IN BED WITH THE WRONG ALPHA

1

ROBYN

“I heard she was still a virgin, and she had been dating Alpha Leon for one year,” a girl behind me in line at the bakery whispered to her friend.

I grabbed the cake box with shaky hands and walked away, desperate to outrun the gossip. I refused to let anyone poison my mind today.

Her words struck deeper than I wanted to admit because I recognized that tone.

It was the tone people used after my father died. The tone that said they no longer saw me as the daughter of Thorne's greatest warrior, just another girl they could pity.

It was Leon’s birthday, and I had spent the entire afternoon chasing perfection—shopping, planning, trying to stitch together a surprise worthy of his praise. Two days ago, we discovered we were fated mates. I had expected the irresistible pull of the bond to consume him the exact way it consumed me. Instead, he left the pack.

“My birthday is in two days, but I have to attend the Alpha Supreme’s funeral,” he had told me, his voice smooth and reassuring. “I’ll be back before evening, and then we can celebrate.”

I understood the duty. The Alpha Supreme ruled the four Thorne packs—Blue, Red, Yellow, and Green—and Leon needed to be there as the Alpha of Blue Thorne.

So, I spent two days dreaming, hoping that finally, after a year of waiting, our bond would ignite and he would claim me. People always rushed into relationships only to end up broken when the mate bond proved them incompatible. My father used to say a man who truly loved you would wait.

Leon had waited.

And after years of being pitied, he made me feel chosen.

When I reached his front door, I took a deep breath and gripped the cake box tightly. Tonight was going to be different.

I used my spare key to open the door. The moment I stepped inside, an acrid scent hit me. The air reeked of weed, stale alcohol, and a thick masculine musk that made my stomach instantly drop.

My wolf clawed at me from the inside, an empty pit opening in my gut. The house didn’t look like it had been empty all night. In fact, it looked like there had been a party—one I wasn’t invited to. I tried to force the panic down. Maybe his old college buddies or his brother were just crashing there.

Suddenly, a low rumble and a breathless groan echoed from the living room.

I walked toward the sound like a ghost. I was completely numb, but my feet kept moving anyway. The air in the hallway seemed to thin with every step until I reached the entrance.

My entire body froze.

There were three men in the room.

I recognized two of them instantly. The guy sitting on the edge of the couch, aggressively touching himself, was Jax Taylor—the former captain of the college football team. The guy bent over the coffee table was their old fraternity president.

And the man behind him, sweat dripping down his bare, muscular back, was Leon.

My mate. My Alpha. The second strongest Alpha in all the Thorne packs. He was the face of traditional masculinity, the man who publicly frowned at weakness and mocked anyone who wasn’t straight.

And yet there he was, living the exact life he condemned.

“Yes, faster, Leon!” the frat president groaned, gripping the edge of the table.

Jax let out a gritty laugh, his eyes locked on Leon. “Goddess, I can’t believe I won’t be seeing this anymore once you start screwing that chick and playing the devoted mate.”

Leon threw his head back, letting out a dark, breathless chuckle as he shifted his grip.

“I can’t believe I have to pretend to like women for the rest of my life,” he groaned, disgust dripping from his tone.

Jax smirked, shaking his head.

“She is so dumb. How does she not know? No straight Alpha can resist a woman. Even if he weren’t genuinely attracted to her, his masculine instincts would still make him want her. But you? You didn’t even touch her.”

“Because it was sickening,” Leon sneered without slowing down.

Suddenly, Jax’s face twisted into a cruel grin. He pitched his voice into a high, mocking imitation of me.

“Oh, Leon, please go soft... it hurts...”

They burst into loud, mocking laughter. Leon laughed right along with them, wiping sweat from his forehead.

“That was literally how she sounded the last time I tried touching her,” Leon said, amusement thick in his voice. “It was pathetic. I had to shut my eyes and think about Jax the entire time.”

The nerve endings in my hands went dead.

The beautifully decorated birthday cake slipped from my numb fingers. The box burst open as it hit the floor, and the cake slid across the hardwood. White frosting smeared into a ruined, pathetic mess.

Instantly, the laughter died.

Three pairs of eyes snapped toward the doorway.

Leon’s eyes widened. His face drained of color as he stumbled backward in panic.

I turned and ran.

I ran as fast as I could, my lungs burning as I sprinted through the hallway. I heard his desperate voice echoing behind me, but I didn’t stop.

“Robyn—”

I reached my car, threw myself inside, and slammed the lock down just as he hit the window. A piece of clothing was barely wrapped around his waist, and his face contorted in panic. Only because he had been discovered.

Without looking at him, I shifted the car into reverse and slammed my hand against the horn—a flat warning that I would run him over if he didn’t move.

He jumped back.

I stepped on the gas and sped off.

Tears blurred my vision so badly I could barely see the white lines on the road. With trembling fingers, I dialed June, my best friend and the daughter of the Red Thorne Beta.

She picked up on the second ring. Relief hit me so hard it almost hurt. If there was one person I could still count on, it was June.

“Robyn? You are crying.” Her voice rose instantly. “What happened? Did—”

“Leon cheated on me,” I blurted out. “I saw... I am headed back to school, and...” My voice cracked badly.

“Okay, just stop talking. You are clearly hurt. If you need me to get you, I can.”

“No.” I cut her off. “He will try to hold me back if I don’t leave now.”

She sighed. “Just keep your eyes on the road and come to my room at the dorms. The room will be unlocked whenever you get here. It’s 204.”

“Okay.” I choked out in a strangled tone.

My phone lit up again with Leon’s incoming call the moment I ended the call. I blocked his number instantly and forced myself to focus on the road.

Instead, I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and drove toward the university dorms. The campus sat within Red Thorne territory—a neutral zone created so the four regional factions could coexist.

As an Alpha, Leon held supreme authority in Blue Thorne, but his power was heavily restricted in Red Thorne.

That was exactly the shield I needed.

It was the only place I could disappear.

By the time I reached campus, I could barely breathe. I slipped into the dorm building, my feet moving on autopilot toward the second floor.

I just needed June.

I found her room door unlocked and slightly open. The room was dark, and the sound of running water came from the bathroom shower.

Relief washed over me.

I slammed the main door shut and sank onto the edge of the bed in darkness.

One whole year.

I had given him everything. He acted so gentle with me, treating me like I was something fragile that might break if he touched me too hard. My parents loved him. He was supposed to be my savior—the perfect Alpha waiting for me to graduate before we married.

I curled into myself on the mattress, burying my face in my lap. The sobs were ugly and loud.

I had spent an entire year changing myself for him—dressing sexier, trying to tempt him—only for him to cold-shoulder me and claim I was “trying too hard.”

And all that time, whenever he was supposedly “out with the boys,” he had actually been living his best life in secret.

The sound of the bathroom door clicking open made me snap my head up, expecting to see June walking out wrapped in a towel.

Instead, a man stepped into the room....