That night, I couldn’t stop crying. No matter how hard I tried to hold it together for Theo, the tears kept coming, silent and endless. My heart felt like it had been torn into pieces, and every memory of Kael only made the pain worse.
I used to think he was perfect. The way he loved me… it felt like a dream. I remember how he stood up to my father—my father, the most powerful Alpha I’d ever known—just to be with me. Kael was only a low rank werewolf.
“Selene is my mate,” Kael had said, his voice firm, even as my father glared at him. “I’ll prove I’m worthy of her.”
And he did. Over and over again. My father eventually stepped down and gave Kael the title of Alpha. Kael led the Scarlet Moon Pack with strength and grace. I was so proud of him. So in love with him.
But then Aria came back.
She’d been gone for years, traveling abroad, training with different packs, and growing into her role as Beta. When she returned, I was thrilled to see my best friend again. She's like a sister to me.
But Kael… something shifted in him the moment she walked back into our lives.
I remember catching them once, late at night. I’d gone looking for Kael, expecting to find him in the study, but instead, I found him with Aria. They were standing too close, their voices hushed.
“What are you going to do about it?” Aria had whispered.
“I’ll handle it,” Kael replied, his tone tense but soft.
When they saw me, they froze. Kael quickly stepped away from her, his face unreadable.
“What’s going on?” I’d asked, my stomach twisting.
“Nothing,” Kael said, forcing a smile. “We were just talking about the patrols.”
But I wasn’t stupid. There was something else. Something they weren’t telling me.
Later, I couldn’t shake the image of the way he looked at her. His eyes… they sparkled in a way I hadn’t seen in so long.
Still, I dismissed it. I trusted him. I trusted Aria.
When I finally confronted him about it, I’d been so nervous. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I asked, “Kael… is there something going on between you and Aria?”
He’d looked hurt, almost offended. “Selene, no. How could you even think that? You’re my mate. My Luna. Don’t you trust me?”
“I do,” I’d said quickly, desperate to believe him. “I just… I saw the way you two were talking, and I—”
“It’s nothing,” he’d interrupted, pulling me into his arms. “I promise. Trust me. Trust us. Aria’s your best friend. She loves you, Selene.”
I wanted so badly to believe him. So I did.
Even when I overheard them talking about a pregnancy, I brushed it off. It wasn’t my place to assume. Aria was allowed her privacy. And Kael… Kael would never betray me.
But now, lying here in a strange place, with Theo snuggled against my chest, I couldn’t stop replaying all those moments in my head.
The late-night talks. The stolen glances. The lies I told myself because I loved him too much to see the truth.
Kael and Aria had been betraying me all along.
I cried harder, clutching Theo tighter, as if holding him could somehow stop the pieces of my broken heart from scattering any further.
I’d given Kael everything—my trust, my love, my whole life—and he’d thrown it all away.
And Aria… the woman I called my sister, my confidante… she’d taken it all from me. My mate. My child. My place in the pack.
I wiped at my tears, but they kept falling. It felt like the betrayal would never stop hurting.
“I trusted you,” I whispered into the darkness, my voice cracking. “I trusted both of you.”
But they hadn’t cared. They’d left me to die.
Theo stirred against me, his tiny hand gripping my shirt. His soft, fragile breaths were the only thing anchoring me to reality.
I took a shaky breath and pressed a kiss to his head. I couldn’t break. Not now. He might not be my son but he needed me.
