it as well, since I had attended the alpha council meetings in his stead because he was sick. Instead, I had walked into this.

My eyes darted towards the bed as my breath hitched painfully in my throat.

My sister was naked on the sheets, Ronan's beta beside her, equally unclothed.

And in the middle of them was Ronan.

My mate and husband.

The man I had spent four years loving.

I had just walked in on my mate cheating in the worst position imaginable.

Ronan had been sucking his beta’s dick while Jesse touched herself beside them, moaning his name shamelessly. And after that, the two of them had switched positions like this was something they had done countless times before.

For several minutes, I stood frozen by the door.

I thought he would notice me.

I thought he would stop.

I thought somewhere inside all this filth, there would still be shame.

But there wasn't.

None of them noticed me until the gift box slipped from my hand and crashed against the floor.

“This isn't what I think?” I asked slowly when Ronan finally looked at me.

My voice sounded strange even to my own ears.

I recalled the words I had heard while standing outside the door moments ago.

Jesse had asked him a question between breathless moans.

“What if Bella finds out about us?” she had asked while slurping on his dick.

Ronan had only laughed dismissively.

“Bella? She'd do nothing. Don't you know how much she worships me? She wouldn't even be able to end this marriage because it is an alliance between both our packs.”

The words stabbed deeper now that he was saying them to my face.

He was right.

Our marriage had been an alliance four years ago after my mother was attacked by rogues. The attack had almost claimed her life.

My pack, Moonstone Pack, had enough money to purchase medicine and hire professional healers, but none possessed the healing abilities Crimson Moon Pack was known for.

That was why my father entered the alliance.

A marriage between me and Crimson Moon’s alpha, Ronan Blackwood.

At that time, his pack was drowning in debt. My father built a company for him which I personally managed and expanded, while Ronan was supposed to oversee my mother's treatment and train some of my wolves in healing in exchange.

Four years later, my mother was still in a coma.

Four years later, none of my wolves had learned anything tangible from his healers.

And yet I had ignored every sign and excuse.

Because I loved him.

Because I believed mates were meant to endure hardships together.

Because every time he pushed me away, I blamed myself instead.

I turned to leave, unable to remain in the same room with those cheaters another second.

My chest hurt so badly it felt difficult to breathe.

All four years of my life that I had sacrificed for him and his pack… this was how he repaid me.

My affection all these years had been the reason I endured his humiliation and constant rejection.

I thought it was because of my body.

Ronan said I was too plump for him.

Then after I miscarried our first pregnancy, I forced myself to exercise until my body ached every night just to please him.

Just to hear him call me beautiful once.

But even after losing the weight, it still wasn't enough.

There was always another excuse.

My wolfless state.

My duties.

My scar.

I had gone in his place to fight rogues at his borders when he claimed he was too injured to lead. During the battle, a rogue slashed my neck with a silver-coated knife, leaving behind a scar that refused to heal.

Ever since then, Ronan could barely look at that side of my neck without disgust filling his eyes.

The same scar I received protecting his people.

The same scar that made my mate recoil whenever I tried to touch him.

And now I finally understood.

None of it had ever been because of me.

Ronan simply never loved me at all.

“Come on, Bella, what exactly do you plan to do? Don't tell me it is to end the marriage. You can't do that.” Ronan snapped impatiently as he pulled on his clothes like nothing important had happened.

“This marriage benefits you and your pack. Even your mother's treatment. Are you really going to throw all that away because of something as trivial as this?”

I turned slowly to look at him, disbelief crashing harder into me.

“I just caught you with my sister, Ronan. And that is something trivial to you?” I questioned.

He scoffed, sounding completely uninterested in my pain.

“I am an alpha. Haven't you heard of alphas taking other women and having them?” he asked arrogantly.

“I haven't brought home pups from mistresses, nor have I brought another woman to compete for the Luna title with you. So what exactly is this minor mistake that you don't want to understand?”

Minor mistake.

The words echoed bitterly in my head.

I stared at him silently for a moment before turning away, unwilling to stand there and listen to more rubbish from him.

A minor mistake?

Ronan was a hypocrite.

Before the pack, he always condemned people who openly showed affection for the same sex.

He punished them publicly.

He called it shameful and forbidden within the Crimson Moon Pack.

Yet behind closed doors, he was one of them himself.

And with his own beta.

No wonder he never disputed any of the strange choices his beta made in the pack.

Everything suddenly made sense in the most disgusting way possible.

“You're causing a scene, Bella!” Ronan snapped as he followed after me.

“This isn't how a true Luna should behave. Don't forget that you are living off Crimson Moon resources. If you leave, where exactly would you go?”

My steps halted instantly.

For a second, I thought I had heard wrong.

Slowly, I turned back to him.

“Repeat what you just said,” I said quietly.

“You heard me right,” he replied coldly, not caring that we were already outside the alpha mansion and that a crowd had begun gathering nearby.

Pack members stood around whispering as they watched us.

Some stared curiously.

Others looked amused.

Ronan didn't care.

“I didn't just accept you despite your bad character and wolfless state, I put up with all of it,” he continued harshly.

“But now trying to turn against the pack that you leech off? That's where you're crossing your limits, Bella. I would advise you to clip your wings before you regret it.”

I stared at him in bewilderment as murmurs spread through the crowd.

“The Luna is wolfless?”

“So the rumors were true…”

“She lives off the alpha?”

“How shameless…”

The whispers stabbed into me from every direction.

My chest tightened painfully.

Was this truly the same man I had loved for the past four years?

The same man I had sacrificed everything for just to help him and his pack survive?

The same man who once held my hands and promised that he would cherish me forever?

How much of Ronan had been real?

How many of his smiles had been lies?

How much manipulation had I mistaken for love?

And just how much of Ronan Blackwood himself had been built entirely on lies?