The Alpha's Ruined Mate

The first thing I noticed was the blood. It was everywhere. Across the marble floor. Across my hands. Across the white dress I had once been so proud to wear. My blood. I stared at it for a long time, almost fascinated by how red it looked against the ivory fabric. Then I laughed. It was a small, broken sound. Because I had finally understood. I was going to die. And the man I had loved for six years was the one who had decided that I should. “Please.” The word barely left my mouth. My throat burned. I tried to move, but the silver chains around my wrists cut deeper into my skin. Across the room, Alpha Adrian stood perfectly still. My mate. My husband. My savior. At least, that was what I had believed. For six years. He looked almost bored. His arms were folded across his chest, his expression as cold as the winter night beyond the windows. Beside him stood the woman who had spent the last three years destroying me. Selene. His lover. She was wearing a dress made from the same black silk she had worn when she first came into our home. I remembered that night. I remembered welcoming her. I remembered believing Adrian when he told me she was merely a close friend. I remembered how she cried in front of me and told me she had nowhere else to go. I had given her a room. I had given her clothes. I had defended her when the other women in the pack whispered about her. I had even called her my sister. How pathetic. Selene looked at me now with a smile. Not the sweet smile she used to wear around Adrian. Not the frightened smile she had shown me when she first arrived. This one was cruel. Satisfied. “She still doesn't understand,” she murmured. Adrian glanced at her. “She will.” I swallowed. My eyes returned to him. “Why?” One word. That was all I could manage. His face didn't change. “Why did you do this to me?” He didn't answer. I looked toward the table behind him. Documents covered its surface. My family's documents. Property deeds. Bank records. Business contracts. Territory agreements. Everything that had belonged to the Valerian family. Everything my parents had left me. Everything I had spent years believing was safe. There was one document sitting on top. My signature was at the bottom. I remembered signing it. Adrian had told me it was necessary. He had told me the pack was struggling. He had told me that transferring control of my family's assets to him would allow him to protect them. And I had trusted him. Because he was my mate. Because he had saved me. Because after losing everyone I loved, he had been the only person left. I stared at the signature. My signature. My entire fortune was gone. My family's companies were gone. Our estates were gone. Even the private land my father had refused to sell to the Alpha Council was now Adrian's. I had given him everything. And now he was killing me. “You took it all,” I whispered. Selene laughed. “Not everything.” She stepped closer. I instinctively recoiled. She stopped directly in front of me and crouched down. “Your life was the last thing we needed.” My stomach twisted. I looked at Adrian again. “Us?” Something inside me was still desperately searching for an explanation. Some tiny piece of the man I had loved. The man who had held me while I cried after my parents died. The man who had promised me I would never be alone. The man who had told me that I was his entire world. “Was any of it real?” For the first time, Adrian's expression changed. Not guilt. Not regret. Something closer to irritation. “No.” The word destroyed me more completely than the wound in my side. I stared at him. He sighed. “I needed your family's money. Your territory. Your political connections. That's all.” My lips trembled. “But... you said you loved me.” “I said what I needed to say.” I felt something inside my chest c***k. Not my heart. Something deeper. Something that had survived everything else. My wolf. Or what was left of her. For as long as I could remember, my wolf had been silent. Not quiet. Silent. Other wolves spoke to their humans. They shared thoughts. They felt each other's emotions. They sensed their mates. I had never experienced any of it. My wolf had been a shadow locked somewhere inside me. Whenever I tried to reach her, there was only darkness. When I first met Adrian, I had assumed that was why I couldn't feel the mate bond. He had told me I was different. That my wolf was damaged. That I was lucky he loved me despite it. And I had believed him. God. I had believed every word. A strange pressure suddenly filled my head. For the first time in my life, I felt something from my wolf. Fear. No. Not fear. Rage. My breath