My Alpha Betrayed Me, I Exposed Her Lie

Chapter 3

Alpha Ryan's grip loosened by reflex. Then, like he was trying to prove something, he tightened his arms around her again.

"Impossible!" He raised his voice, releasing the heavy pressure of an Alpha's authority, trying to crush me. "Aria, don't fabricate lies out of jealousy! Shadow Blight was eradicated a century ago!"

"And besides, Cindy's been perfectly healthy. We've been together... we've been together so many times, and I've never sensed anything wrong."

His voice trailed off at the end. His eyes flickered away from mine.

A wave of nausea rolled through me. So this had been going on a long time.

Cindy seized her opening, sobbing pathetically, "Alpha Ryan, she's humiliating me. She's humiliating us. Our love. She's just trying to scare you into abandoning me!"

"Sweetie, just because you can't have children, you have to curse mine? Calling our baby a virus? Who poisoned you to make you so cruel?"

"A jealous shrew like you doesn't deserve to be a Healer. You sure as hell don't deserve to be Luna!"

I looked at Cindy without blinking. Through my Healer's sight, I could already see the black miasma snaking up her neck. This wasn't a normal disease. This was the tax paid for trafficking with dark sorcerers. The price of selling her own soul.

"Miss Cindy, since you're so confident, why don't you let me draw a vial of your blood?" I held up the blood-draw needle. "Three minutes. The Moon Goddess's holy water will tell us the truth."

Cindy's eyes flashed with pure panic. She burrowed into Alpha Ryan's arms. "No! She'll kill me! Alpha Ryan, take me away from here, please!"

Alpha Ryan looked down at the trembling woman in his arms. Every protective instinct he had flared at once.

He shot up to his feet, planting himself in front of Cindy, and roared at me, "Enough, Aria!"

"When did you become this irrational? Cindy is my guest. More than that, she is my Chosen Mate. I will not let you treat her like this!"

"Chosen Mate?" I repeated the words. My heart turned to ash. "So. For this Rogue. You're rejecting our Mate Bond?"

Alpha Ryan flinched, his bravado dimming. "I never said reject... we can apply to the Council for a dual-mate arrangement, or... or you can just be Luna in name. I don't care that you can't have kids. We'll have Cindy's baby registered as yours."

"Listen to yourself, Alpha Ryan." My voice was bone-dry with disgust. "You want me to raise your bastard for you? A bastard cursed with black magic, no less?"

"Shut up!" Alpha Ryan lost it. "It's all in your head! Cindy is innocent!"

That's when Cindy started coughing. Hard. A mouthful of black blood splattered across the front of Alpha Ryan's pristine white robes.

The blood gave off a putrid, decaying stench. It hit the floor and started eating through the tile. Hissing. Smoking.

The nurses and Beta guards around us recoiled in horror.

That was not human blood. That was not werewolf blood.

I watched it all with frozen calm. "Looks like your Chosen Mate isn't quite as clean as you thought."

"Alpha Ryan, this is my last warning to you, doctor to patient. This disease spreads incredibly fast. Especially through bodily fluids."

"Given the level of intimacy I'm seeing here, I strongly suggest you get yourself fully examined too. You don't want your wolf rotting from the inside out."