Bond and Betrayal

Chapter 2. Backstabbed

There, at my cousin’s bed, is no other than my Drake, on top of her, and they are groping each other. They were too busy to realize that someone was coming.

Anger crashed after the shock vanquished.

I hurled a vase toward the bed, ignoring the fact that it was my aunt’s favorite decorative piece. It collided with the wall just above the headboard and shattered in pieces.

Drake stopped dry humping Irina and sat, looking back at me with utter shock.

“Is this what you did after not seeing me for two days?!” I hissed with a total annoyance in my tone. “For God's sake, Drake. I'm pregnant!”

What a jerk. He knew I was pregnant, but couldn't keep his pants on another chick. This made me doubt if he acted happy when I delivered the news, just a few days ago.

Irina, who knows nothing, looks at us in turns with a confused face.

I expected more of him. Expected that he was at least responsible and a good man. But I was slapped by my own expectations when his shocked face turned into a mocked expression with a smirk as he uttered, “Your lack of brain cells was never my problem, Aria. You ain't my mate, Irina is.”

I stared at him with disbelief. “W-what do you mean? You said—”

“I just used you, dumbass,” he cut me off.

All I wanted was to strangle him to death, while screaming out my frustration on his smug face. But I just can't. I just stood there. My eyes felt like coal burned on them and dang, my chest hurt.

How could he? After so many years we’ve spent.

I wheel around and ran home. I dashed inside through the opened front door, ignoring mom and dad, who were chatting while sipping their cups of tea and silenced, when I climbed upstairs to my room.

I jumped to my bed, limbs sprawled like a starfish with anger issues, and soon had a concert on top of my pillow. Ugly-cried like my life just ended.

“Honey, what happened?” My mother’s sweet voice rang, before the end of the bed dipped.

I screamed one more time, before shifting into sit position. Mom looks at me with concern, her brows furrowed.

Me, who was still a sobbing mess, stuttered, “He-he lied.”

“Who? Drake? About what?”

I closed my eyes and took a shaky deep breath. “That I was his mate.”

When I opened them, mom looked at me with ‘See?’ expression, but she said nothing, probably don't want to add lemon juice to my wound. Instead, she hugs me and pats my back lovingly.

“I'm so sorry. It sucks. But you are too young, baby. You will get over him,” she soothed me, at least she tried.

And yes, no one knows about my early pregnancy—except for the bastard baby daddy.

Mom retreated after I was no longer sobbed. “Speak of which, earlier me and your dad talked about you. Have you connected to your wolf? Let's shift and run together, you will feel better after releasing some stress.”

I stared at her and blinked. I'm so f****d.

She smiled lovingly and stroked my hair. “We can order a very nice lemon cake and celebrate your birthday with our family afterward.”

“I-I can't,” I stuttered.

“Why?” Her hand paused in the air as her gaze shifted through me, to the bedside table behind me, then reached for something on top of it.

She looked at the test kit with an absolut shocked face. Probably with a horror scale higher than mine when I first found out.

“Aria Selenia White, what the f**k?!” she spat as I shuddered.

I'm so done.

After what felt like hours of silence, my parents finally spoke. It wasn’t loud or filled with shouting, but the weight of their words crushed me all the same.

“Aria,” my dad began, his voice steady but colder than I’d ever heard it, “what were you thinking? Trusting a boy like Drake Simmons? Did it never cross your mind to question his intentions?”

I looked down at the table, my hands clutching the fabric of my dress as tears welled up again. “I thought—” I tried to speak but was immediately cut off.

“You thought,” my mom interrupted, her tone sharp as glass, “but you didn’t know. Aria, we’ve warned you about this, about trusting someone who isn’t proven to be your mate. And now look at where you are. Do you have any idea how hard this is going to be?”

My father sighed, leaning forward with his hands clasped together. His disappointment stung worse than her words. “We’re not angry because you’re pregnant, Aria. We’re angry because you handed over your trust—and your future—to someone who didn’t deserve it. You’re smarter than this. Or at least, I thought you were.”

His words hit like a punch to the gut.

“I didn’t know…” I whispered, my voice trembling.

“Exactly. You didn’t know,” Mom said, her tone softening only slightly. “And instead of waiting to find your fated mate, someone who would cherish and honor you, you gambled everything on someone like Drake.” She shook her head, her disappointment plain on her face.

My tears spilled over. “I loved him. I thought he loved me too,” I said, my voice cracking.

“Love?” Mom laughed bitterly. “Love isn’t sneaking around with another woman while his pregnant girlfriend stands clueless. Love is respect, loyalty, commitment—not this.”

Dad leaned back in his chair, his expression weary now, the anger giving way to something worse: pity. “Do you understand what this means, Aria? This isn’t just about a broken heart. You’re going to be a single mother, in a world where our kind depends on bonds and family. It’s going to be brutal, and you’ll have to face that head-on.”

I could barely breathe. My chest felt tight, suffocating under the weight of their words.

“But we’re not abandoning you,” Dad added after a long pause. “We won’t disown you. This is your mistake, but we’ll help you through it.”

“Help?” Mom snapped, glaring at him. “She can’t just expect us to clean up her mess. She needs to learn from this. This isn’t just some oops, my bad situation.”

I shrank back in my seat, my tears flowing silently now. The guilt, the shame—it was unbearable.

“She’ll learn,” Dad said firmly, meeting her gaze. “But we’re her parents, and this is when she needs us the most.”

Mom exhaled sharply, her anger dissipating into something softer. She turned to me again, and her voice dropped to almost a whisper. “Aria, we love you. That’s why this hurts so much. You made a choice that will change your life forever. And while we can’t fix it for you, we’ll do our best to guide you.”

Her words, though kinder, stung even more than the scolding. I didn’t deserve their support. I didn’t deserve their love.

“I’m sorry,” I choked out, sobbing into my hands.

“I hope you are,” Dad said quietly. “But being sorry isn’t enough, Aria. You need to think about what kind of life you want to give this child. Because it’s not just about you anymore.”

We had a silent dinner, where the air filled with desperation. At least the air around me.

The silence continues until a streak of knocks on the door. Mom sighed before standing up and answering it, then went back a minute later to our dining room with dad's sister, India—my aunt, Irina’s mother—in tow.

She has a big smile and a basket of her famous homemade meatballs on her hands. She seemed shitty at reading situations and started to deliver a news that gave me nausea. A good news, at least on her side.

“Guess what. Irina found her mate, here in this pack. I was beyond happy, you know, we just arrived yesterday and Irina and her mate told me just a few hours ago,” she started talking soon after putting her fat ass on the only empty chair, the basket even still on her lap.

There’s a brief pause before my mother chuckled nervously. “I'm so happy for her. Who is the lucky boy?”

I choked on my salad and my father patted my back, while his attention was still on Aunt India.

She smiled before saying, “Drake Simmons, the future Alpha.”