#Chapter 3 My Sister Stole My Mate

Helen POV

The Devil's Lair

Alpha Justin had not said a word to me since I'd been pushed back inside his room. He hadn't done more than snarl at me every time I tried to speak to him.

Unable to see almost anything in the darkness, I couldn't tell if Justin was even looking at me.

My wolf -called Joy since I was a child- encouraged me to try my luck at appealing to The Devil's gentler side. He had to have a human side, right? Even Lycans were still human most of the time.

My tears were fake though my fear and sadness were both real. I focused on trying to let out every bit of misery in me through my voice, my actions, my presence in the small room which now served as a cage for both The Devil and me.

"I was rejected, you know?"

Honesty might earn me some favor with the Alpha. I couldn't offer anything else unless I wanted to risk getting closer to him and his angry growls scared me too much to risk closing the gap between us.

Rubbing the fabric of my skirt between my fingers, I continued speaking, "My sister stole my mate. On my wedding day. That's how I got here. I was rejected by my mate because my sister made a better match than me. I drank too much in a bar and wolves from your pack or a pack loyal to yours took me when I said I was a virgin."

Everything I had said to Alpha Justin was completely true; I found the tears I had been faking were now really flowing down my cheeks. How had my life gone so wrong so fast?

"I was supposed to be married today."

The confession was a broken whisper I didn't have to fake.

My fiance, Scott, had always been too good for me and not ashamed to let me know. His family was a powerful Alpha family who bred true to their line. All their males had the deepest of black coats while all their females were the purest of whites; I was marrying above my station as a mixed coat who people doubted could even claim an Alpha father.

"Why did your sister make a better match? Do you have different parents?"

Startled at the questions, I gasped, my head jerking up from my hands as I strained my eyes trying to see through the blackness of the room.

"No," I answered, trying to hold Alpha Justin's attention as long as I could with my story, "We have the same mother and father. I'm---younger by a year. My older sister Helen is more beautiful. She's a Snow White with the purest white coat any she-wolf could ever have. I'm a Tiger Lily because my coat is mixed with three different colors."

"Your mate was shallow enough to reject you for a she-wolf with a pure pattern?"

The way the Alpha said it made the logic seem ridiculous.

I'd never considered the importance put on coat colors from the perspective he offered. Was it shallow to want a mate who was more pure?

A werewolf's coat indicated their power as well as their beauty. A she-wolf with a pure white coat was as strong as a she-wolf could be while the addition of more colors to make a more and more mixed pattern meant her magic was weaker, more diluted, less reliable.

My sister could shift in seconds whereas it took me over a minute or more to reach my wolf form.

In a fight, my sister could come to her mate's aid in the span of a heartbeat while I'd need minutes.

Minutes in a werewolf battle meant the difference between life and death.

"You're crying again. Did you love your mate?"

"He was my fated mate," I said, confused by the question, "Of course I loved him."

"No, did you love him or did you just love his wolf being the mate to yours? There's a difference---what's your name?"

"Diana," I said, uncertain why I was continuing to lie to him about being my sister.

"Diana. What did you love about him, Diana?"

I realized a part of me kept thinking this entire experience would be over soon and I would be allowed to go back home. If Alpha Justin didn't know my true name, he couldn't hunt me down when I left. If I succeeded in getting him to mate with me, I could still leave afterwards.

Feeling comforted by the thought I could leave after my night with The Devil, I answered him with total honesty.

"I loved the way his wolf loved mine. My family never wanted me. They only tolerate me out of loyalty to the bloodline. Being a Tiger Lily is a shame on our House. My mother hates looking at me. She makes me dress in a maid uniform so guests think I work for the family instead of being their daughter. My father lets her get away with it because he's embarrassed by me, too."

"I wanted to make my family proud. I don't---I don't think I even knew him well enough to love him. He was as disappointed to be my mate as my family is to have me as their daughter."

"Anyone who's disappointed with you is a fool."

Alpha Justin stated his opinion as if it were a fact. For a moment, I let myself bask in the praise even though I knew the Lycan didn't have the right perspective to judge my situation.

"Thank you. That's kind of you to say. You don't have to say it though. I know who I am and what I have to offer. I know you should have your pick of mates. You probably wish you had found a different mate, too, but I'm grateful I met you. I never thought I'd get a second chance mate. They're so rare! Why should I be so lucky, you know?"

Finding a second chance mate was the equivalent of being struck by lightning twice in wolfen society. Most wolves tried to find their fated mate for years before either getting lucky or giving up.

"You're my first mate."

Justin spoke with a strange tone. I couldn't tell if he was angry or confused or disappointed in spite of saying he thought disappointment in me would make for a fool's feelings.

"Forgive me for being crude. But how did he reject you? Your first mate. How did he reject you before the wedding?"

Shame made me bow my head. I forced myself to breathe in and out through my mouth to stave off a panic attack.

I was wearing my wedding gown! How could he not realize Scott had rejected me literally at the wedding, not before?

The only explanation was he thought there was no way any wolf could be so cruel as to humiliate their mate in front of both their combined packs on what was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives.

Tears dropped from my eyes in fat drops exactly as rain falling from pregnant clouds. Sadness ate its way through me -a hungry beast chewing through flesh until its teeth struck bone- and I wondered if I would ever be happy again.

"He wasn't there."

"What? Your mate wasn't there? He didn't show up?"

Shaking my head, I continued, "At the end of the aisle. Scott was supposed to be waiting for me. We had a whole day rehearsal to make sure I did it all right. I knew when I was supposed to walk. We started on time. All the ladies walked before me. All of the groomsmen escorted them. Everyone was so beautiful. But he wasn't there. He just wasn't there at all and it was time for me to walk."

I raised a hand to wipe at the tears pouring from my eyes, doubtlessly ruining my makeup or washing it away.

"I waited to see what would happen. He came out with my sister. They came in through a side door. I walked the aisle and he stopped the priest. He just---stopped everything. He took my sister's hand then gave me a formal rejection. As soon as the mate bond was broken, he asked my sister to take my place as his wife and that's what happened. He married my sister after rejecting me."

My tears got the better of me then and I let my head fall into my hands as sobs tore through me. I was wallowing in my misery when hot, huge hands tipped my face up and then The Devil kissed me.

I fell into the kiss with a desperation I didn't want to look at too closely.

Pressing my body against his, I opened my mouth to let his tongue inside mine. I tried to mimic his movements even though I had no experience with open-mouthed kisses.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, stroked a hand down his back and jerked when he made a feral sound as my hand touched a wet, raised stripe over his shoulder.

"You're bleeding!"