My Alpha Let Me Die to Save His Mistress

The rain battered against the stone walls of the Pack House, echoing the hollow ache inside my chest. It had been exactly three years. Three years since the rogue attack that turned my life into a waking nightmare. Three years since I held the cold, tiny body of my daughter, Kiara, and screamed until my throat bled.

Today, the pack was silent, respectful of the Alpha’s mourning—or so I thought. I clutched the small velvet box containing the only thing I had left of her: a silver locket. I wanted Bennett to go with me to the gravesite. As the Alpha and my Chosen Mate, he should have been by my side. But he wasn’t in his office, and he wasn’t in our bedroom.

"Council meetings," he had told me this morning, his eyes failing to meet mine. "I’ll be busy all day, Carmen. Go pay your respects alone."

I wiped a stray tear from my cheek and turned down the west wing corridor, intending to leave through the back garden. But as I passed the Beta’s quarters, my steps faltered. The air here was usually sterile, smelling of cleaning supplies and Beta Victoria’s faint, floral perfume. Today, however, the hallway was thick with a different scent.

It was unmistakable. *Rain and Pine.* Bennett’s scent.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Why would Bennett be in Victoria’s room? And why was his scent so heavy, so agitated, mixing violently with the cloying, artificial sweetness of vanilla?

I stepped closer to the heavy oak door. It was cracked open just a fraction, a sliver of darkness peering out. I meant to knock, to ask if the meeting had moved here, but a voice from inside froze the blood in my veins.

"You need to calm down, Bennett. The pack will smell your distress."

It wasn’t Victoria. It was a man’s voice. Low, familiar, and laced with guilt. My brother, Mateo.

"Calm down?" Bennett’s voice was a growl, vibrating through the wood. "It’s the anniversary, Mateo. The whole pack is on edge. If anyone looks too closely at the logs from that night…"

"They won’t," Mateo interrupted, his tone pleading. "I buried the patrol reports deep. No one knows we diverted the warriors."

I stopped breathing. My hand hovered over the door handle, trembling.

"I still see her face, Bennett," Mateo whispered, his voice cracking. "Kiara. She was my niece. We left her car defenseless. We let the rogues hit them just to clear the route for Victoria’s extraction."

The world tilted on its axis. A high-pitched ringing filled my ears, drowning out the storm outside. It wasn’t an accident. The rogues hadn’t just gotten lucky.

Bennett let out a harsh sigh. "It was a strategic choice. Victoria is the Beta. She carries the pack's financial secrets. Carmen… Carmen is just a Chosen Mate. Her wolf is weak. And the pup…"

"Don't say it," Mateo hissed.

"The pup was collateral damage," Bennett finished coldly. "To save the woman I actually need."

Everything inside me shattered. The grief that had weighed me down for three years instantly ignited into a white-hot inferno of rage. My dormant wolf, silent for so long, didn’t stir, but my human soul screamed for blood.

I didn’t think. I didn’t plan. I slammed my palms against the door, throwing it open with every ounce of strength I possessed.

"You monster!" I screamed, the sound tearing from my throat.

The scene before me was a tableau of betrayal. Bennett was sitting on the edge of the bed, his shirt unbuttoned. Victoria was behind him, her hands massaging his shoulders, her smirk faltering only for a second. Mateo stood by the window, his face draining of color as he saw me.

"Carmen," Mateo gasped, taking a step forward. "It’s not—"

"You killed her!" I lunged toward Bennett, my fingers curled into claws, desperate to tear the skin from his face. "You sacrificed my baby for *her*?"

Bennett didn’t flinch. He didn’t look remorseful. He looked annoyed. As I rushed him, his eyes flashed a brilliant, terrifying crimson. The air in the room instantly grew heavy, crushing, as his aura expanded to fill the space.

"**Submission!**"

The Alpha Command hit me like a physical blow. It was a supernatural weight that bypassed my will and seized my muscles. My knees buckled, slamming hard against the floorboards. My jaw clamped shut, choking off my scream. I fought against it, tears streaming down my face, but my body betrayed me, forcing me into a crouch, my head lowered against my will.

"Pathetic," Victoria drawled. She stepped out from behind Bennett, smoothing her silk robe. The scent of vanilla was suffocating now, choking me. She walked over to where I knelt, paralyzed by the Alpha tone, and looked down at me with cold, amused eyes.

"Bennett," I tried to whimper through my locked teeth, pleading with my eyes. *How could you? She was your daughter.*

Bennett stood up, buttoning his shirt, refusing to look at me. "Get her out of here, Mateo. She’s hysterical."

Victoria laughed softly, a cruel, tinkling sound. She stepped over my prone legs to stand beside Bennett, resting her hand possessively on his chest. "See, Bennett? I told you. A wolf that goes dormant from a little trauma is useless to you. She can’t even stand in the presence of her Alpha. She’s not a Luna. She’s barely a pet."

I stared up at them from the floor, unable to move, unable to speak, as the man I loved and the woman he chose over our daughter looked down on me with nothing but contempt.