Betrayed by My Chosen Mate: Claimed by the Forbidden Alpha

Chapter 10 - Aiden’s World

Aiden’s POV

Talia had fallen asleep, her body was tangled in the sheets like she was just waiting for me to peel off the covers again.

Her skin smelled like honey and wildflowers, she had that feminine softness that was designed to drive any male wolf insane, even some females.

But I wasn’t insane.

I was just bored.

I pulled on a shirt and sat at the edge of the bed, I rubbed a hand over my face.

I knew Talia thought she’d found her fairytale in me.

She thought I was her fated one, her destiny, the big shaped hole in her sweet little life was finally filled.

She had no idea that I was the farthest thing from a fairytale, I was just a man who needed two things in this world:

Mara, a woman for the bills.

And Talia, a woman for everything else.

And the moon goddess had given me both on a platter of this chosen and fated mates bullshit.

Now I could have both women for me, without both of them suspecting a single thing. Mara was probably somewhere waiting for the soul crushing day she would feel the mate bond’s shrilling pain from my cheating.

A day that would never come, thanks to my little piece of magic.

In the meantime, I was eating my cake and I was still having it at the same time.

Talia stirred behind me. “Come back to bed, baby.” She murmured.

I glanced up at the clock. Talia was always super clingy after s*x, like I had just whispered lines of poetry to her instead of just giving in to my wolf’s basic instincts.

I didn’t hate it.

But I didn’t want to stay.

“I’ll be back,” I muttered.

“You promise?” She asked with a sleepy smile.

I leaned down and kissed her shoulder, a gesture I did out of habit and not affection.

“Always.”

When I went down the stairs, I poured myself a cold glass of water and stood in the kitchen. I had a strange feeling that something was… off and I couldn’t shake it off.

The room was the same, nothing moved, no broken glass and no scratch marks.

But my wolf was uneasy. I had taken away Dax’s voice when I started dabbling in magic, it was better that way. The inner wolf was both one’s physical strength and a conscience on a daily basis. Always butting in and talking nonstop inside the head.

So I found a way to keep it silent, dumb if I say so myself. But it didn’t mean the instincts were gone, or that I couldn’t feel it when his hair stood on his back.

Like right now.

I glanced at the back door. It was locked.

I checked the hallway.

It was silent, I went upstairs to the room that Mara now occupied, the door hadn’t been opened yet.

Then I rushed to the front door, it was closed but unlocked.

Did I forget to lock it?

I couldn’t really remember.

I mentally ran through the evening again, Talia had arrived late, as usual. And in my excitement, we barely made it to the bedroom before we started making out, I hadn’t really locked the door.

And the scent in the air was Talia’s, still sweet but I couldn’t tell if there was something buried underneath.

My mind was telling me that someone else was here, someone familiar.

My hand clenched the glass of water.

Was it possible that Mara had come in?

The idea sounded crazy, I mean there’s no way, Mara would just sneak in and then leave. She was the lashing out type, she would throw things, scream, attack the other woman if she thought I was cheating and then she would cry uncontrollably.

That was what she did the last time. Her usual M.O was to fight.

Talia didn’t even know much about me and Mara, since I had already told her that we had ended things a long time ago and that I was just being civil for the sake of our long time friendship. I made her believe I was the poor, guilt stricken ex husband who was trying to do the right thing while my crazy ex refused to fully let go.

Talia ate the lie up like it was a hot plate of food.

And Mara on the other hand was too overworked, too loyal, too tired and too in love to do something as smart as walking away from it all.

She had lost her fire quickly after the baby died, that was a huge relief for me. I had acted excited when she told me she was pregnant but deep down, I saw the child as a liability.

She-wolves tended to think more about their pups than their mates and I still had a lot of debts to pay off. If Mara had stopped working so much, after the baby. It would have fallen on me to provide for her and the child as well as pay off my debts.

That wasn’t what I wanted for myself.

And I guess things just have a way of working out for me, when the child died, she was grief stricken but she poured her grief into work.

Another win for me.

Her difficulty in bearing more pups was just the icing on the cake, I could have kissed the doctor that day when she told Mara and I all that had happened but I had to play the part of a doting husband.

I pressed a hand to the wall of the living room, frowning.

If Mara had seen us, she would have made a big scene.

She would’ve done everything I thought she would, screamed, cried and slapped someone.

She would’ve ruined everything.

So why the f**k was I still so bothered about something?

I tried to feel her through my senses but for the first time… I couldn’t.

Usually, the bond gave me something, a tug or a heartbeat, some guilt when I pushed too far, there was a slight pressure in my chest when she cried… which was often.

The stupid woman could give me a heart attack with all that crying but otherwise when I felt for her, there were signs that she was there.

But now? It felt very distant.

Like the line was thinning.

Or was it shielded?

No… that couldn’t be. Mara knew better than to shield herself from her mate.

Maybe she was finally too tired to care.

And that wasn’t the best either, I’d have preferred if the last time, she had thrown a glass in Talia’s face.

I didn’t need Talia bowing out just yet.

I poured myself a drink this time, ditching the water. I needed something strong.

Mara was the one who kept my life from falling apart, she was the reason why we still had this big house on the better part of town. The reason I could keep up appearances and the reason I could enjoy myself with no holds barred. I did the spending and she did the repaying. It was a match made beyond this world.

Talia on the other hand, she was fun. Gorgeous and looked perfect on my arm. She smelled like heaven when she wore my shirts but she’d never last.

She wasn’t sturdy, wasn’t built for the hard life. She didn’t know how to survive a winter, let alone pay the heating bill.

Mara did know how to do all of that.

And if I lost Mara?

This whole thing, the freedom, the comfort I wasn’t paying for, the image would crumble.

I leaned against the kitchen counter, closing my eyes.

“There’s no way she was here, I’d have known.” I said out loud.

Because if she had seen us, she would’ve known and if she knew then I had just blown up a bigger operation just for a thrill.

That would mean I was cosmically f****d.

Upstairs, Talia’s voice sounded. “Aiden love? Aren't you coming back?”

I didn’t answer.

Because for the first time, I was more scared about losing Mara than I was infatuated with Talia.

No… I couldn’t lose Mara.