All hope lost
1438 Words
Riley's POV
I arrived home shortly and took in a long breath and pushed the door open and walked in.
Before reaching inside fully, I heard groans and moans coming from upstairs—right from the direction of our bedroom. My stomach twisted instantly. I knew those sounds too well by now. Anger surged through me like fire, and I quickly ran up the stairs, my heels clicking hard against the steps. I pushed the bedroom door open with force, and there it was again: Ethan’s length was deep in Wendy’s mouth, and she was sucking it eagerly while he groaned, his head thrown back against the pillow.
“Ethan!” I yelled, my voice sharp enough to cut through the air.
Wendy scrammed off the bed in panic, grabbing a pillow to cover herself as she stumbled to the corner of the room. Ethan didn’t even bother to cover up properly. He just looked at me lazily, one arm behind his head, like I was the one interrupting something normal.
“Why do you always find the perfect time to interrupt me when I’m busy, huh?” he asked, his tone annoyed, as if I was the problem.
“When you’re busy?” I repeated, my voice rising. “You’re also doing this in our matrimonial bed? Has it come to that?”
“Oh, it has come to everything, Riley!” he shot back, sitting up a little but still not making any real effort to hide himself. “Didn’t you declare the marriage open yesterday at the company? You shouldn’t care at this point.”
“I shouldn’t care!” I shouted, feeling my face heat up with fury. “And I don’t care, but not in this house! Not in our bed! Shouldn’t you accord me some respect?”
“What respect are you talking about, Riley?” Ethan laughed coldly, finally pulling the sheet over his lap. “There’s nothing like that in this marriage. It’s open. We’re free to do whatever we want, isn’t it? Huh? Don’t pour your frustrations on me just because the open marriage is going to favor me more than it’ll favor you. Who would even want you?”
His words hit me hard, straight in the chest. Despite everything—despite promising myself over and over that I wouldn’t let him hurt me anymore, that I was done feeling anything for him—I still felt my heart crack. How could he change so fast? One day, I thought I had a partner and now he spoke to me like I was nothing. Like I was worthless. My eyes stung, but I refused to let tears fall in front of him.
I turned to Wendy, who was still clutching that pillow, her face flushed but her eyes defiant now. “How would it feel if I tell the whole world that you’ve been f*****g your stepbrother, huh?”
Her face paled instantly, all color draining away. For a second, she looked terrified. But then her expression changed into something vicious, something I had never seen on her before—pure venom.
“You can’t do that, Riley,” she said, her voice low and threatening. “You really can’t. Because you're married to my brother does not mean you have any power, you're still a mere human.”
“Oh, you have a mouth now to talk back at me?” I asked, a hint of surprise in my tone as I smirked, trying to keep my confidence up even though my hands were shaking. “Look at you, suddenly brave, why didn't display this side of you yesterday at the company?.”
“Oh it's because I pitied you yesterday but I don't anymore now,,” Wendy replied, stepping forward a little, dropping the pillow like she didn’t care anymore. “And you know what? I don’t even feel guilty doing this. Ethan should have told you long ago—even before you both got married—that he was my mate!”
I gasped, my mouth hanging open as I looked between them. The word “mate” echoed in my head. I had heard it growing up—stories about wolf shifters, about unbreakable bonds that destiny created. My grandmother used to talk about them like they were real, especially in packs like the ones in Crescent Hollow. But I always thought it was just folklore, old tales to scare kids or romanticize love. Not this. Not real life.
“What?” I whispered, my voice shaking. “What—what are you talking about?”
Ethan sighed heavily, like this whole thing was boring him. He rubbed his face and finally stood up, wrapping the sheet around his waist as he walked toward the dresser. “She’s telling the truth, Riley. Wendy is my true mate. The bond had been in place when we were teenagers. I felt it the first time I saw her after her family moved in.”
I stared at him, feeling like the floor was dropping out from under me. “Your true mate? You’re telling me this now? After we got married? After everything?”
Wendy crossed her arms, a small, satisfied smile creeping onto her face. “He tried to fight it at first. For you. But the bond is too strong. It pulls us together no matter what. That’s why he could never really stay away from me.”
Ethan didn’t deny it. He just shrugged as he pulled on a pair of sweatpants. “I thought I could ignore it. I thought marrying you—someone human, someone normal would make it go away. But it didn’t. The pull got stronger. Especially after... well, after everything that happened.”
“After our baby died,” I finished for him, my voice barely above a whisper. The pain of that loss hit me all over again, fresh and raw. “You mean after I lost our child, and you felt it was very right to f**k another woman on the same days, what kind of a stupid bond is that?”
He didn’t meet my eyes. “It wasn’t your fault, Riley. But the bond with Wendy... it made everything clearer. She’s the one I’m supposed to be with. The moon goddess or you can say destiny picked her for me.”
I laughed, but it came out bitter and broken. “The moon goddess? Destiny? You’re standing here telling me you believe in werewolf mates now? You never said a word about any of this before we got married!”
“I didn’t want to scare you off,” Ethan admitted, finally turning to face me. “You were human. You grew up in Crescent Hollow so you should know how these things works. I thought if I just lived a normal life with you, the bond would fade but too bad it never did.”
Wendy stepped closer to him, placing a hand on his arm possessively. “And now that the marriage is open, there’s no reason to hide it anymore. We don’t have to sneak around.”
I felt sick. My head was spinning. “So all this time, while I was grieving, while I was trying to save our marriage, you two were... what? Laughing at me behind my back?”
“No one was laughing at you,” Ethan said, but his voice lacked any real sympathy. “You’re the one who suggested the open marriage yesterday, didn't you? You said we should both be free to see other people.”
“Because I caught you cheating again!” I screamed, my control finally snapping. “I was trying to take back some power! I didn’t think you’d bring her into our bed the very next day!”
Wendy smirked. “Well, now you know the truth. Ethan and I are meant to be. The mate bond is forever. You can’t break it.”
I looked at Ethan, searching his face for any sign of the man I married—the one who used to hold me when I cried, who promised to love me forever. But he just stood there, looking tired and annoyed.
“Is this really how you feel?” I asked him quietly. “Was everything a lie?”
He hesitated for the first time. “No. Not everything. I cared about you initially, Riley. I still do, in a way but you've gotten so boring and uninteresting over the years, you've become a bitter woman neither can you even satisfy me in bed”
- Writer
