After My Alpha Ordered Me to Cheat, He Regretted It

In the fifth year of our marriage, my husband, Adrian Cole, finally agreed to sleep with me... I put on delicate lingerie, showered until I felt spotless, and waited for him with a heart full of anticipation. As my husband, the first thing he said when he walked in was, "I can't sleep with you. Go find someone else. My assistant will do." Adrian's tone sounded like he was asking for my opinion, but I knew better. He wasn't asking. He was informing me. I stared at the cold certainty in his eyes, my breathing turning ragged and tight. Even so, I clung to the last shred of hope and asked, "Why?" Adrian fell silent for a second before answering bluntly, "Vanessa doesn't believe I've never touched you. So tonight, you'll go sleep with Zach." The answer sounded absurd, almost laughable, but I knew it was the truth. Adrian was the strongest Alpha our pack had ever seen. When he was eight, he snapped the neck of an enemy scout who tried to ambush the pack with his bare hands. Afterward, he calmly taught the frightened wolf pups how to respond to surprise attacks. At ten, he single-handedly tore apart the king of beasts in the forest. Three years later, relying purely on overwhelming strength, he defeated every challenger in the Alpha trials and claimed the position of pack leader. Vanessa Hayes, two years younger than Adrian, was just as extraordinary in her own right. By the age of eight, she had already read every medical text available. At ten, she saved a dying elder Alpha with her skills. By thirteen, her reputation as a miracle healer had spread across every pack. Everyone in the Kainos Pack believed Adrian and Vanessa were destined for each other. All they had to do was wait until they came of age, and they would naturally be together. Everything changed when Adrian turned twenty and the mating ceremony was held. Vanessa suddenly disappeared, and within the pack, my blood scent drew Adrian to me with an unusual intensity. In other words, I was his fated mate, and from that moment on, my life was completely rewritten. Even though Adrian wasn't happy that I was his fated mate, he had always treated me well. On stormy nights, when I got trapped in a pit deep in the forest, he would brave the raging wind and rain to pull me out. When my wolf form first awakened and my body felt like it was tearing itself apart, he stayed by my bedside all night, taking care of me personally without a moment's rest. I truly believed that Adrian loved me. Until three months ago, when Vanessa, missing for five years, suddenly returned. She didn't have to do anything. Just standing there was enough to draw Adrian's gaze. He would stare at her, completely lost in thought. At first, Adrian tried to hide it. Once, during a game of Truth or Dare, his friends started egging him on, telling him to kiss Vanessa, as if it would give the past some kind of closure. His expression darkened instantly. He pulled me into his arms and held me tight as I stood there pale with hurt, then declared with cold authority, "Claire Bennett is my rightful mate! If you mess with her, you're messing with me!" I was stunned, then overjoyed, thinking that Adrian had truly fallen in love with me. That night, I carefully prepared what I thought would be our long-overdue wedding night. But Adrian never came home, and I waited from midnight until dawn. What started as confusion and unease slowly turned into anxiety and fear. I was terrified something had happened to him. By evening, I finally found him. Under the setting sun, the wind swept across the hillside. Vanessa rose onto her toes, her eyes red, and pressed a kiss to his thin, striking lips. I watched with my own eyes as the man I had been with for five years, the one who had only ever held my hand twice and hugged me once, now looked at Vanessa with unmistakable tenderness. Then he pulled her tightly into his arms and kissed her like he had lost control. There was desire on his face I had never seen before. It was a wild, consuming love, one that made me look like a complete fool. After five years of trying, I had never stirred even the slightest interest in him. From that day on, Adrian stopped hiding how he felt about Vanessa. People who knew they were loved could afford to be reckless, and Vanessa proved that every time she tested Adrian's devotion. She refused to believe Adrian hadn't fallen for me and constantly demanded proof, insisting he could never leave her. She said, "The roses in the Smogard Pack bloom beautifully. If you bring me a bouquet, I'll believe you still love me." At the time, the Smogard Pack and the Kainos Pack were fighting over territory. Going there then was practically a death sentence. I wanted to refuse, but Adrian leaned in and murmured an "explanation" in my ear. "Claire, this is what we owe Vanessa. We have to make it right." Before I could argue, he added, "I swear, once Vanessa's situation is settled, I'll marry you and bind our souls together." "For now... you'll have to bear with it," he said. In the end, I could only go to the Smogard Pack to pick those roses. By the time I made it back to the pack, barely alive, the roses in my hands were stained with blood. Vanessa took one look at them, her face twisting in disgust, and casually tossed them aside. "They're dirty. I don't want them." Then, as if it were nothing, she added, "There's a perfect piece of red coral in Lake Kordo. I want it as a decoration. It'll make my chambers look so much better." Werewolves feared water, and I feared it more than most. When I was a child, I had nearly been swept away in a flash flood. The terror of it had never left me. It was etched deep into my bones. Adrian knew all of that, and he still sent me. Things like this had happened ninety-nine times in the past three months. Today was the hundredth, and as I looked at Adrian's impatient face, I finally understood. He had long since forgotten what I once told him after he asked me to "make it up" to Vanessa again and again. I refused every time. I didn't owe Vanessa anything. Becoming Adrian's fated mate back then had been nothing more than an accident. But Adrian wouldn't let me back out. He only said, "You love me, don't you? Then why can't you do something this small for me?" Back then, I looked at him for a long time before finally giving both him and myself a deadline. "Adrian, I do love you. That's why I'm willing to do this for you," I said. "I'll do one hundred things for you," I told him. "When I'm done, you marry me, and I won't hold anything from the past against you." I paused, my voice turning steady and resolute. "But if you forget... then when the hundredth is done, we're even. No more ties between us." Now, I looked at him quietly and reminded him, word by word, "Adrian, are you sure? This is the hundredth time."