Alpha's Virgin Claim

CH2: Nadia's POV

A tear slipped down my cheek, hot and blinding, burning a path across my skin as I stood frozen at the door—Kaden's door.

I couldn’t bring myself to knock nor touch the red doorknob even though every second that passed tore me further apart.

It wasn’t the moans I’d heard earlier that paralyzed me, nor the sound of Ryan’s voice begging Kaden to go harder and deeper in her. It wasn’t the sickening scent of s*x in the air or their laughter echoing down the hallway like twisted music.

Not even the royal mating ceremony decorations strewn along the corridor had broken me.

I'd seen them earlier, draped in gold and white carried proudly by the Luna herself—Kaden's mother—as she supervised the celebration to come.

What shattered me were the words I heard after they were done.

"I told you to trust me, Ryan. Have I ever failed you before? You really thought I would start now because of that lowly omega?"

Kaden's voice was smooth. Gosh too smooth and cold.

Ryan’s laugh followed, slow and triumphant. I knew that laugh all too well. She only used it when she’d won. This time not against her fellow Beta's daughters from other packs but me, the janitor who once scrubbed the floor of her father's mansion.

"I honestly thought you were going soft on me," she said. "That the mate bond with her had gotten to you."

"What rubbish mate bond?" Kaden scoffed. "There’s no way that wolfless mutt will ever be my mate. Fate or not, I’d never accept her."

My breath caught in my throat.

"I'm still amazed at how perfectly you pulled it off," Ryan purred. "Not only am I healed from my chronic illness thanks to her kidney, but tonight, I’ll be crowned as Luna of Bloodmoon Pack. Can you imagine the envy I'll get from other she wolves?"

"That’s why you should always trust me," Kaden said. "When I found out Nadia was a match, I panicked at first. But then I realized the mate bond was the perfect in when it had snapped on our wrists. All I had to do was play the role of a devoted fated mate, and she'd follow me blind."

"You mean… she didn’t even know?"

"Of course not." He chuckled. "I staged the appendicitis scare and took her to the hospital. Had her sign the surgical documents. She trusted me completely. Never even read them."

"Poor girl," Ryan whispered with mock pity. "Six whole months thinking you loved her. I wonder what had been going on in her head"

"Greed, probably," he replied. "Daydreams of becoming my mate to escape her pathetic fate."

"An omega becoming Luna?" She laughed. "Only in her wildest, most delusional dreams."

The sound of lips meeting wet and hungry rippled across the air again. Like they couldn’t wait for midnight to come.

I stumbled backward, my knees buckling beneath the weight of everything I’d just heard.

No wonder I’d felt weak and sickly for the past two months after that so-called surgery. No wonder Kaden had “allowed” me to leave the Pack so easily. No wonder he had seemed so understanding and supportive when I worried about our class difference when the mate bond first sparked.

It had all been a lie.

Every touch and kiss. Every whispered promise. Every “I’ll fight for you.” All of it had all been a part of his strategic manipulation to keep me close and emotionally vulnerable for his use.

He never loved me nor saw me as his mate. I was a tool. And worse? I let him.

More tears rolled down my eyes. I'd been such a fool. A pathetic one at that and that had led me to being used, violated both physically and emotionally and now being discarded like trash as I have already served my purpose.

Mirabel would scream “I told you so.” She’d warned me to stay away from Kaden. Warned me not to trust an Alpha heir with something as sacred as a bond. But I didn’t listen.

I let him in. I let him own my thoughts, using the mate bond as a chain to manipulate and feed me lies. I gave him my trust, believing him blindly without reason.

And in return he used me like a spare part—a lower-ranked wolf reduced to livestock for his real love.

My hands trembled as I pressed them against my abdomen. The scar from the surgery pulsed under my skin, reminding me of what I’d lost without even knowing.

All that affection two months ago, how he held me when I was weak, the kisses on my forehead, the way he made me feel safe, it had all been for this.

To harvest what he needed from me for her.

And I had signed the papers without reading it because I trusted him.

Because I thought fate had finally given me something beautiful in a world that had only given me pain.

I don’t know what hurts more.

The betrayal?

The stolen kidney I unknowingly gave to the one woman I hated most? The same woman who made life for me at Bloodmoon Pack unbearable.

Or the regret that I ignored every warning and believed I mattered to a man who saw me as disposable?

My tears kept falling, but I couldn't wipe them away.

The door flew open a few minutes later, jerking me out of my thoughts. I hadn’t heard their footsteps nor noticed the end of their kiss. But they were now standing in front of me.

My eyes locked with Kaden’s.

Emotionless and cold. He stared at me like I was a piece of furniture blocking his path, like something he hadn’t expected to see and now wished he hadn’t.

“Nadia?” Ryan’s voice faltered with surprise, clearly not expecting me there.

Her eyes darted to Kaden’s, likely trying to gauge just how much I had heard. Just how long I’d been standing here.

Kaden’s gaze dropped, sweeping over my figure from my head where the veil and dark glasses rested to the floor. I didn’t miss the flicker in his expression,the hint of confusion.

He hadn’t expected me to make it in.

I hadn’t expected to either.

But I had.

I’d bought the veil and glasses, disguised myself and snuck past the guards he’d instructed not to let me in tonight.

Because apparently, Kaden had decided to erase me before even saying goodbye.

I lifted my chin and met his eyes, my voice steady even though I felt like crumbling.

“What exactly did you plan to do with me after your mating ceremony with Ryan, Alpha Kaden?”

I asked the question coldly, daring him to answer. Daring him to lie to me again.

I had nothing left to lose, not after everything.

Not after realizing I’d been the biggest fool in my own story.

What more could he do to me now? What more could the great Alpha take from someone he had already broken?

“How dare you speak to the future Alpha like that?” Ryan snapped, her voice dripping with self-righteous anger. I didn’t even blink in her direction because she wasn’t worth it.

"This isn't a matter involving kidney thieves" I whispered, but loud enough for her to hear. Enough for them to know I'd overheard everything they said about me.

She flinched.

Kaden caught her wrist as she took a step toward me. I saw the flicker of rage in her eyes. But whatever Kaden said through the mind link stilled her. She froze, swallowing her fury.

If only I had a wolf to respond with.

If only I hadn’t believed so desperately that I would shift after Kaden’s wolf had supposedly scented mine.

Damn the wolf I never had, I could have heard what he told her.

Damn the hope I clung to for far too long.

“You have no proof I stole your kidney, Nadia,” Ryan said, lifting her chin arrogantly, her voice coated with mockery.

“And besides who would believe your words against mine? You’re the traitor’s daughter. I, on the other hand, am the Beta’s. Soon to be Luna. And when that happens…” her smile turned cruel “I’ll make sure the rest of your miserable life is spent beneath my feet. You’ll be nothing but my slave to serve me.”

I paid no heed to her words. She wasn't whom I came here for. Nor part of the reason I'd used that train ticket Mirabel got for me.

I wiped the tears pooling at the corners of my eyes before they could fall. I wouldn't let them see me weep.

Not ever again.

I turned my eyes back to Kaden who was still trying to piece together what to say. I stared at him, straight through him and in his eyeballs and let every word of mine drip with finality.

“I, Nadia Carter, reject you, Kaden of the Bloodmoon Pack, as my mate.”

I took a breath and the strength that filled my lungs was fire.

“I will never be your mistress. Nor be the plaything you keep by the side for your sick fantasies.”

And with that I turned my back on the man I once believed was my mate, because he had made his choice, and it wasn't me.