I froze. “What?” ok, I didn't see that one coming...what the hell!
“Yes,” Irene said quietly. “Their relationship was… public, eventually. Turned out she was the reason my parents—our parents—separated in the first place. My mother had no idea who the other woman was, none of us did, until Father announced it himself. And not in private either. He unveiled her, proudly, at the Alpha’s annual banquet.”
Her voice dripped with disgust at the memory.
I couldn’t speak. My mind scrambled to piece together the fragments of what she was saying, but it felt like trying to catch smoke with my hands.
“You’re telling me,” I finally whispered, “that Alexander’s fated mate was his father’s mistress?”
Irene flinched at the bluntness, but she nodded. “Consort, mistress—call it what you will. She was
