Betrayed by My Fated Mate

I sat in the darkness of my room, waiting.

Five years. Five years of waiting for Colt to come back to me. Five years of living in this suffocating blackness, my world reduced to sounds and touches and the phantom ache where my eyes used to work. Five years of telling myself it was worth it—that saving his life, losing my sight, was the greatest act of love I could give my fated mate.

And today, he finally came home.

Except he didn't come to me. Not right away.

Instead, I'd been dragged to the pack training grounds this afternoon, my hand gripped too tightly by some omega whose name I couldn't remember. The sun had been warm on my face, but the laughter surrounding me was cold. Cruel.

"She's pathetic," someone whispered, not bothering to lower their voice. "Still wolfless after all these years."

"And blind. What kind of Luna would she make?"

I'd stood there, my fingers twisted in the fabric of my worn dress, trying to locate Colt by sound alone. I knew his footsteps, his breathing, the particular way he moved through space. But when I finally heard him speak, his voice wasn't directed at me.

"A bet?" he'd said, laughing. Laughing. "Sure, why not. If I lose this match, Travis can have her."

The words hadn't made sense at first. Have her. Like I was a possession. A prize in some twisted game.

"Colt?" I'd whispered, reaching out blindly. "What are you—"

"Don't worry about it, Melody," he'd said, his tone bored. Dismissive. "Just stand there and look pretty. Well, as pretty as you can manage."

More laughter. A woman's high-pitched giggle that made my skin crawl. I didn't recognize the voice, but I felt the malice in it like a physical touch.

The match had been brief. Too brief. And then Colt's hand was on my arm, shoving me forward into someone else's grip.

"She's all yours, Beta," Colt had announced. "Try not to break her. She's fragile."

I'd been too shocked to speak. Too humiliated to cry. Travis had led me away in silence, his hand gentle on my elbow, guiding me back to the omega quarters—a place I hadn't lived in years, not since Colt and I had been promised to each other.

But that was this afternoon. Hours ago.

Now, I sat in the dark and waited for answers.

The door creaked open. I didn't move, didn't acknowledge the intrusion. Footsteps crossed the room—measured, careful. Then I smelled it. Colt's cologne. That expensive, woody scent he always wore, the one that used to make my heart race.

"Melody," the voice said softly. His voice. Colt's voice.

Relief flooded through me so intensely I nearly sobbed. He'd come. He'd come to explain, to apologize, to tell me this was all some horrible misunderstanding.

"I'm here," I whispered.

He moved closer, and I felt the bed dip as he sat beside me. His hand found mine in the darkness, fingers intertwining. Warm. Familiar.

"I missed you," he murmured, leaning in. His breath ghosted across my cheek. "Every day I was gone, I thought about you. About coming back to you."

The words were right. Perfect, even. But something felt wrong. Off.

I pushed the feeling away. This was Colt. My mate. The man I'd sacrificed everything for.

His lips found mine, and I kissed him back, desperate to feel the connection I'd been missing for five years. His hands moved to my waist, pulling me closer, and I let him. Let him lay me back against the pillows, let him whisper promises against my skin.

"I'll make everything right," he breathed. "I swear it."

But then—

Light.

Not from a lamp or candle. Light from my own eyes, piercing through the darkness I'd lived in for so long. The transformation Elena had triggered earlier today, the excruciating ritual that had awakened something primal and powerful inside me—it had worked. My wolf had finally emerged, and with it, my sight had returned.

I could see.

And what I saw shattered everything.

The man above me, the man whose hands were on my body, whose lips had just been on mine—he wasn't Colt.

Dark hair instead of golden brown. Broader shoulders. A face I knew, but not the face I'd expected.

Travis.

Travis Knight. Colt's Beta. The man who'd been handed me like a piece of property just hours ago.

I froze, every muscle in my body locking up. He must have felt it because he pulled back slightly, his brow furrowing in concern.

"Melody? Are you alright?"

His voice. I'd thought it was Colt's voice, but now I heard the difference. Deeper. Rougher around the edges.

How long? How long had this been happening?

The mate bond I'd felt, the connection I'd been so sure of—it crashed over me now, but it wasn't coming from some distant place where I'd imagined Colt to be. It was coming from the man right in front of me. From Travis.

My stomach turned. My vision blurred—not from blindness this time, but from tears.

"Get off me," I whispered.

He didn't move, confusion flickering across his features. Features I could now see clearly in the darkness, thanks to my wolf's enhanced vision.

"Melody—"

"Get. Off. Me."

This time, he obeyed, pulling away and standing beside the bed. I scrambled backward until my spine hit the headboard, my breath coming in short, panicked gasps.

Five years. Five years of this. Five years of believing Colt was the one touching me, holding me, making love to me in the dark.

But it had been Travis all along.

And somehow, impossibly, my wolf recognized him. Wanted him. Called him mate.

I was going to be sick.