He Sent His Twin, I Married Another Alpha

Chapter 4

Right on her heels came the best men.

They'd all grown up alongside Mia and Liam, so, of course, they sided with them in everything.

"Ava, you know what Liam and Mia have been through together. You can't force a relationship that isn't meant to be. Just step aside and let them be happy!"

Everyone conveniently forgot that Mia had been the one to leave in the first place.

In their eyes, I came between them and ruined their relationship.

For years, I'd treated every one of them with nothing but respect and courtesy.

Yet not a single one of them had ever accepted me as part of Liam's life.

Across the hall, my wedding vlog with Liam was playing on the big screen.

It showed us dancing together at the Moonlight Ball, silver moonlight spilling over us.

That had been the first time Liam held me in public, dancing with me through an entire song while every wolf in the pack watched.

The moon had been full that night, and his eyes had been so bright.

A heavy silence settled over the room.

Mia's smile froze as she tightened her grip on Liam's arm.

"Liam, our flight's about to board. We need to go."

Liam stared at me, his expression unreadable.

Mia slipped off her ring and walked straight toward me.

"Take the ring. Now can you let Liam be with me?"

She shoved the ring into my palm, her voice cracking with desperation.

"I literally can't live without him!"

The wedding vlog in the hall reached its final clip.

It was footage from my birthday, when Liam had set off fireworks for me by the river.

Bursts of color painted the night sky as I stared up in awe, while he looked down at me with a soft smile.

Back then, everyone there teased us, saying their Alpha was clearly head over heels for his future Luna.

I looked at Liam, a bitter taste rising in my throat.

Whether he'd ever truly loved me, only he knew.

Suddenly, Liam grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the exit.

"We need to talk. Alone."

As soon as we reached an empty corner, I wrenched my hand free.

"There's nothing left for us to talk about."

Liam rubbed his forehead in frustration, irritation flickering across his face.

"Ava, Noah has to stand in for me. It's the only solution I have! Once the right time comes, I'll explain everything to you. I promise!"

The right time? What right time could we possibly have left?

I gave him a cold look, then pressed the Luna Ring into his palm.

"I wanted that ring more than anything in the world."

Wearing it meant I'd become the Luna of the Dubois Pack and Liam's wife.

But now, after everything that had happened? I didn't want it anymore.

My attitude finally snapped the last thread of Liam's patience.

He roared, "So this is what it comes down to? You still don't trust me!"

He grabbed my wrist and stepped closer.

"Ava, you said you'd love me for the rest of your life! If you love me, you should trust me! I only had Noah fill in for the ceremony, not everything else! Why the hell can't you just accept that?"

I let out a sharp laugh.

He'd bailed on our own wedding for another woman and made his own brother stand in for him at the altar.

And somehow, I was the one in the wrong for refusing to play along?

"If you don't leave now, you're gonna miss your perfect chance to run off with Mia."

Liam froze, all the anger draining from his face in an instant.

He let out a long, weary sigh.

"Ava, you said you wanted to go to the isles for our honeymoon, right? I'll take you there as soon as I come back. This time, you can stay as long as you want."

Liam had always had a great memory. He remembered every little wish I'd ever mentioned.

Yet he'd barely made time to actually fulfill any of them.

Now, just to get me to back down, he was suddenly offering to take me on a trip—something he'd never once done for me in all our years together.

"From now on, I'll help you cross every one of those little wishes off your list. I promise."

"There is no 'from now on'. I'm going to..."

Before I could finish, one of the best men came sprinting over, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Liam! Mia passed out!"

Liam's expression changed instantly.

"Wait for me, all right? We'll get married when I get back."

With that, he took off at a dead run.

I let out a soft laugh as the tension drained from my shoulders.

Maybe this was for the best.

End of Ava's POV

*****

Liam carried the unconscious Mia all the way to the hospital.

As he stood outside the emergency room, his phone buzzed nonstop in his pocket. First Noah's name appeared on the screen, then his parents'.

Irritation flared inside him, and he held down the power button until the phone shut off.

He didn't need to guess what the calls were about.

The whole stand-in wedding stunt with Noah must have blown up.

As far as Liam was concerned, Ava was probably throwing another petty fit and refusing to cooperate just to ruin the ceremony.

He was still stewing over it when he went to fill out Mia's admission paperwork.

Then a news segment playing on a nearby TV caught his attention.

"Alpha Ethan and Ava the Luna of the Ashclaw Pack held a romantic wedding ceremony..."

The footage froze on the exact moment Ethan slipped the Ashclaw Pack's Luna Ring onto Ava's finger.

The medical forms in Liam's hands slipped from his grasp and scattered across the floor with a loud clatter.