MATED TO MY EX’S UNCLE

CHAPTER 3

"Please, please find it in your heart to forgive me. I have made a mistake, a terrible mistake. I am so sorry."

She was on her knees.

Mira Wellington, who had never lowered herself for anything in her life, was on her knees on the stone floor with both hands clutching his ankle.

"You are pregnant with his pup, aren't you?"

The color that flooded her face told him everything he needed to know.

"No. No. The… it's yours. The pup is yours." Her hands went to her stomach. "I'm carrying your child."

"The only night we shared a bed was our wedding night months ago." He looked down at her. "Besides, I can smell the pup. It isn't mine."

"Derick—"

"You drugged me, didn't you? You put something in the wine and that is why I can't remember much."

Her face crumpled like paper. She knew that she couldn't lie her way out of this one. Khoal powder, as if.

"C-Caleb gave it to me, he said that we.. w-we should put our partners to sleep and then meet up here. I didn't mean to mix them up. I was supposed to use the sleeping powder and I-I don't know how I took the wrong one. I didn't know it was the aphrodisiac I used instead. I swear to the Goddess it was an honest mistake, I swear—"

He reached down and took her face between his fingers, applying enough pressure to stop her rant.

"Because of your carelessness, I woke up beside a girl ten to twelve years younger than I am. You compromised my entire person, you made me an instrument in your infidelity without my knowledge or consent." He released her face. "I do not blame you for finding what you needed elsewhere, especially since I had made it clear from the very start that this marriage was an arrangement, a business bonus and nothing more. But you drugged me and attempted to pin a pregnancy on me. That I will not overlook."

"Please." She grabbed his ankles again. "Please don't send me home. My parents will be disappointed and they'll disown me. Derick, please. I am your wife. I will do whatever it takes to atone for my sins and make this marriage work. Please."

"Darling," he ran a hand through her messy curls and patted them in place. "I am going to get breakfast, I have quite the appetite today. When I return, if my ring is still on your finger and you are still in this compound, you will regret the day you exchanged those vows with me, Mira. I promise you that."

Her hands flew to her head. "Ah, Derick. Okay, please at least, don't… don't tell anyone ye—"

He shut the door behind her.

Gossip had a way of spreading like wildfire.

The entire corridor was eroded with murmurs and harsh whispering from worker to worker.

"... They said she begged him to sleep with her again tonight before Alpha Caleb walked in on them."

"... I always knew her goody-two-shoes persona was a façade."

One of the maids locked eyes with him and she ducked her head and dragged her co-gossiper, scurrying off like mice.

That was when he heard the grunts, then the screams.

"Let go of me! I did not cheat on him. He is the one twisting this story—ow, let go of me!"

Two guards had Mara by the arms, one on each side, dragging her forward. Her feet were barely finding the ground. Her robe had slipped at the shoulder and her red hair was wild around her tear-soaked face.

"Alpha's orders. Stop fighting this, Luna Mara."

A third guard trailed behind them, completely unbothered by the noise. He gestured to him. The guard hesitated briefly before coming over. His eyes fixed somewhere around Derick's collarbone. There was a hickey there, he was aware.

"What is happening?"

"The Luna stands accused of adultery, betrayal of her Alpha, and therefore treason."

Treason? He laughed. Caleb Wellington was one bold son of a gun. He would give him that.

"And where are they taking her?"

"To the council hall in order for them to determine the nature of her execution."

"You may go."

The guard nodded and left, trotting after the other two.

He couldn't care less as it was not his business.

Caleb was the Alpha of this pack. Whatever he did with his Luna was between him and his council. Derick had his own problems, the foremost being that he was hungry, he had not slept properly, and his "wife" was currently sitting on the floor of a guest chamber deciding whether to take the ring off voluntarily or wait and find out what happened if she didn't.

His personal chambers were on the far east side of the pack house, away from the main quarters, which was exactly how he preferred it. The room was simple. It had stone walls, dark wood, a single wide window that let in the morning light, no unnecessary furnishings, a desk, a chair, and a neatly made bed.

"Huh? Where is my breakfast?"

The small table beside the window where the tray usually sat was empty, which was unusual. His breakfast was usually dutifully delivered by the kitchen five minutes before this time. He made a mental note to go and address this with the head chef.

But first, he needed to wash the stickiness off his face.

He knew that it was her slick. The typical scented sliminess only an omega in rut could produce. Hers was clear white, and it tasted like—

Shut up, Derick.

He groaned and went to the sink beside the toilet, turning on the tap and placing his palms under the warm running water. He was about to put his face into his wet hands when something caught his attention.

The vein of his neck pulsed subtly and a glimmer appeared above it where two little surface holes had suddenly appeared. The mark was golden, faint, nearly unnoticeable but he could see the outline of it as clear as day. She had bitten him last night. In the dark. Half out of her mind and reaching for someone she thought was her husband.

And that bite… had turned into a mark.

He froze.

He always knew the moon goddess was twisted, because there was absolutely no f*****g way in hell that Mara Nichole was his mate.