Chapter 4
My phone rang–Alpha Terry.
+ 5 Points
I nearly let it go to voicemail, but curiosity got the better of me.
“What do you want?” I snapped.
“Guess who I just saw in Crown Shadow Pack?” he said, smug as ever.
“I don’t care. You didn’t need to call.”
I was ready to hang up when his tone changed–sharp and gloating.
“Josephine, do you really think Alpha Lucas fell for you at first sight?”
I went cold.
“He only got close to you for revenge. For Claire. He knew the second you gave up on me, you were vulnerable. Easy to catch.”
Chapter 4
+ 5 Points
I clenched my jaw. “What exactly are you trying to say?”
“At least when you chased after me all those years, there was no one else in my heart, he said, as if he expected me to be grateful. “If you’d just held on a little longer, I might’ve believed your love was real. Even Claire tried to seduce me back then–and failed. Unlike Alpha Lucas.”
A sharp, searing pain pulsed through my right hand, right where the bone had once fractured.
My wolf stirred, baring her teeth.
“You were the one who tipped me off, weren’t you?” I said coldly.
“You’re still so obsessed with stirring the pot.”
A breath. Then I let the words spill.
Chapter 4
+ 5 Points
“So what if you once saved me? That doesn’t make up for ten years of indifference.”
“You should know–whatever choice I made, I don’t regret it. And I’m never looking back.”
Silence.
Then the line went dead.
Moments later, a message came through- an MMS.
“Watch this. You’ll be interested.”
I tapped play.
The video opened on a dock at night. Alpha Lucas stood with his back to the camera, yanking off his tie in frustration.
Someone nearby chuckled. “Rough night? Couldn’t perform?”
Alpha Lucas didn’t answer. He just lit a
Chapter 4
cigarette with his hands.
+ 5 Points
Then came Zach’s voice. “Claire… she’s waiting for you?”
Lucas exhaled smoke, jaw clenched.
“She seduced me when I visited Crown
Shadow Pack last month. Things… got out of hand.”
The phone slipped from my grip, clattering to the floor.
I barely made it to the bathroom before I threw up, the bile rising like acid guilt.
Kneeling on the cold tile, I noticed something that made my stomach drop all over again.
An unopened pack of sanitary pads.
A shiver ran through me.
My period was late.
Chapter 4
By a week.
I never missed a cycle. Ever.
+ 5 Points
But between the wedding plans, the betrayal, and the heartbreak, I hadn’t noticed.
Last month, he’d told me he was flying to the Crown Shadow Pack for a work trip. He’d said the time zone difference was why he couldn’t call much.
And then he’d sent me a letter–handwritten.
“Josephine, I miss you so much. I wish I could be with you every second.”
That was probably the same week he was tearing up hotel sheets with Claire.
He’d held me with one hand and lied with the other.
Even in the middle of his betrayal, he still made sure to play the part of the perfect boyfriend.
Chapter 4
+ 5 Points
That letter wasn’t love–it was guilt.
And I… I believed every word.
Now, I couldn’t help but wonder-
When he returned from Crown Shadow Pack and ran into my arms, did he spend the nights whispering apologies to Claire?
Was she the woman he held in the dark, while I was the woman he kissed in the light?
How do you step out of one woman’s
warmth
and slide seamlessly into another’s arms-
without flinching?
