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1424 Words
Amira Smith's POV:
“It’s happening! Alpha Zuko is getting married to Vanessa Hopkins right now.”
My friend Vera had burst into my room with those words two hours ago, and I had run like my life depended on it. I ran until the air burned in my lungs and I almost forgot how to breathe. I ran because I had to see it for myself; it was the only way I could truly believe the betrayal.
Seeing them now, standing at that altar bathed in the soft glow of the cathedral, was enough to shatter every hope I had left.
It was true.
My mate, Zuko, was getting married to Vanessa Hopkins.
This was the same Vanessa he told me was just a family friend. The same woman he swore he could never like, let alone love.
She "wasn't his type," he’d said. I "didn't need to worry about her," he’d promised.
Yet there he was, standing at the altar in a tailored black suit that emphasized his powerful frame, looking at her as if he couldn't wait to tear that white lace wedding gown apart.
I wanted to turn and flee, but my feet were rooted to the floor. Part of me still clung to a desperate, foolish doubt. Maybe it was a prank. Maybe it was a scene from a high-budget movie. Just maybe, the world wasn't this cruel.
“Do you, Alpha Zuko Esposito, take Miss Vanessa Hopkins as your lawfully wedded wife and Luna?” the priest’s voice echoed through the hallowed hall.
My heart thrashed against my ribs. This was the answer that would change everything. Zuko loved playing games; maybe this was his ultimate stunt. Maybe he would say no.
A heavy silence settled over the room as the guests waited for his response. He took longer than usual to answer, and the wait was maddening.
My wolf was already pacing restlessly, clawing at my insides.
He looked through the crowd, his sharp gaze searching for something, or someone, until his sea-blue eyes landed directly on me.
I gasped, the air leaving my lungs.
“Do you, Alpha Zuko Esposito, take Miss Vanessa Hopkins as your lawfully wedded wife and Luna?” the priest questioned again, his voice echoing with more urgency.
I counted my shallow breaths, praying for a rejection. Just then, his lips curled into a slow, mocking smirk, his gaze never leaving mine.
“Yes, I do,” he replied.
That was when the dam finally broke. All the emotions I had been suppressing since I first heard the marriage rumors a week ago, emotions I chose to ignore because I trusted him, came rushing out like a flood.
The world around me went silent, replaced by a high-pitched ringing in my ears. The only thing I could see was Zuko sliding the ring onto her finger.
I had to do something.
My brain screamed that he wasn't in his right mind, that he didn't know what he was doing. I was the one he loved. I was his mate.
“Wait!” I cried out, the word escaping my throat before I could stop it.
The ceremony went deathly still. Every head in the church turned toward me.
I saw the ring Vanessa was about to slide onto his finger fall and roll across the marble floor. She didn’t even glance at it; instead, she fixed me with a stare so full of venom it felt like a physical blow.
“Is there a problem, young lady?” the priest asked, peering over his spectacles.
“Yes,” I replied, my voice trembling but audible. “Alpha Zuko is my mate. We love each other. This... this has to be a mistake.”
A wave of whispers filled the room like a swarm of angry bees.
“Zuko, tell them,” I urged him, my eyes pleading with him to end this nightmare. But he remained silent, his face a mask of cold indifference.
“Who let this filthy thing in here?”
I heard the voice before I saw her. Zuko’s mother, the current Luna, was approaching me from the front pew, her expression terrifyingly calm.
“Luna, I…”
Pauow.
The sound of her palm meeting my face was deafening. The force of the slap sent a shockwave through my skull, making me feel instantly deaf in one ear.
“How dare a nobody like you make a scene here?” she hissed, her eyes like chips of ice. “You will pay for this. Security, take her away.”
Muscular hands clamped down on my shoulders. I struggled, but their grip was like iron.
“Stop,” Zuko’s voice boomed through the cathedral. The guards immediately let go of me.
Relief washed over me so thick I nearly collapsed. I knew it. He was going to fight for me. He was going to tell them that I was the one he wanted, just like he had promised me during those secret nights.
“Is what she said true?” the priest asked, sounding shaken.
“Yes, she is my mate,” Zuko replied.
Joy surged through me, so bright I ignored the increased murmuring of the crowd.
Finally, after two years of hiding in the shadows, he was going to claim me in front of everyone.
“Do you wish to cancel the wedding?” the priest asked.
Our eyes met again. Those sea-blue eyes were mesmerizing, framed by his dark, tousled hair and his perfectly sculpted jawline.
He was breathtaking, a true Alpha of the Esposito line. There was only one of him in this world, and he was mine.
My Zuko.
“No, I don't,” he replied, and the joy in my heart died instantly. “I will go ahead and marry Vanessa. She is the one I love, and she is the one I choose.”
“Are you sure?” the priest whispered. Zuko turned a cold, predatory glare toward the man.
“Did you expect me to settle for someone like her?” he asked, gesturing toward me as if I were a piece of trash on his boot. “She is a filthy Omega. She has no background, no status, and no value. She is penniless. She would be nothing but a liability to my family and my name. I would never give her the Esposito name. You should know better than to ask.”
His words were like a silver knife stabbing through my heart and into my wolf. I could almost taste the copper of blood in my mouth.
“I’m sorry, Alpha,” the priest apologized quickly.
The guards grabbed me again, but this time, I didn't struggle. I was hollowed out, a shell of the girl who had walked in here.
“Let her go,” Zuko added dismissively. “She isn't worth the drama.”
They dropped my arms, and I stood there in a daze. By the time I came back to my senses, the church was empty. The guests, the flowers, the music, everything was gone.
I walked down the center aisle, the very path I had dreamed of walking with him. Instead, he had walked it with Vanessa.
I wiped the tears from my cheeks, but they wouldn't stop.
It was over. I told myself I wouldn't dwell on it. It was a wound that might never heal, but I would live. I had to.
I had to focus on my scholarship and my degree. I had to make a better life for myself and my grandmother back in our small village pack. That was the promise I made two years ago when I was accepted into the University of Esposito (UOE), the most prestigious school in the country.
I gathered what remained of my pride and walked back to the Alpha’s estate, where I lived and worked as a maid to support my studies. It was late by the time I reached my cramped, dim room.
I opened the door and froze.
Zuko was sitting on my bed, leaning back casually as if he hadn't just shattered my world. As if he wasn't a newly married man.
On a normal day, his presence wouldn't have shocked me, we had spent hundreds of nights like this.
But today wasn't normal.
I was no longer his secret. He was a husband now, and being caught with him like this wouldn't just break my heart, it would make me lose everything I had ever worked for.
- Writer
