Bought by the Alpha, Bound by Fate

I reach across the sheets before I even open my eyes. I feel the extreme cold. My hand freezes on his pillow. Three years today. I promised myself he'd be here, smirking, pretending he forgot. I sit up. His side of the bed is flat and untouched. "He's working late," I whisper. My lips tremble around the words. I bite down hard, the way I always do when I'm lying to myself. I grab my phone. No texts. No missed calls. Only the reminder I set a month ago: Our anniversary. Don't be late. I call him. It rings and rings. Then his voicemail, bright and careless. Leave a message. I hang up without a word. Downstairs, dinner is still on the table. The candles have burned down to stubs. I waited until midnight, back straight, hands folded, telling myself the pack meeting had run long. Now I scroll through the pack's group chat, desperate for proof I am wrong. Instead, I find a post from Seraphina, timestamped 2:14 a.m. A photo. Two wine glasses on a hotel balcony. A man's hand resting beside them, a silver ring on his finger. I know that ring. I picked it out. I had our names engraved inside it. Seraphina. The childhood friend he swore was nothing. Every time the pack whispered, I smiled through clenched teeth and said, They grew up together. It's harmless. My breath catches. Deep inside me, my wolf stirs and whimpers, a sound I haven't heard in years. I stare until the screen dims, then tap it awake again, as if the picture might change. It doesn't. "No," I say to the empty kitchen. "No, no, no." My eyes sting. I press my hand to my mouth to trap the sound climbing out of me. The front door opens at nine. Darius walks in with his jacket slung over one shoulder, hair messy, shirt wrinkled. He freezes when he sees me at the table. For one second, his eyes widen. Then the easy smile slides into place. "Morning, babe. You're up early." Babe. The word lands like a slap. "Where were you?" My voice comes out steady. I don't know how. "Pack business. It dragged on." He rubs his neck and looks at the window instead of me. "All night?" "Elowen." He sighs, as if I'm the one being difficult. "Don't start." I slide my phone across the table, screen up. His smile drops. A muscle jumps in his jaw. For a long moment, he says nothing, and that silence tells me everything. "It's not what it looks like," he finally says. I laugh. It's ugly and cracked. "That's the line everyone uses, isn't it?" "Seraphina was upset. Her wolf has been unstable lately, and she needed someone with her." "On our anniversary." "I lost track of the date." His brows pull together, his tone softening into something rehearsed. "You know how my schedule is." "You wore the ring I gave you to her bed." "We didn't—" He stops. His gaze slides away again. "Nothing happened that matters." "Then why is she posting about it?" "She's emotional. Delete it and forget it." That is the moment something inside me goes quiet. Not breaking. Just going still, like a held breath finally letting go. "Three years," I say. "I cooked for you. I waited for you. I made excuses for you until I believed them myself." "A Luna doesn't question her Alpha." "Look at me, Darius." He does, but only barely. There is no guilt in his face. Only impatience, like I'm a task he hasn't gotten to yet. That hurts more than the photo ever could. "Do you even love me?" I ask. His mouth opens. Closes. A beat too long. "Of course I do. Where would you even go? You're my mate." Not I love you. Just you're my mate, like a title. Like a job. I nod slowly. My chin wobbles, and I hate it. "I see." "Elowen, come on—" "Go shower. You smell like her." His face hardens. For once, he doesn't argue. He grabs his jacket and climbs the stairs, and each step sounds like a door closing. I sit alone with the cold dinner and the burned-out candles. They said the Moon Goddess chose him for me, so I left my family and silenced my wolf to be his Luna. Without his bond, I have no place in this pack. My vision blurs. The tears fall, silent and hot, until my shoulders shake. Something inside me cracks, loud as bone. Then my mate mark begins to burn, as if his betrayal struck a match to it. I gasp and clutch my left wrist. For three years it has been a faint crescent scar, the one thing I thought could never lie. Now it throbs like a second heartbeat. "What...?" I push up my sleeve. Light flickers beneath my skin. Not the soft gold I remember. Silver. Cold and alive, spreading through the mark like frost across glass. My pulse stumbles. I clamp my other hand over it, but the glow slips between my fingers. "Darius?" My voice cracks. Water runs upstairs. He doesn't answer. The silver pulses faster. My wolf goes rigid. Something far older stirs beneath my ribs, awakened by the heartbreak that should have destroyed me. The air turns icy against my face. And then a voice, low and silken, curls through my mind, close as breath against my ear. "Your mate was never truly yours."