Betrayed by My Fated Mate

Travis's quarters smelled like him—that scent I'd mistaken for Colt's in the dark, now unmistakable in the daylight I could finally see. Earthy. Restrained. Nothing like Colt's expensive cologne.

I shouldn't have been here. But my wolf pushed me forward, hungry for answers I wasn't sure I wanted.

The room was sparse. Functional. A bed made with military precision, a single chair, a desk with nothing on it but a lamp. No photographs. No personal touches. Like he'd never allowed himself to settle anywhere, even in his own space.

I moved quickly, checking drawers, the closet, under the bed. Nothing. Just clothes and weapons and—

My fingers caught on something beneath the nightstand. A loose floorboard.

I pried it up.

The wooden box was small, worn smooth by years of handling. My hands trembled as I lifted the lid.

Inside: tiny carved wolves. Dozens of them, each one different. Some running, some howling, some curled in sleep. The craftsmanship was crude but careful, like someone had spent hours on each one with nothing but a knife and too much time alone.

Beneath them, folded carefully, was a piece of fabric. Faded blue cotton, torn at the edges.

Bloodstained.

I lifted it, and the world tilted.

*A little girl's voice, high and determined: "It's okay. I won't hurt you."*

*A wolf pup, ribs showing through matted fur, wearing a torn blue shirt someone had tried to fashion into a collar. Shaking. Starving.*

*"Here. Take this." Small hands offering bread stolen from the pack kitchens. "You can't stay here, but... come back tomorrow. I'll bring more."*

*Golden eyes, too old for a pup, staring up at her like she'd hung the moon.*

I dropped the fabric like it had burned me.

That pup. That starving rogue pup I'd found on the edge of pack territory when I was ten years old. The one I'd fed in secret for weeks until he disappeared.

Travis.

My stomach lurched. I pressed my hand against the wall, breathing hard.

He'd loved me since then. Since I was a child. Since before I even knew what a mate bond was.

And he'd let Colt use him. Let Colt send him into exile. Let Colt put him in my bed under a lie—all for the chance to be near me.

That wasn't love. That was sickness. Obsession wrapped in devotion, toxic and suffocating.

I shoved the box back under the floorboard and left before I could do something stupid. Like cry. Like scream.

Like forgive him.

---

The nausea hit me halfway back to my room.

I barely made it to the bathroom before I was on my knees, retching into the toilet. My wolf whined, pressing close, and I felt her concern like a physical weight.

*What's wrong with us?*

She didn't answer in words. Instead, she showed me.

A pulse of awareness, deep in my belly. Two tiny sparks of life, barely formed but unmistakably there.

Pups.

I sat back against the cold tile, my hand pressed to my stomach.

No. No, no, no.

My wolf pushed forward again, insistent. She flooded my senses with Travis's scent—not the cologne or the soap, but something underneath. Something primal and earthy, like ancient forests and stone. Lycan.

And she recognized it. Claimed it.

*Mate,* she insisted. *Our mate. Our pups.*

"He lied to us," I whispered.

*He suffered for us.*

"He touched us under a lie."

*He loves us.*

"That's not enough!"

But she wouldn't listen. She was a wolf, not a woman. She didn't care about betrayal or manipulation or the five years I'd spent in darkness believing a fantasy. She only cared about the bond, the scent, the biological imperative screaming that Travis Knight was ours.

I pressed my forehead against my knees and tried to think.

I was pregnant. With Travis's pups. In a pack that had treated me like garbage for years, led by an Alpha who'd gambled me away like property, surrounded by wolves who'd laughed while it happened.

I couldn't stay here. Couldn't let my children be born into this.

But I couldn't leave yet either. Not until I'd burned it all down.

I stood slowly, rinsing my mouth, meeting my own eyes in the mirror. Silver now, like my wolf. Like the Luna bloodline Elena had awakened.

I had evidence. I had power. I had a wolf who was finally, furiously mine.

And I had a choice to make.

Stay and destroy them. Or run and protect what was growing inside me.

My hand settled over my stomach, protective and possessive.

Maybe I could do both.