caught. Are you there? Nothing. I closed my eyes. Please. Still nothing. Then— A whisper. So faint I almost thought I imagined it. Run. My eyes snapped open. Adrian was staring at me. “Did you hear something?” He frowned. I said nothing. Selene looked between us. “What?” “Nothing.” Adrian walked toward me. I instinctively pressed myself against the wall. He stopped in front of me. “I'm sorry.” I stared at him. It was the first time he had ever apologized to me. And somehow, that hurt more than everything else. “Don't.” He looked almost uncomfortable. “You were never supposed to live this long.” My blood ran cold. “What?” He turned away. “Your family should have died years ago.” The room went silent. I stopped breathing. Selene smiled. Adrian continued as if he hadn't just shattered the last piece of reality I possessed. “Your father was becoming a problem. He refused to cooperate. Your mother started asking questions.” I stared at him. “No.” “Your brother was worse.” “No.” “We had to deal with them.” I shook my head. “No.” My parents had died in an accident. My brother had been killed during a rogue attack. That was what Adrian had told me. That was what everyone had told me. My entire family— “You killed them.” Adrian didn't deny it. Selene did. “We did what we had to do.” My vision blurred. “You...” My voice broke. “You killed my family.” Adrian looked at me. “Yes.” Six years. Six years of loving the man who had murdered everyone I loved. Six years of sleeping beside him. Six years of calling him my mate. Six years of thanking the Moon Goddess for bringing him into my life. And all this time... He had been the reason I had no life left to return to. My wolf screamed. This time, I heard her clearly. HE LIED. I gasped. Adrian's head snapped toward me. “What?” I didn't answer. Something was happening. The darkness inside me was cracking. I could feel claws. Fur. Power. Something ancient waking beneath my skin. Selene noticed it too. Her smile disappeared. “Adrian.” He stepped toward me. “What's happening?” I didn't know. But for the first time in my entire life, I wasn't afraid. My wolf was awake. And she was furious. RUN. The chains around my wrists tightened. Silver burned through my skin. I screamed. Adrian grabbed my jaw. “You're not going anywhere.” I looked into his eyes. Really looked at him. And suddenly I hated him. Not because he was killing me. Not because he had stolen my money. Not even because he had murdered my family. But because I had loved him. I had loved him so completely that I had handed him every weapon he needed to destroy me. And he had used every single one. A tear slipped down my cheek. “Why couldn't I feel you?” Adrian froze. “What?” “My mate.” His eyes changed. For the briefest moment, I saw something I had never seen before. Fear. “You were never supposed to know.” My heart stopped. Selene whispered, “Adrian...” He turned toward her. That was when I understood. There had been another lie. Something about my wolf. Something about my mate. Something they had kept from me. But I would never learn what it was. Adrian raised his hand. A burst of pain tore through my chest. I collapsed. The last thing I saw was Selene leaning against Adrian's shoulder. The last thing I heard was my own heartbeat. Slow. Slower. Then nothing. Darkness swallowed me. And somewhere inside that darkness, my wolf whispered one final word. Remember. Then I died. --- Ten years earlier I opened my eyes. I was screaming. My hands flew to my chest. I was alive. I was breathing. No blood. No silver. No chains. I sat upright so violently that the woman beside my bed cried out. “My lady!” I froze. The room was familiar. The pale blue curtains. The carved wooden wardrobe. The little table beside the bed. The portrait of my mother hanging opposite me. I stared at it. My mother. Alive. My breath caught. I looked toward the mirror. A young woman stared back at me. Twenty years old. Healthy. Alive. Before Adrian. Before Selene. Before the funeral. Before the betrayal. Before my family died. I touched my face with trembling fingers. “No.” The woman beside my bed looked terrified. “My lady?” I looked toward the calendar. My blood turned cold. Ten years earlier. Ten years. I had been given ten years. A second life. A second chance. My eyes filled with tears. But this time, they weren't tears of despair. I slowly smiled. Somewhere deep inside me, something stirred. A familiar voice whispered through the darkness. We remember. I closed my eyes. And for the first time in my entire life, I could feel my wolf. I smiled wider. “Then let's begin.” Because this time... I wasn't going to fall in love with my killer.