I sat in my car at the edge of the pack's private airfield. Kain's black Gulfstream jet had landed over two hours ago, sitting silently on the tarmac surrounded by pack guards. Yet, my mate was nowhere to be seen. Because I had no inner wolf, I couldn't reach out to him through the mind-link. I was entirely shut out of his world, forced to rely on a human cell phone.
Taking a deep breath, I dialed his number again. It rang four times before the line clicked open.
"Kain?" I breathed out, a smile touching my lips.
"The Alpha is... occupied right now," a woman's voice purred through the speaker. It was smooth, arrogant, and dripping with a dark, feminine amusement.
My blood ran cold. The smile died on my face. "Who is this?"
A soft click was her only answer. She had hung up.
The mate-bond, buried deep within my chest, let out a pathetic, phantom whimper. *The Alpha.* The possessive way she said his title made my stomach churn. I stared at the steering wheel, my vision blurring as a suffocating wave of humiliation washed over me.
Fifteen minutes passed in agonizing silence before I couldn't take it anymore. I redialed.
This time, Kain answered.
"Sera," he said. His voice was tight, rough around the edges, as if he was actively fighting to suppress his inner wolf, Rage.
"Kain, where are you?" I asked, my voice shaking despite my best efforts. "I've been waiting at the airfield. I have something wonderful to tell you."
"Go home, Sera," he commanded, his tone entirely devoid of warmth. "I had an urgent pack emergency. I'm meeting with the Silvermoon delegates."
"But... are you coming home tonight? We need to talk."
"We do have things to discuss," he replied coldly. "But not tonight."
Before I could beg him to listen, a sound drifted through the receiver-a silvery, mocking laugh. It was the same woman. The sound pierced my chest like a silver dagger, burning away the last shred of my naive hope.
The line went dead.
He was with her. The realization shattered me. The secret growing in my womb suddenly felt less like a gift and more like a heavy, tragic burden.
Hours bled into the night. By 10 PM, the sprawling Alpha villa was a tomb of modern glass and cold shadows. I had curled up on the massive living room sofa, clutching a velvet throw pillow to my chest, staring blankly at the muted television until exhaustion finally dragged me under.
I didn't know how much time had passed when the sensation of strong arms lifting me pulled me from the dark.
I kept my eyes closed, my senses instantly flooded by the familiar, intoxicating scent of my mate. *Pine after a heavy storm.* It was a scent that usually brought me a profound sense of peace. But tonight, it was tainted.
Beneath the sharp tang of expensive whiskey, there was something else. A heavy, aggressive floral note. *Tuberose.*
It was the scent of a powerful, dominant she-wolf. It clung to Kain's shirt, woven into the fabric of his clothes and lingering on his skin. It was a scent that screamed of intimacy and claimed territory.
My heart violently seized. The physical pain of the mate-bond reacting to his betrayal was excruciating, making my skin prickle with cold sweat. The daytime phone call wasn't just a misunderstanding. The proof was right here, suffocating me in the dark.
Kain carried me up the stairs, his steps slightly uneven from the alcohol. He didn't say a single word. He didn't press a kiss to my forehead. He simply laid me down on the cold silk sheets of our king-size bed, turned his back, and walked toward the bathroom.
I lay frozen in the dark, my hands tightly gripping the bedsheets. The scent of the tuberose lingered in the air around me, a toxic cloud invading the very bedroom that was supposed to be our sanctuary.