006
1323 Words
Chapter 6
Thalia's POV
My fingers trembled as I stared at the screen, reading the message over and over until the words blurred together. Eight years. The number echoed in my head like a death knell.
Eight years meant this had started before I got pregnant. Before we became mates. Maybe even before we'd slept together that night.
The phone slipped from my hands, clattering onto the hardwood floor. I didn't pick it up. I couldn't. My legs gave out and I sank onto the edge of our bed—no, *his* bed. Had it ever really been ours?
From down the hall, I could hear Aria and Kieran playing, their laughter bright and innocent. Five years old and they had no idea their entire world was built on lies.
My hands instinctively went to my stomach, remembering the agony of carrying them. The months of bed rest. The dreams I'd buried. Luna Alana's voice rang in my memory: "Alpha pregnancies are difficult." But she'd never mentioned how difficult betrayal could make breathing.
The door opened and Varian walked in, his Alpha aura filling the room. He looked tired, his shirt slightly wrinkled from whatever "pack business" had kept him away tonight. When his eyes fell on me sitting there, then dropped to his phone on the floor, his entire body went rigid.
"Thalia—"
"Eight years." My voice came out hollow, unfamiliar to my own ears. "Tell me I'm misunderstanding. Tell me that message isn't what I think it is."
He said nothing. Of course he said nothing. Varian, who could command a room with a single word, who had convinced me to give up everything for our children, stood there like a statue.
I laughed, a broken sound that startled even me. "You're doing it again. Shutting down. Not engaging." I stood up, my legs somehow steadier now, fueled by a rage that was beginning to burn through the numbness. "Who is she?"
"It's not—it's complicated."
"COMPLICATED?" The word tore from my throat and I heard the playing stop down the hall. I forced myself to lower my voice, but the venom remained. "Eight years, Varian. That's what the message said. Eight. Years."
His jaw clenched. "Selene. Her name is Selene Rivers."
Selene Rivers. The name hit me like a physical blow. I knew that name—everyone in the pack knew that name. She was the daughter of the Rivers family, one of the most prestigious bloodlines in the territory. She'd left for some elite training program years ago.
"When?" I demanded. "When did it start?"
"Before." He wouldn't meet my eyes. "Before that night at the party."
Before. Before he'd gotten me pregnant. Before he'd ruined my chance at Crescent University. Before I'd sacrificed everything.
"Were you with her the night our babies were born? When you didn't answer my calls for hours?"
His silence was answer enough.
Something inside me shattered. Not my heart—that had been breaking slowly for years, I realized now. All those times he'd been too busy, too distracted, too distant. All those nights he came home smelling different. I'd blamed it on pack duties, convinced myself I was being paranoid.
"Get out," I whispered.
"Thalia, let me explain—"
"GET OUT!" This time I screamed it, not caring who heard. "You don't get to explain! You don't get to stand there and tell me how *complicated* it is while I've spent five years raising our children alone! While I gave up my dreams! My future!"
"They're my children too—"
"Are they?" I cut him off viciously. "Because a father shows up. A father keeps his promises. You promised me at that hospital that you'd be the best father possible, but you've been a ghost in their lives. Too busy building your Alpha legacy while I've been building our family."
"That's not fair—"
"NOTHING ABOUT THIS IS FAIR!" My voice broke. "I was eighteen, Varian. I had dreams. I was going to be a healer. I was going to matter. And you—you took that from me. You took everything and you didn't even have the decency to be faithful while you did it."
Footsteps pattered in the hallway and Aria's small voice called out, "Mommy? Why are you yelling?"
I took a shaky breath, wiping my eyes before I turned to see both my babies standing in the doorway, Kieran clutching his sister's hand, both of them looking scared.
"Nothing, sweethearts. Mommy and Daddy are just talking. Go back to playing, okay?"
"But you're crying," Kieran said, his bottom lip trembling.
Varian moved toward them but I stepped between them, my body a wall. "Don't," I said quietly. "Don't you dare upset them more than you already have."
I crouched down to the twins' level, forcing a smile onto my face. "I'm okay, babies. I promise. Why don't you go to your room and I'll bring you some cookies in a minute?"
They hesitated, but finally Aria nodded and led her brother away. When I stood back up, Varian was staring at me with something that almost looked like regret.
"Thalia, I never wanted to hurt you."
"But you did." I walked to his phone, picked it up, and threw it at his chest. He caught it reflexively. "You need to decide, Varian. Right now. Because I won't be the placeholder while you figure out your feelings. I won't let my children grow up watching their father disrespect their mother."
"I choose you," he said quickly. "I choose our family."
"Do you?" I challenged. "Because from where I'm standing, you've been choosing Selene for eight years. What changed? Did she give you an ultimatum? Is she tired of being hidden?"
His expression answered before his words could.
"She wants to come public," I said flatly. "That's what this is about. She's tired of being your dirty secret."
"I'll end it. I promise. I'll—"
"Your promises mean nothing to me anymore." I walked past him toward the door. "I need you to leave. Tonight. Go to your precious Selene or go to your parents or go to hell for all I care. But you need to leave this house."
"This is my house—"
"No." I turned back, and something in my expression must have shocked him because he actually stepped back. "This is my children's home. And you don't get to destroy their sense of safety because you couldn't keep your d**k in your pants."
"Thalia—"
"LEAVE!"
And finally, *finally*, he did.
When the front door closed behind him, I stood in the hallway for what felt like hours, my body shaking. Then I walked to my children's room, where they were sitting on Aria's bed, holding each other.
"Is Daddy coming back?" Aria asked in a small voice.
I sat down between them, pulling them both into my arms. "I don't know, baby. But I promise you—no matter what happens, you will always have me. Always."
That night, after I'd sung them to sleep and kissed their foreheads, I sat alone in my kitchen with a cup of tea I couldn't drink. My phone buzzed with messages—from Varian, from Luna Alana, from people who'd somehow already heard.
But there was one message that made me pause. From Shelly:
"Just heard. Coming over tomorrow. Also—Dr. Mira Chen from Crescent University Hospital called the house looking for you today. Something about a healer apprenticeship opening. Gave her your number. Call her back."
I stared at the message for a long time.
Crescent University. The dream I'd buried five years ago.
Maybe, I thought as I looked toward my children's room, maybe it wasn't too late after all.
But first, I had a cheating mate and his family to deal with.
And this time, I wasn't going to be the one who sacrificed everything.
- Writer
