Discarded by My Mate, Claimed by My Adoptive Brother

6

KATHERINE

The parlor was a disaster like nothing I’d ever seen.

Layla was wailing, sobbing as she desperately tried to pick up the pieces of her tiara. In a corner, Diana had grabbed her son by the arm and was scolding him in a panicked whisper: and Lucian … Lucian, as always, just stood there like a log, doing nothing but staring at that mess in utter shock and disbelief.

It was a terrifying sight: shards of glass, diamonds and stones scattered everywhere, reflecting the dying sun’s light in all directions.

Perfect. It’s show time.

“Oh, Goddess!” I cried, dropping to my knees next to Layla and trying to help her. “What happened?”

Layla couldn’t answer, too choked by grief. After all, that tiara had been a wedding gift from her mate: it was a testament of over three decades of love and everyday choices, and she had always worn it proudly. To see it destroyed like that, and at the hands of her own only grandson, was a terrible blow.

I’m sorry, but this had to be done.

“It’s gonna be alright” I reassured her. “I’m sure it can be fixed. I’ll call the bank straight away, tell them to send out their best jeweler, okay?”

Layla barely nodded, her palms and fingers cut by the glass and staining the diamonds red. She probably hadn’t even registered my words.

“Lucian, can you help her?” I asked him. “I’ll handle the rest”.

He dropped down next to his mother with the grace of a robot: and after one last look at the room, I quietly slipped into the kitchen, grabbing my phone.

“Yes, this is Luna Katherine” I said to the clerk. “I need to speak with the director”.

A few seconds passed.

“Madam? I was just about to call you” the bank’s director, Mr. Danworth, said, with a tremble in his voice. “I am mortified, I’ve made a terrible mistake. As you know, it’s our policy to keep a decoy, an identical copy, for every piece of jewellery we vault”.

I nodded, hiding a smirk. “Yes, I’m aware of that. What for?”

“I accidentally sent you the decoy for the Endless Love tiara. I’m so sorry, ma’am, I don’t know how could have I possibly mixed up the two. We’re putting it on the armored truck to be delivered to you as we speak”.

I allowed my smirk to turn into a smile. “Well, this only proves the decoy you had made was rather effective. It’s no problem, really, and thank you for the prompt fix. However, I must ask you to have another made. Unfortunately, the one here at my house has … broken”.

Mr. Danworth made a surprised sound. “Broken, ma’am?”

“Yes, an unfortunate accident, really. My nephew is just a kid, he was running around and accidentally knocked the case down” I explained. “I’m just so, so glad to know it wasn’t the original. Honestly, you’ve taken a weight off my heart, sir, thank you”.

The director audibly swallowed. “Ma’am – while that is great news, I can’t help but worry about the actual tiara. Its value alone …”

“Yes, I’m aware of it, Mr. Danworth. If you would do me the favor of providing me with a safer case, I’d be grateful”.

“It’d be my pleasure, ma’am”.

I ended the call and peeked into the parlor through the small internal window of the kitchen: the fight had exponentially escalated – with Layla accusing Diana of instigating Mateo, Lucian defending her claiming Mateo was just grieving, and Layla retorting that Diana had always been manipulative, and that her son was now simply taking after her.

I swallowed, put on my best happy, relieved face and stepped out.

“GREAT NEWS!” I announced – immediately drawing everybody’s attention on me. “The bank accidentally sent us the decoy tiara. It was a fake!”

It was as if I’d just announced the coming of the Goddess on Earth.

Layla’s sobs stopped in an instant: Lucian visibly relaxed, breathing a relieved sigh: Mateo just looked confused, and Diana …

Oh, that was the best part of everything. Diana was looking absolutely murderous.

“And you expect us to believe you didn’t know?!” she screamed, pointing an accusing finger at me.

I remodeled my face into a confused expression – not too quickly and too slowly, just in perfect time. Lucian, too, quickly turned his head towards her, shocked.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What was I supposed to know, or now know?”

“You knew it was fake! And you’ve had it against me and my son ever since Lucian has let us stay! You set him up, you awful, wretched w***e …”

“DIANA!” Lucian thundered. “Do you even listen to yourself? This is madness!”

Inside, I was gloating: on the outside, I was the picture of wounded, confused dignity.

