Kya's POV
As I made rigorous preparations for my marriage ceremony with Alpha Thane, I discovered something about him that turned everything sore and left me with a shattered heart..
It started from a strange frown on my best friend's face as she stared at her phone.
"What is it, Maria?" I asked her, concern and curiosity etched on my face.
But she smiled and told me it was nothing. Then put her phone away.
That night, Alpha Thane did not come home. When I called him, his number went into voicemail.
Where could he be, when he should be with me?
Then a dark idea occured to me. I crept into the room where Maria lay fast asleep. I used her thumb to open her phone and I began to scroll through her recent tabs.
It was then that I saw the picture of Alpha Thane kissing Celine, his supposed distant cousin!
I was frozen for a long time as I read Celine's caption. "The night was cold and windy, so I cried and a demigod came running."
Tears gathered in my eyes as I went though the comments of people praising them. I forwarded the screenshots to my own phone and snuck back to my room.
The next morning, hours before our mating ceremony, Alpha Thane returned home.
He had a soft smile on his face and a gift box in his hand. To my surprise, he went down on one knee. "I am sorry, Kya."
My heart skipped a beat. Was he apologising for his infidelity? How could he do such a thing on the eve of our wedding night?
"Sorry for what?" I asked, faking obliviousness, while hiding my balled fists.
"Last night, I should have been with you..."
"Where were you then?" I cut him off, edging to hear h
is defence.
"I was with my sick father all night. He needed me around and, since my elder brother traveled out of the city..."
I stopped listening and a bitter smile played on my lips.
"To make it up to you, Kya, I bought you a silver necklace, handcrafted from black diamonds and the Coal of the Moonwood. Please, darling, accept this gift as a token of how sorry I am for not staying with you last night."
"You were with your father all night, yeah?" I gave him another chance to confess.
His eyes shifted uneasily as he got back to his feet. "He regrets that he couldn't witness our ceremony. Now, please let me put this on you, my Luna."
Despite I was burning with rage and surprise at this betrayal and lying, I stood still as he fixed the necklace on me.
Then he kissed me deeply. At that moment, I eased up a little bit. My wolf was trying to make excuses for him — perhaps it was a fake photo?
But when he started to push me towards the bed, I caught a faint scent which he had tried to hide with counter-scent colognes.
The scent of a woman.
I gently wiggled from his grip and left the room.
When I got to the packhouse, I bumped into none other than Celine.
"Hi, Luna!" she shrieked, her teeth sparkling. "Sorry I wasn't looking."
My attention was immediately drawn to the celestial pendant on her neck. It was a far more superior one than mine and symbolised hope. I didn't need to be told who got her that gift.
"How are you?" I asked and left before she could answer.
I went about the pack wearing a fake smile, doing my Luna duty and making sure preparations went well.
Alpha Thane on the other hand tried to understand what was wrong with me, as I gave him no information. Neither did I appear angry.
He showered me with gifts, rare herbs and royal dresses, all of which reminded me of his deceit.
"Celine shall be staying in a flat close to the packhouse," he told me by noon. "She shall help out for the three days wedding ceremony."
"Why?" My voice sounded even, though I was boiling inside.
"I just told you." He pulled me into a hug. "You're so beautiful!"
That night, I was about to step to the balcony when I heard a scuffle in the passageway. Thane had just dragged Celine into a private room. They hadn't seen me.
I went close. Thane was speaking.
"Listen, Celine. I know what I'm doing. I'm just getting married to her because I fucking need my father's full inheritance. I want none for my brother. Once that is done, I'll discard her from this pack and make you my Luna. I've told you this a long time!"
I trembled like a leaf in the wind, as a fever washed over me. Tears filled my eyes and I had to cover my mouth from making sobbing sounds.
I was forced to listen when I heard Celine speak. "But I'm mated to your elder brother! See why I'm so scared?"
Thane was relentless.
"My brother is a mafia lord, heading his own pack miles away. He has no interest whatsoever in this. We're meant to be together, Celine Drywood. Let's keep this up. Good thing Kya is naive and is head over heels in love with me. She's an Omega and is meant to be used for our good, baby."
Then came kissing sounds. A zip opening. Panting whispers, moans. Sounds of sucking.
Unable to my take it anymore, I tiptoed back to my room, my legs feeling like jelly. I felt my heart tearing apart, my wolf tumbling and growling with sorrow.
An hour later, I heard a soft knock on my door.
I sniffed back my tears and listened.
"It's Bradman, the household manager. A message from Alpha Thane: 'It's a few hours to the ceremony, my love; please get ready.'"
Before he was done speaking, I was already walking through a backdoor, on a route that led out of the packhouse.
