Aveline’s POV
My mate was holding another she-wolf tightly in his arms, his hand moving over her hair with a tenderness he had not shown me in months.
“Evander?” I called, but my voice came out hoarse and weak.
He turned at once. His forest-green eyes landed on me, and his expression darkened.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded. “Did you follow me? Did you come here to spy on us?”
“Evander, I—”
“Save it,” he snapped. “You were cruel enough to hurt her, and now you have the nerve to stand here and watch? After everything I have done for you, you could not carry out one simple request. Look at what you caused.”
He stepped aside then, and I finally saw her clearly.
Even with the slight swelling in her face and the redness around her eyes, I recognized her at once.
Calista Ravaryn.
Evander’s childhood friend.
The she-wolf who had returned from the London pack seven months ago.
I frowned, confusion tightening in my chest. Why was she here with him?
Then her scent reached me.
Lilies and jasmine.
It struck me so hard I nearly staggered.
For months, Evander had smelled different. When I asked, he told me he had changed the oils he used after training.
He had changed something, yes.
But standing in that room now, with Calista’s scent thick in the air and clinging to him, I knew the truth.
That scent had never belonged to oils.
It had belonged to her.
Still, I tried to tell myself I might be wrong. Perhaps I was only exhausted. Only hurting. Only letting my wolf run wild with suspicion.
“After everything you put her through, you still cannot even ask what happened to her?” Evander’s cold voice cut through my thoughts.
My throat tightened. “What happened to her?”
“She had an allergic reaction because of you,” he said harshly. “I told you to bring the seafood, but you never came. She had to go out and eat instead, and this is what happened.”
I stared at him, my breath turning shallow.
The seafood.
The meal he had ordered me to prepare in the middle of the day.
The meal I had nearly died trying to deliver.
The meal that had cost me my pup.
It had all been for Calista.
“How...” My lips trembled. “Why did you not answer me? Why did you ignore me through the bond when I reached for you?”
Evander looked almost insulted by the question.
“When you refuse to do as I say, why should I listen to you?” he said coldly.
“Evander, let her be,” Calista said softly at last. “I am sure Aveline was only delayed.”
“Delayed?” Evander gave a harsh scoff and looked back at me. “Apologize to Calista. Now.”
“Apologize?” I repeated, too stunned to believe what I was hearing.
Calista lowered her lashes, all softness and false grace. “That is not necessary, Aveline. But... why are you here in the healer’s den?”
For one brief second, I was grateful for the question.
“I had an—”
“It hurts, Evander,” Calista whimpered suddenly, clutching her side. “Ah—”
At once, Evander turned back to her and gathered her closer, all his attention returning to her as if I had ceased to exist.
I stood frozen by the doorway, pale from blood loss, shaking from grief, and he did not even ask why I was there.
Over his shoulder, Calista lifted her eyes to mine.
There was something smug in them. Quick. Sharp. Ugly enough to make my stomach twist.
Then I understood.
She had asked that question on purpose.
Only to show me that no matter what I said, Evander would choose her.
I staggered back to my room with that truth clawing through me.
The rest of the day passed in a blur, but my mind kept circling all the small changes in Evander I had ignored these past months.
It had begun seven months ago, on our third mating anniversary.
We were meant to dine alone, just the two of us, but he left in the middle of it to fetch a friend arriving from the London pack. Later that same night, he returned with Calista at his side and casually invited her to sit with us, as though there had been nothing strange in it at all.
At the time, I had thought little of it.
But now, lying awake and replaying the last seven months, I realized how blind I had been.
His late returns to the packhouse.
The private mindlinks he would cut off the moment I entered the room.
The unfamiliar scent clinging to his cloaks.
Still, scent and suspicion were not proof.
Perhaps he only cared too much because Calista had fled a brutal marriage when she came back to our territory. A few weeks later, word spread that she was carrying a child. Perhaps Evander’s protectiveness came from pity. From loyalty. From an old promise.
Perhaps it truly was all in my head.
I clung to that thought as I drifted into an uneasy sleep.
The next day, the pack healer discharged me with strict orders to avoid strain and rest as much as possible.
Before leaving, I asked after Calista, but the young attendants only sighed dreamily and told me she had already gone.
“She was carried out in her husband’s arms,” one of them gushed. “Like something from an old mating tale.”
I said nothing.
I pulled my cloak tighter around myself and took a hired carriage back to the packhouse.
When I arrived, I stopped at once.
There were two pairs of shoes outside the door.
One belonged to my mate.
The other was a woman’s.
A cold feeling slid down my spine.
Then I heard voices drifting from the kitchen.
Calista’s voice.
“Evander, are you certain about this?” she asked softly. “I do not want your mate to be upset, and I do not wish to intrude. Perhaps you should speak to her first... tell her that I will be living here from now on.”
