Chapter two - Sophia
1832 Words
For three seconds, Jasmine couldn’t breathe.
She stood frozen in the doorway, one hand still wrapped around the handle, staring at the scene in front of her.
Damon was sitting on the edge of the bed.
His shirt was open.
His hair was disheveled.
And beside him, wrapped in the white sheets of the bed Jasmine had slept in countless times, was a woman.
A woman whose face Jasmine knew better than her own.
Her sister.
Sophia.
Jasmine’s fingers went numb.
The room tilted.
“No.”
It came out as barely a whisper.
Damon’s head snapped toward her.
His face drained of color.
“Jasmine.”
Sophia pulled the sheet against her chest.
For one ridiculous second, Jasmine wondered if she was dreaming.
Maybe she was still in her apartment.
Maybe the pain had made her hallucinate.
Maybe if she closed her eyes and opened them again, Sophia would disappear.
Jasmine blinked.
Sophia remained.
Her younger sister.
Her little sister.
The girl Jasmine had protected when they were children.
The girl she’d defended when their parents argued.
The girl she’d hugged when she cried over her first heartbreak.
The girl she’d trusted enough to leave alone with Damon.
A bitter laugh escaped Jasmine.
It sounded nothing like her.
“You.”
Sophia’s lips parted.
“Jasmine, I can explain.”
“You?”
Sophia looked away.
That was when Jasmine understood.
There was nothing to explain.
There was only something to admit.
Jasmine’s eyes moved to Damon.
He didn’t look ashamed.
Not enough.
He looked caught.
There was a difference.
“How long?”
Damon stood.
“Jasmine, listen to me.”
“How long?”
Her voice cracked across the room.
Damon stopped.
Sophia’s eyes filled with tears.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
Jasmine stared at her.
“Like what?”
Sophia swallowed.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Jasmine almost smiled.
“You didn’t mean to hurt me?”
She took one step into the room.
“You slept with my mate.”
Sophia flinched.
“My mate.”
Jasmine’s voice grew quieter.
“That was the word you couldn’t say?”
“Jasmine—”
“Don’t.”
Her wolf snarled inside her.
Betrayal.
Jasmine could barely contain it.
She looked at Damon.
“Tell me she’s lying.”
Damon said nothing.
“Tell me.”
His jaw tightened.
“Jasmine…”
“Tell me!”
The windows rattled.
Her wolf pushed against her skin, furious and humiliated.
Damon’s expression changed.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
But Jasmine didn’t care.
She needed one lie.
One lie that would allow her to hold on to the last three years.
Instead, Damon gave her the truth.
“It happened.”
The words struck harder than any physical blow.
Jasmine’s eyes burned.
“When?”
Damon dragged a hand over his face.
“A few weeks ago.”
Jasmine stared at him.
“A few weeks?”
“It wasn’t planned.”
“You’ve been sleeping with my sister for weeks?”
“It started after the bond began fading.”
Jasmine went still.
“What?”
Damon’s gaze dropped.
“The bond.”
Her hand instinctively went to her chest.
The place that had been burning only minutes ago now felt hollow.
“You knew?”
Damon didn’t answer.
“You knew our bond was fading?”
“I could feel it.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t know how.”
Jasmine laughed again.
A broken sound.
“So while I was wondering why you were becoming distant, you were sleeping with her.”
Sophia finally spoke.
“It wasn’t only because of the bond.”
Jasmine turned toward her.
Sophia’s eyes were wet.
But Jasmine couldn’t find sympathy for her.
“Then why?”
Sophia hesitated.
“Because I love him.”
Silence.
The words were almost too ordinary for what they meant.
Jasmine stared at her sister.
“You love him?”
Sophia nodded.
“How long?”
Sophia’s lips trembled.
“I don’t know.”
Jasmine’s chest tightened.
“That’s not an answer.”
“Months.”
Jasmine’s stomach dropped.
Months.
Not days.
Not one drunken mistake.
Months.
She had been planning her wedding while her sister had been falling in love with her mate.
“Did you know he was mine?”
Sophia looked offended.
“Of course I knew.”
“Then you knew exactly what you were doing.”
“I didn’t choose the bond!”
Jasmine recoiled.
Sophia immediately covered her mouth.
The room went silent.
Damon looked at Sophia sharply.
Jasmine caught it.
“What did you just say?”
Sophia’s face changed.
“Nothing.”
“No.”
Jasmine took another step.
“You said you didn’t choose the bond.”
Sophia shook her head.
“I was upset. I didn’t mean—”
“What bond?”
Damon moved between them.
“That’s enough.”
Jasmine looked at him.
“Move.”
“Jasmine—”
“Move.”
Something in her voice made him obey.
She stepped closer to Sophia.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Sophia’s tears finally fell.
“I didn’t know it would happen.”
“What?”
Sophia looked at Damon.
Then at Jasmine.
“I thought it was impossible.”
Jasmine’s wolf went rigid.
Something is wrong.
She felt it again.
Not through Damon.
