Chapter 4: Once Unfaithful,Always Unfaithful

Chapter 4: Once Unfaithful,Always Unfaithful

Elena’s pov

I couldn't take off the wedding dress fast enough.

My hands trembled as I fumbled with the buttons, the zipper, the delicate lace that suddenly felt like it was strangling me. Sarah knocked on the dressing room door, asking if I was okay.

Lydia's voice still echoed in my head. He'd given her everything he'd given me.

When I finally emerged in my regular clothes, Blake was waiting by the door, scrolling through his phone. He looked up and smiled like nothing was wrong, "Ready to go?" he asked.

I nodded, not trusting my voice.

I stared out the window on the way home, feeling Ayla curl up small and wounded inside my chest. The seven-diamond necklace felt heavy around my throat. I wanted to rip it off and throw it into the woods.

“He loves you,”  Ayla whimpered. “He must still love you.”

“Does he?” I thought back. “Or does he just love the idea of having a mate while he plays house with someone else?”

She had no answer for that.

Since the transplant, my body had grown weaker with each passing month. The artificial heart kept blood pumping through my veins, but it couldn't do what a real heart did. It couldn't fuel my wolf or  power the healing abilities that came naturally to our kind.

I couldn't lift anything heavier than a few pounds. Running was impossible, even walking up stairs left me gasping and dizzy. 

And shifting? 

I hadn't been able to transform in over a year. My wolf was trapped inside a failing body, growing weaker by the day, and there was nothing either of us could do about it.

When we got home, Sarah helped me inside while Blake lingered by his car, still on his phone. I collapsed onto the couch, exhausted from nothing more than a fitting appointment.

"You should go to the hospital," Sarah said quietly. "Get checked out."

"No."

"Elena, you're getting worse. Anyone can see that."

"And what will the hospital do?" I pulled a blanket over my legs, suddenly cold despite the warm afternoon. "Tell me what I already know? That I'm dying? That there's nothing they can do?"

Sarah's face crumpled. "Don't say that."

"It's the truth."

Blake walked in then, shoving his phone in his pocket. "Something came up with the pack," he said, reaching for his jacket. "I need to go handle it."

I watched him pull on his coat, "What kind of emergency?" I asked.

"Just politics. Boring stuff." He leaned down to kiss my forehead, quick and careless. "Don't wait up."

Then he was gone.

Sarah and I sat in silence, listening to his car pull out of the driveway. The engine faded into the distance, and still neither of us spoke.

Finally, I said, "I want to follow him."

"Elena—"

"I need to see it with my own eyes." I pushed myself up from the couch, ignoring the way my vision swam. "I need to know for certain."

Sarah hesitated. I could see her weighing the options, protect me from the truth, or let me face it head-on. In the end, she just nodded.

"I'll call a driver."

We parked across the street from Lydia's house, Blake's car was already in the driveway.

I watched the front door open. Lydia stood there in a silk robe, barely tied, her hair loose around her shoulders. She smiled when she saw Blake and he went to her without hesitation. His hands found her waist, her hips. She slid her arms around his neck.

They kissed like lovers who'd done this a thousand times before.

I doubled over, gasping, my wolf howling in agony inside my mind as the mate bond tugged at my chest, 

“He loves you,” she cried. “He's supposed to love you. How could he do this? How could he betray us?”

I gripped the edge of the car seat, trying to breathe through the torture.

“So what if he loves me?” I thought back bitterly. “Time wears down even the strongest feelings. When life grows dull and routine, even if the heart stays loyal, the body seeks warmth elsewhere.”

Blake and Lydia disappeared inside. 

The door closed behind them.

I sat there, clutching my chest, watching the light turn on in an upstairs window.

"Elena." Sarah's voice was gentle. "Did you ever tell him? About the diagnosis?"

I laughed, "What would be the point?"

"He's your mate. He should know."

"Our relationship died a long time ago." I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "Even if I told him I was dying, it wouldn't change anything. He'd probably just be relieved."

"That's not true—"

"Maybe he regrets it, Sarah. Being bound to me. I can feel it through the bond sometimes, this restlessness, this dissatisfaction. Maybe he wishes he'd chosen differently."

Sarah fell silent.

"All those vows he made," I continued, my voice flat. "All those promises about forever. In the end, I was the only one who took them seriously."

I reached for the mate bond again and tried to mindlink him. 

Blake.

What? He asked impatiently.

Just checking on you. How's the council meeting?

Fine. You know how the elders are. He sighed. I'll be home late.

Okay. Don't drink too much.

I won't. His tone softened slightly. Contact me if you feel unwell.

Then he severed the connection, cutting me off like I was a nuisance.

I looked up at the house and through the sheer curtains of the upstairs window, I could see two silhouettes kissing. 

I was past breaking. Just... empty. Hollow. Like all the love I'd ever felt had finally drained away, leaving nothing behind but exhaustion.

I have no strength left, I realized. No energy left to love him. It's over. Whatever we had... it's gone.

"Take me home," I whispered.

In the car, I thought about my sister, Mara. 

She'd been everything I wasn't, strong, fierce, fearless. One of the pack's finest warriors. She could shift faster than anyone, could bring down wolves twice her size. Everyone said she'd be Alpha one day.

She had a mate named Damon. He swore he'd love her forever.

When the rogues attacked our eastern border, Mara led the defense. She fought like a demon, protecting the pack with everything she had. When Damon got surrounded, she threw herself into danger to save him.

She died with his name on her lips in the pack hospital.

And where was Damon while my sister bled out in the dirt? In another she-wolf's bed. He'd snuck away during the chaos, too cowardly to fight, and found comfort between someone else's thighs.

My sister sacrificed her life for a man who couldn't even stay faithful while she was dying for him.

After Mara's death, my mother stopped eating. She wasted away in her bedroom, staring at the walls, and waiting for death to reunite her with her daughter. Eventually, my father left. Just walked away from the pack and never came back.

My family shattered, and I was left alone to pick up the pieces.

I remembered the last thing Mara ever said to me. She was lying in the healer's tent, blood soaking through her bandages, and she grabbed my hand with what little strength she had left.

"Don't be like me," she whispered. "Don't ruin your life for love. Don't sacrifice everything for a man. Promise me, Elena."

I promised.

For years, I kept that promise. Built walls around my heart and refused to let anyone in.

Until Blake.

He'd shattered every defense I had. Made me believe in fate mates, in forever, in all the fairy tales I'd sworn off. I loved him so much that I gave him my actual heart, the organ in my chest to save his life.

And this was my reward.

If there's another life after this, I thought, I will never touch love again.

Sarah was quiet for a long time then she sighed.

"There's no such thing as absolute loyalty in love," she said. "It's always the woman who has to compromise. Who has to forgive and look the other way and pretend she doesn't see what's right in front of her face." She shook her head. "That's just our fate."

I turned to look at her.

"No," I said. "I won't compromise. I won't forgive. I won't look the other way."

"Elena..."

"Once unfaithful, always unfaithful." I said coldly, "He made his choice. Now I've made mine."