Chapter 11
"My fated mate is—"
"Raymond!" I shouted, leaping to my feet and grabbing his arm. My heart pounded against my ribs like a trapped animal. "Please, not here," I whispered urgently.
His eyes met mine, burning with frustration and something that looked almost like hatred. For a terrifying moment, I thought he would shove me aside and finish his sentence, destroying everything. But something in my desperate expression must have reached him.
Raymond's jaw clenched tight. With a growl of frustration, he yanked his arm from my grip and stormed out, slamming the door with enough force to rattle the crystal glasses on the table.
I forced a smile that felt like shattered glass cutting my cheeks. "He's just nervous about taking over as Alpha," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "I'll talk to him."
I excused myself quickly, before they could see the tears threatening to spill. Raymond was already gone, his scent trail leading toward the forest—toward Giana.
I drove home in a daze, my vision blurred. As I pushed open the front door, my father's scent hit me—rage, disappointment, and alcohol.
"So," he said, his voice deceptively quiet as he emerged from the shadows of our living room. "Raymond almost exposed everything tonight."
I froze. "How did you—"
"The Alpha called me," he spat. "What happened? What did you do to make him snap like that?"
"I didn't do anything," I whispered.
The slap came without warning, the force of it whipping my head to the side. Pain bloomed across my cheek as my eyes watered.
"Don't lie to me!" he roared, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. "You're ruining everything! Do you have any idea what's at stake?"
I tasted blood where my teeth had cut into my cheek. "It's not my fault. Raymond loves Giana. He always will."
"I don't care who he loves!" My father's fingers dug painfully into my shoulders. "He will marry you, and you will be Luna. That's all that matters."
I looked up at him, searching for any trace of the father who had once loved me. But all I saw was a desperate man clinging to power.
"Why are you so certain it's my fault?" I asked, my voice breaking. "Why can't you ever take my side?"
"Take your side? Against the future Alpha? Are you insane?" He released me with a shove. "Raymond is the best husband you could ever have. He's becoming Alpha. Do you understand how fortunate you are?"
"Fortunate? To marry someone who loves another woman?"
"Yes," he hissed, leaning close enough that I could smell the whiskey on his breath. "And you will endure it. For your mother. For our family. For the pack."
He turned away. "Tomorrow, you will go to Raymond. You will apologize for whatever you did to upset him. You will fix this."
That night, I barely slept, my dreams filled with wedding dresses that strangled me and Raymond walking away, never looking back.
The next morning, I ignored Raymond's calls and texts. I knew I couldn't avoid him forever—my father had made that painfully clear—but I needed time to rebuild my walls.
When the knocking started at my bedroom door, I buried my head under my pillow.
"Aurora," my father called, his voice dangerously calm. "Raymond is here to see you."
A scraping sound at my window made me bolt upright in bed. Raymond's face appeared behind the glass, his expression determined as he jimmied the latch just like he used to when we were teenagers.
Before I could react, he had pushed the window open and climbed inside, landing softly on my bedroom floor. For a moment, the familiarity of the gesture made my heart ache with longing for simpler times.
"You can't ignore me forever," he said, straightening up. Then he noticed my face, and his expression shifted to concern. "What happened to your cheek?"
I turned away, pulling my knees up to my chest. "Nothing. Why are you here?"
Raymond sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. "To apologize for last night. And to thank you for stopping me." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small box, setting it on my nightstand. "A peace offering."
I stared at the box without touching it. "Climbing through my window doesn't change anything, Raymond."
"I know," he said, sitting at the edge of my bed. The familiar weight of him made the mattress dip. I shifted away. "But we need to talk about where we go from here."
"Where we go from here," I repeated flatly. "You mean the contract marriage that will make me a shell while you live happily ever after with Giana?"
He winced, but didn't deny it. "I need time, Aurora. Time to secure my position as Alpha. Once I have full control, I can change things, protect Giana openly."
"And what about me?" I whispered.
Raymond's expression softened slightly. "After our divorce, I'll make sure you're taken care of. You'll have the status of my Alpha-born sister. I'll always protect you, support you financially. I owe you that much."
I nearly laughed at the absurdity of it all. He was offering to make me his sister after all the years I'd loved him.
"How generous," I said, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice.
Raymond leaned forward earnestly. "This is the best solution for everyone, Aurora. We just need to get through the wedding, spend a few months establishing ourselves as Alpha and Luna, and then we can quietly separate. No one gets hurt."
No one gets hurt. The words echoed in my mind like a cruel joke. I was already hurting, breaking a little more each day.
But looking at him, I knew I had no choice. My mother's life depended on this charade.
I forced a smile. "Just remember to help me find a good next husband after our divorce."
Relief washed over his face, and he grinned. "Of course. I'll find you someone worthy of you."
The irony was almost too much to bear. The man I loved promising to find me someone else to love.
Raymond left the same way he'd come, through the window with a casual ease that spoke of years of practice. As a teenager, I'd found it romantic—my own personal Romeo climbing up to see me. Now it just felt like another reminder of what we'd lost.
I picked up the small box he'd left, opening it to find a silver charm bracelet. Dangling from it was a single charm—a tiny silver wolf. A symbol of pack loyalty. Not love. Never love.
After he left, memories flooded back unbidden. Raymond teaching me to swim in the pack lake. The two of us stealing cookies from the pack house kitchen. So many moments, so many years, all leading to this hollow arrangement.
That evening, I shifted into my wolf form and ran through the forest, desperate to clear my head. The cool autumn air rushed through my fur, and for a brief moment, I felt free.
But even this small freedom was short-lived. As I rounded a bend in the trail, two familiar scents hit me at once. Raymond and Giana.
I froze, instinctively ducking behind a large oak tree. They stood in a small clearing ahead, locked in an embrace.
"Raymond, I can't do this," Giana sobbed, her delicate hands clinging to his shirt. "I can't watch you marry her."
Raymond cupped her face with such tenderness it felt like a knife twisting in my chest. "It's just temporary," he murmured, wiping away her tears. "Just a contract. Once everything is secure, I'll reject her."
"But the wedding preparations are already starting," she whispered. "Everyone's talking about it. I can't bear it."
"I know, love. I know." Raymond pressed his forehead to hers. "But I'm not giving you up. Never. If you want, I can reject her now. We can run away together."
My heart stopped. Was he serious? After everything, would he throw it all away?
But Giana shook her head. "No, I would never ask you to give up your birthright. I know how much becoming Alpha means to you."
"Listen to me," Raymond said, his voice fierce with conviction. "I will never reject you. Our mate bond is sacred. Once the contract with Aurora ends, I will reject her immediately. In my eyes, in my heart, you are my only Luna. Always."
They sealed this promise with a kiss so passionate it left me hollow inside. I backed away silently, my wolf whimpering with a pain that had nothing to do with physical wounds.
I ran home, pushing my wolf to the limits, trying to outrun the image of them together and the cold certainty that no matter what happened, I would always be second best.