“I would’ve set up your son to … destroy a family heirloom? How?” I asked, adding just a slight tremble to my voice. “Diana, I know we might have had our disagreements, but it hurts me that you believe me capable of such a thing. Besides, how could have I possibly known? Mr Danworth just called me to tell me it was a fake. He accidentally mixed up the crowns”.

Diana bared her teeth at me, growling: she looked ready to shift and tear me to pieces, right there in front of everyone.

Not in my own house, sweetie.

I allowed her to catch a glimpse of threat in my eyes, letting my wolf barely come out, coloring my eyes yellow: she recoiled, hissing – but it had worked.

“It was her” she hissed again. “It was her”.

“This is more than enough” Lucian spoke, a definitive tone in his voice. “Mateo, go to your room”.

Mateo got red in the face and opened his mouth, no doubt to cuss at everybody, but Diana intervened, whispering something in his ears. Mateo huffed, but left, making sure to stomp his way up to the stairs to let everybody know how not okay he was with this.

“Diana, I’m letting you and Mateo stay out of love for my brother and you two, but you can’t constantly disrespect my wife, nor blame her for your son’s behavior” Lucian said. His voice was low, cold and controlled, and he stepped towards me as he spoke, closing an arm around my shoulders. I leaned into his hug – both to act like the shocked, scared wife, and to rile up Diana. Considering how red she turned, it worked perfectly. “She’s been good enough to forgive him after he destroyed the last thing she had of her parents. I know this is a hard time for you two, but you have no right to drop your anger on her”.

“Especially when his behavioral problems are a direct result of your parenting” Layla added, getting back on her feet and staring disapprovingly at Diana. “You’ve raised him to be a spoiled, entitled little tyrant, thwarting every attempt of Nathan of making him a good, sensible boy. This is not just grief, it’s malice. You’re pitting him against his aunt because you can’t stand you’re no longer the Luna of this pack, and this is deplorable. I don’t agree with Lucian letting you stay, but it’s his house, it’s his choice. It is my choice, though, not to have you at Sudnay dinner until you and your son learn how to behave in a civilized way”.

Ice descended in the parlor after that. Layla’s threat was significant – and no one wanted to be excluded from Sunday dinners, because the meaning was obvious: you were an outcast, no longer in the graces of the family’s matriarch.

“I’m leaving now” she concluded, picking up her purse. Then, she pointed towards Diana first, and the mess of fake stones and glass on the ground. “Since it’s Mateo who did this, see that you clean up this mess”.

That night, dinner was eaten in tomb-like silence: Mrs. Dawson’s lasagna was excellent, and I was pretty sure I was the only one truly enjoying it. Everybody else looked livid, and knowing I was the reason behind all of that made me feel twistedly good.

Once we finished, Diana offered to clear the table and load the dishwasher, claiming she was still feeling very contrite about the tiara incident. Lucian tried to say it wasn’t necessary, but I quickly stopped him, laying a hand on his bare arm.

“It seems important to her” I’d said, offering her an overly sweet smile.

The matter was settled: and while Lucian and I went to the living room to watch the TV series he’d proposed me to watch together, Diana stayed in to clean.

At least for a while.

“Kat, can you help me with something?” she called after about thirty minutes.

“I’m coming!” Lucian started to say, but I shook my head, going as far as to place my hand on his chest. The way his eyes widened sparked something proud in my chest – but it wasn’t attraction.

It was a twisted thrill of power.

I was enjoying the control his guilt was giving me over him. And maybe it was disgusting, and made me an awful person … but I didn’t care.

“I’ve got it” I smiled, then walked into the kitchen. “Diana. What’s up?”

She glared at me, gesturing for me to close the door. So I did.

“I know you set up my son today. I don’t know how, but I know you did. Woman to woman, I recognize the work of a vengeful little b***h when I see one” her sour look quickly morphed into a vicious grin. “You may think you’ve won the battle, but you should know you’re losing the war. Lucian will always, always choose me and Mateo. You’re just a wife – an inconvenient, useless little thing he didn’t want and wouldn’t even touch. I’m his everything, his refuge, his one, true love” she grinned. “If I were you, I wouldn’t waste my time fighting a war already lost”.

Only when she left the kitchen I allowed my shocked, heartbroken face to twist into a triumphant smile: I patted my jeans’ pocket, where my phone had been all the time, recording everything.

I’m his one, true love. Perfect.

Now I had proof of their affair.