He Lost the Mate Who Made Him Powerful

I was Huck Macias's fated mate, bound to the werewolf everyone believed would become the next Alpha King. I had given him Arthur, the only son he would ever have. For years, I had built my life around that truth. I had believed it was sacred and would last forever. On Arthur's seventh birthday, I cleared my entire schedule so I could make the day perfect for both of them. I even shifted into wolf form and went hunting myself for the game Huck and Arthur loved most. By the time I finished, my hands were covered in small burns, and both my arms ached. None of it seemed to matter. Every time I imagined Arthur's face lighting up, or Huck smiling at me across the table, something soft and foolish stirred in my chest. I kept telling myself it was worth it. I kept thinking how much they were going to love it. But as the light outside thinned and the rooms around me darkened, the house stayed empty. Huck did not come back. Arthur did not come back either. At first, I was only disappointed. Then the disappointment curdled into something heavier. I reached for Huck through the mind-link and sent him a message, hoping for something simple. His reply came almost immediately. "Lucy, something important came up today. Don't make dinner. Arthur and I aren't coming back tonight." My gaze drifted over the dining room table, then around the silent house, and the emptiness of it seemed to press in on me from every side. Standing there in that silence, I found myself thinking about the day Huck and I got married. It had happened in this very house. The pack had gathered around us then. Everyone who mattered had come to bless our union. I could still remember the heat of the ceremony, the hum of voices, the weight of Huck's hand wrapped around mine. I remembered the first time I ever saw him. His eyes had been a startling blue, the kind that caught me and refused to let go. He had been handsome in a way that made a room seem to tilt toward him, and when our gazes locked, my heart had started pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. The bond had answered before either of us said a word. I had felt it in my blood, in my bones, in the deepest part of me. When Huck proposed, I thought I was the luckiest she-wolf in the world. For eight years, he had taken care of me. I had let myself believe in that version of our marriage. By the time I came back to myself, I let out a slow breath. In the end, I decided I would forgive him again. I picked up my phone and opened the pack's social platform, more out of habit than intention, and that was when I saw them. Two familiar figures appeared in a video that had just been posted. My pulse stuttered. I tapped the screen. There were Huck and Arthur. And there was Vivian Sellers, smiling as though she had every right in the world to be at the center of it all. A birthday cake had been set in front of her, and she was making a wish. For a moment, I could not breathe. Vivian was the she-wolf Huck had loved before me. The disappointment hit so sharply it almost numbed me. Then disbelief followed it, and after that came something worse. Something that tore straight through me before I could brace for it. This was the important thing he had chosen over his son's birthday at home with me. He had taken my child and gone to celebrate with another woman! Then Huck's voice came through the video. "I've always loved you, Vivian. Lucy may be my fated mate, but I gave her a son. I fulfilled my duty to her." The world around me went still. I could hear my own breathing. Then Arthur spoke too. His eyes were cold as he looked at the gift I had prepared for him. "I hate Mom. She never lets me do what I want, and she's always in a bad mood. I don't want her. I want Vivian to be my mother." Something inside me gave way. It felt as if a blade had been driven into my chest and twisted slowly. I did not realize I was crying until tears dropped onto my hands. On the screen, the three of them looked warm and happy together. They looked like a family. I sat down on the edge of the bed at some point, though I could not remember crossing the room. I cried until night fell around the house and the dark filled every corner. Eventually, exhaustion dragged me under, and I fell asleep without meaning to. When I woke, everything was black. For one stunned second, I thought I had gone blind. Then panic slammed into me. I had been blindfolded. I jerked backward on instinct, but a sharp object pressed against my back so suddenly and so hard that I froze where I was. I did not dare move after that. My heart pounded so violently that it made me sick. Someone grabbed the cloth over my eyes and ripped it away. Light spilled back in all at once, dim, dirty, and hard to focus on at first. As my vision cleared, I realized I was in an old warehouse. The light was poor, the air was stale, and dust clung to my clothes and skin. My clothes were filthy, my head was spinning, and I was completely at someone else's mercy. Then I saw who had taken me, John Macias, one of Huck's brothers. He had always wanted Huck dead, and he had always wanted the throne for himself. When he saw that I was awake, his face twisted into something ugly. "Lucy," he said, "tell Huck. If he doesn't come, I'll kill you." Fear closed around me so fast I could barely breathe. My whole body started shaking. I reached for Huck through the mind-link, my thoughts shaking with desperation. "Huck, John kidn*pped me. Please come save me." His answer came back almost at once. "Lucy, how many times are you going to pull this same stunt? Arthur has a fever. I don't have time for your games." Even now, he was still lying to me. Cold spread through my chest so quickly it almost felt clean. In the past, when Huck abandoned me to go see Vivian, I had used excuses to try to get him home. I had told myself I only wanted his attention. Now he had taken those old wounds and used them as proof that I could no longer be trusted, even when I was begging for my life. John pressed the blade harder. A sharp pain sliced across my skin, and the smell of blood rose instantly into the stale air. He frowned, already losing patience. "If he won't come, your blood is on him." Something in me broke. Tears poured down my face as I reached for Huck again through the mind-link. I sent another message. This time, nothing came back. Then I understood. Huck had blocked the mind-link. The last fragile bit of hope inside me collapsed. John's face darkened with irritation. He pulled out a dagger and drove it into my abdomen. I screamed. The pain was so savage it knocked the air out of me and sent me crumpling to the floor. Before I could even catch my breath, he stabbed me again. My body convulsed on the filthy concrete. Warm blood spread beneath me. My strength drained so fast that I could feel my limbs go cold. Somehow, through the pain and the panic and the nausea, I managed to drag my phone out and send Huck one last message. Lucy: I'll break the mate bond. Please save me. The moment the message went through, my phone rang. I answered with shaking fingers. His voice came through bright with excitement. "Lucy, do you mean it? You're really willing to break the mate bond?" I was fading fast by then. Pain had emptied me of everything but the need to survive. My vision blurred. My voice came out thin and frayed. "Yes..." But loud music was pounding somewhere on his end of the line, wild and celebratory, and he misheard me. His voice turned sharp with anger. "Lucy, you've gone too far! You just can't stand seeing me treat Vivian well, can you? You have no idea what these last eight years have been like. Every day I spent with you was torture. Eight years with you were worth less than one second with Vivian! A liar like you should've died a long time ago. I'm done caring what happens to you!" A woman's voice drifted softly through the line. "Huck, don't say that. Maybe Lucy really is in danger." Of course, it was Vivian. When he spoke to Vivian again, his voice softened in the way I had spent years begging to hear, "Vivian, I know exactly what she's like. She lies whenever she wants attention. She's only doing this to make me come back." Then his voice hardened again as he addressed me. "Let me make this clear one last time, Lucy. Unless you agree to break the mate bond, I'm not coming to save you." The line went dead. He had hung up. I stared at the phone in my blood-slick hand and felt the last of my hope leave me. When I looked up again, John was watching me with a dark expression. "Lucy, looks like you really are going to die."