My heart raced faster than my thoughts. I moved closer to them, my footsteps silent and stealthy.
And as I stopped before them, moonlight struck their frozen figures. The silver light from the Moon Goddess above illuminating what seemed to be an identical gold-and-ruby ring around her finger.
“Rowan?” I let my voice tremble as I stalked toward them. “What is this? Who is she?”
I asked calmly, eradicating my voice from all suspicions and accusations.
But my Alpha Rowan barely looked at me. In fact, he seemed to not hear me at all. His eyes seemed to be lost in the female’s eyes, his attention wholly pinned on her.
Then, before I knew it, his gaze slowly dragged from me to the other female.
“Bella...” His voice seemed to be drunk again, “Why...why is that there’s another—There’s two of you?” Rowan asked, confusion contorted his drunk face.
The other Bella smiled with her eyes lit up with amusement. She was taller than me, her flowing brown-gold hair rivalled my simple black hair. But her lips...it curled with a smirk of a female hellbent to spread malice. In her bloody red dress, she looked like a devil enjoying what was happening.
“Rowan, you're drunk,” she whispered as she turned to me. “Looks like you brought the wrong other Bella to the party.”
My chest tightened to the point of my emotions exploding, my mind going blank as I stared at her.
Who is she? Why was she acting like he belonged to her—to each other?!
“Oh, don't worry, Bella,” she purred with a snake’s smile. “I'm pretty sure I was born Bella, unlike you who’s born Mirabella. I'm the real Bella. Aren't I, Rowan?”
Rowan stood, blinking at me and then at her. He smiled, “Yes. You... you're my one and only Bella.”
My eyes widened, my heart dropping on the forest ground. “Rowan...Rowan, what are you saying?!” I swallowed, this time I let all the anger in my soul shine in my eyes and see in my face.
The other males gathered around the fire stood to watch the three of us.
My knees buckled, and in a heartbeat, I was on the ground. I looked like I’m pleading at him to make whatever is happening right.
Is this a prank of his? A drunken session gone wrong?
I don’t know what’s happening. My tears blurred my vision as the realization that he claimed another female in front of me who also goes by the name of Bella struck me. I slowly unfurled my hand and I took off the ring that I found earlier.
I let the ring fall.
But Alpha Rowan hurriedly picked it up before my knees and dropped to one knee in front of the other Bella.
“Bella, will you be mine?” he asked softly, full of love and affection.
Rowan was kneeling in front of this female, this other Bella, proposing.
And I can’t help but cry silently and clenched my fist even when the forest soil turned my hands filthy.
I ran away. My soil-covered hands gripped the steering wheel as I drove under pressure, ignoring the pounding of my heart and the roaring of my blood.
But no matter how I drove fast, my tears fell faster with everything that happened. It all happened in minutes, and I’m still processing what I just witnessed. How could Rowan propose to another female named Bella?
My entire world shattered at the sight of Alpha Rowan of the Moonstone Pack proposing to another female to be his Luna. I couldn't take it anymore so I ran straight for my car.
But as I was about to drive away, Rowan fell face-first into the forest ground and his head kissed the soil with a thud that shook the nearby leaves from the trees. He passed out before the other Bella could even answer.
I didn't look back, ignoring Beta Johnson’s call that I take Rowan with me. I didn't care what happened to him now. My dream and hope of a better future with my mate is nothing but a memory now.
All I wanted now as I start my car was to be away from all of them. I needed to breathe, to think, to cry, and to shriek at the Moon Goddess for allowing me to be mated to a male who already loved another female. A Rowan who proposed to another Bella.
“AHH!” I screamed inside my car, letting all those heavy emotions flow out of me. But screaming inside my car was not enough to lighten my heart. It didn’t even help a bit.
I stopped the car in the middle of the road, the path is as empty and silent as my heart now. It no longer whispered Rowan’s name and promises.
Alpha Rowan was drunk: that was the only explanation I could find. The only explanation that explained it all.
He didn't know what he was doing. He probably didn't even recognize me because of his drunkenness and that female just went along with his random mumbling to make fun of him in front of the other Betas. It was a case of mistaken identity and common things that male made up when the beer drowned their sense of self.
But the way he looked at her…the gold-and-ruby ring on her finger and the softness of his voice when he spoke to her wouldn't leave my mind.
“How long have you been cheating on me, Rowan?” I whispered while staring at the picture we took just last year.