Not through Sophia.
Somewhere beyond them.
A strange pulse moved through the air.
Jasmine turned toward the window.
The city stretched beneath them, thousands of lights glittering in the darkness.
For the briefest second, she felt something.
A presence.
Powerful.
Cold.
Familiar in a way that made absolutely no sense.
Her wolf lifted its head.
There.
Jasmine frowned.
“What?”
Damon stared at her.
“What is it?”
“I…”
She didn’t know how to explain it.
The sensation disappeared as quickly as it had come.
She looked back at him.
“Nothing.”
Damon’s shoulders relaxed slightly.
Jasmine noticed.
And suddenly she understood something else.
He wasn’t worried about her.
He was worried about what she might discover.
Her stomach twisted.
“Did you plan this?”
Damon’s expression hardened.
“What?”
“This.”
She gestured toward the bed.
“Did you plan to reject me?”
“No.”
“Then why does it feel like everyone knew except me?”
“Because nobody knew.”
“Your father?”
Damon froze.
Jasmine noticed.
“Marcus.”
His name changed the atmosphere.
Sophia looked at Damon.
Damon looked away.
Jasmine’s pulse quickened.
“Why did I just see both of you react to his name?”
“Don’t bring my father into this,” Damon said.
“Why?”
“Because he has nothing to do with us.”
“Then why are you afraid of him?”
Damon’s eyes flashed.
“I am not afraid of my father.”
Jasmine studied him.
For the first time that night, something besides heartbreak began to rise inside her.
Suspicion.
Damon walked toward her.
“Jasmine, listen to me.”
She stepped backward.
“Don’t touch me.”
He stopped.
“I never wanted this to happen.”
“But it did.”
“Yes.”
“You could have stopped it.”
He said nothing.
“You could have told me.”
Nothing.
“You could have rejected me properly instead of making me find you like this.”
His face tightened.
“I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“You did.”
The words came quietly.
That seemed to affect him more than her shouting.
Jasmine wiped a tear from her cheek.
“I would have forgiven you if you told me the truth.”
Damon looked at her.
“But you made me believe I was losing my mind.”
“I know.”
“You watched me worry.”
“I know.”
“You let me keep loving you.”
His eyes dropped.
“I know.”
Jasmine nodded slowly.
“Then there’s nothing left to say.”
She turned toward the door.
“Jasmine.”
She stopped.
Damon’s voice softened.
“You need to understand something.”
She didn’t look back.
“The bond was already dying.”
Jasmine closed her eyes.
He continued.
“It wasn’t my fault.”
Her fingers curled into fists.
“So that’s your defense?”
“No. I’m telling you the truth.”
She turned.
“Then tell me everything.”
Damon hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Jasmine smiled sadly.
“You can’t.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Everything is always complicated when the truth makes you look guilty.”
She walked toward the door.
Behind her, Sophia whispered:
“Jasmine…”
She stopped again.
Sophia’s voice trembled.
“I am sorry.”
Jasmine looked over her shoulder.
For a moment, she saw the little girl she had once protected.
Then she saw the woman lying in her mate’s bed.
Her sister.
Her betrayal.
Jasmine’s heart cracked again.
“I hope he was worth it.”
Sophia began crying.
Jasmine walked out.
She didn’t slam the door.
She didn’t scream.
She simply closed it behind her.
And somehow, that was worse.
⸻
The elevator doors closed.
Jasmine stood alone inside.
For the first time since entering the penthouse, she allowed herself to break.
Her knees buckled.
She slid down the wall and covered her mouth to stop the sob that escaped.
Her wolf curled into herself.
Mate gone.
Jasmine pressed her forehead against her knees.
“I know.”
We are alone.
“No.”
The word came automatically.
But there was no one there to contradict her.
She had thought Damon was her home.
Now even the bond that had connected them was gone.
Jasmine stared at the elevator doors.
Three years.
Gone in one night.
Her phone buzzed.
She pulled it from her pocket.
Priya.
PRIYA: Please tell me you’re okay.
Jasmine stared at the message.
Her thumbs hovered over the screen.
Then she typed:
JASMINE: I’m not.
Three dots appeared immediately.
PRIYA: Where are you?
Jasmine looked at the elevator numbers descending.
She wiped her eyes.
JASMINE: Coming home.
She put the phone away.
But before the elevator reached the lobby, something happened.
A sensation brushed against her wolf.
Not Damon.
Not Sophia.
Someone else.
A distant presence.
A heartbeat that wasn’t hers.
Her wolf slowly lifted its head.
There.
Jasmine froze.
The elevator doors opened.
She stepped out.
The sensation vanished.
She looked around the empty lobby.
Nothing.
Only rain tapping against the glass doors.
Jasmine walked outside.
She didn’t know who had answered her wolf.
She didn’t know why the presence had felt strangely familiar.
And she certainly didn’t know that, somewhere across the city, a man had just felt the same impossible pull.
A man who had spent ten years believing his heart was permanently closed.
A man named Marcus Kane.
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