Left at the Altar, Alpha King Backs Me Up

Chapter 2 Second Choice

I expected him to explode in anger, or yell at me for agreeing with what he said earlier. But after a brief pause, he simply said, “Fine. I’ll see you tonight.”

It was like he didn’t even want to fight it.

When my mother died, I knew some of the pack felt sorry for me, especially with how quickly my father moved on and took in his secret family. Now I watched Trystan turn and head back to my sister. Is this real? Is this a fated mate connection that just manifested?

Despite what we had, he was willing to give everything we had up just to be with Laura in her dying moments, so it didn’t really matter.

My head dropped in shame as I walked back to the car and stayed that way until I reached the pack house. When I walked in, I saw our ceremonial decor out in the living area. Every piece of it made my skin crawl. I wanted to burn it all, since it wasn’t happening.

I looked at Veronica, who was fiddling with one little white ribbon on some flowers. “Get rid of everything that ties me to the ceremony. It is no longer mine.”

She just looked at me in shock as I turned away to head to my room.

As my thoughts turned darker, I was thankful I had never had s*x with Trystan and told him I wouldn’t until the ceremony. If I had, that would have just made this worse.

I went to my room and stayed there for hours. When I emerged again to head downstairs for a snack, I noticed that Veronica had cleared everything for me, just as I asked. The ceremonial decor had every single shred of me removed and was now ready for whatever he wanted to use it for.

Just as I turned to head to the kitchen, I heard someone knocking, then burst through the door. It was Trystan. And he brought his mother with him.

She must have not liked the deal between us.

“You’re here,” I said, keeping my voice low as I watched them from a few feet away. I nodded at Trystan before glancing at his mother, Vee. “Luna Hart.”

She forced out a bitter laugh. “I thought we were past formalities? Shouldn’t you be calling me mom?”

I smiled sweetly, trying to hide the disgust bubbling under the surface. “My mother is dead and you’re not her or anything to me anymore.”

The unspoken words were clear. She’s not worthy.

Her face went completely blank, as if I had slapped her across her cheek.

Trystan looked equally as grim as he took a step toward me. “Aurelia, I’m the one who wronged you. Don’t take it out on my mother. You know how she feels about you.”

“Oh, so you’re saying I should blame this on your father instead? I know you’ve always had a soft spot for my sister, more so than me. Then again, I guess your father never taught you, you don’t abandon the woman you’re supposed to mate with, so it’s his fault for that too. You're the Alpha, though, so it is your decision.”

“Aurelia,” he said, a growl at the back of his throat. He was about to lose his temper, but was fighting it for all he was worth.

I simply shrugged. “It’s true.”

Vee tugged at his shirt sleeve. “Look, you need to calm down before you shift here. Let’s talk about this and figure something out.”

Trystan reined in his anger and straightened his pants where they had gotten tight from almost shifting. He walked toward one of the various chairs in the room and plopped down, making himself comfortable, then motioned for me to take a seat. I slowly walked over and found a seat across from him, putting the coffee table between us.

His brows furrowed. “Here. As you demanded, here is some money to tide you over since I stopped our ceremony.”

I picked up the envelope as he laid it down on the coffee table between us, then skimmed through the contents. It wasn’t enough to completely start over.

“While I thank you for trying to give me enough to live off of for your inconvenience, I want compensation for the wedding dress too. That was my design and I put it together,” I said without looking up.

When I finally did, he frowned. Clearly, he didn’t expect me to be this petty about it.

“How much do you want for it?”

“A million,” I said without smiling. It would be enough to start over.

Vee gasped. "Aurelia, that's robbery.”

“Luna Hart,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “Would you like for me to remind you of how much the pack is worth? You all have plenty of money because everything the pack does goes into the bank accounts. Or have you forgotten that you let my mom’s place go and I want to save it?”

My retort was met with silence.

"Of course, you're welcome to refuse," I added lightly, "But we both know Laura wants that specific dress just to spite me. So no matter the price, your son is going to pay for it.”

Trystan’s eyes flickered with surprise. He knew I wasn’t going to let this go, especially with how Laura was. She could have gotten a ceremonial dress from the pack’s shop or made one herself, but no, she wanted the one I had spent months making. Not only that, but Trystan had the nerve to take it right from under Veronica’s nose when she was preparing everything on the day of our ceremony.

Sure enough, after a long pause, Trystan nodded in agreement. "Fine. A million dollars it is."

Vee whirled on him, her face one of shock. “Have you lost your mind? Why are you throwing away the pack’s money like that?”

"Stay out of this, mom." Trystan brushed off her concerns and turned back to me. "Laura’s too ill to pick out jewelry for the wedding. She said since you've already chosen yours that she'd like to have it."

Watching him defend her disgusted me. The corner of my mouth twitched in bitter amusement. “Do you remember what you promised me when I agreed to be your mate, Trystan?”

I remembered that night well. He had promised me he’d never betray me and that he’d only love me for the rest of his life because I was the only one who had ever been there for him through everything.

And look where that had gotten us.

He met my gaze, guilt flashing across his features. “I do love you, Aerie. I’m doing this out of pity, because she’s so young. I mean, she’s two years younger than you and dying. Aren’t you even a little sad about her passing?”

Memories came to the forefront of mine. At twelve, Laura ran with scissors in her hand to shred my favorite dress. At fourteen, she dumped roaches in my bed while I was asleep and howled with laughter as I screamed. Of course, I had chased her with one after that and tried shoving them down her throat as payment for being so mean. But she tumbled down the stairs.

My father and his new mate were furious about the incident. I remembered being beaten black and blue, but I got my revenge on the night of the next full moon while they were out on the pack run. I shredded all their clothes in my wolf form, leaving nothing but tattered rags.

It was probably why my sister hated me so much. After all, my father’s new mate was her mother.

No one could understand the depth of my hatred for Laura and that woman she called mother.

And yet they expected me to feel sad now that Laura claimed to be dying?

“You’re right,” I said with a sigh, laying a hand over my heart. “It’s such a tragedy, Trystan. She’s such a beauty to be withering away at such a young age.”

The sarcasm and irony went right over their heads. Trystan actually had the nerve to nod, with his eyes glistening with tears, while Vee had a sad expression on her face.

“Exactly,” she said as her eyes welled with tears. “No one should pass so young and you all have lost so much, I hate for you to lose your only family too.”

When the tears fall harder and she sobs, Trystan grows concerned.

"Mom, your heart condition..." he started and trailed off, fretting, before turning to me with gentleness. “Aerie, I’ll mate Laura first to fulfill her dying wish, but then I’ll mate with you and have the ceremony I promised you. It’ll be even better, though. I promise. We’ll get you new jewelry and a new dress. Everything you want will be yours.”

I blinked in disbelief. It took me several seconds to process what he just said. “What? You said you’d give me the money and then find another mate for me! ”

What made him think I’d beg to be his leftovers? Sure, he was the Alpha and had one of the highest ranking of all wolves, but I would never beg to be someone’s second choice, especially not after my sister had him.

Trystan looked ashamed, but then shook his head. “You’re the love of my life and I can’t go through with finding you someone else, so please don’t ask that of me. Of course, I’ll mate with you. Don’t say it like it’s disgusting. To me, you’ll always be my true mate.”

I almost gagged at his statement. Without hesitation, I stood up with the money in hand. “You want the jewelry fine. Add more money to the price, so I have enough to live off, because I’m not staying in this pack any longer. Wire the money to my individual account and then remove me from the books.”

I turned and walked toward my room, the snack long forgotten, with him calling after me.

“Wait!”

“There’s nothing left to say to you. Just deliver the money and find another pack alpha who will take me in.”