Fated Mate Isn’t Me

When Adrian and I broke up, he knelt outside my door all night. When I finally agreed to get back together, he lit a bonfire in the main hall, invited the elders to witness it, and swore I would become his Luna.

Then, right at the finish line of a racetrack, he hauled a trembling, sobbing blonde girl out of the “trophy,” draped his jacket over her shoulders, and turned gentle like he’d become a different man.

He looked back at me and said, “Ann, don’t make a scene. She ended up like this because of us.”

The next day, he said I should atone by pack law, kneel inside a vow circle drawn with salt and silver powder, and endure my wolf soul’s backlash under the moonlight.

Later, he threw me into the basement she used to live in, forced me to survive the way she did, forced me to lower my head and apologize.

What he didn’t know was that there was a little pup in my belly.

And I wasn’t going to tell him.

I’d wait until he was most off guard, slide the divorce papers in front of him, let him sign them with his own hand, then vanish cleanly and absolutely, with my child.

Everyone says Blood Moon Pack’s Alpha, Adrian, is a born flirt. He never dates the same woman twice.

And yet, he crashed hard on me.

The day after I fought with Adrian and dumped him, he tried to win me back.

He didn’t care that he was an Alpha. He knelt outside my house for a full day and night, yet I ignored him.

On the second day, he cooked my favorite food himself. I turned around and dumped it straight into the trash.

On the third day, he spent a fortune to buy back an heirloom my late grandmother had left behind just to beg me to look back at him.

After that, he even announced publicly that other than me, he would never love anyone else.

We made a whole spectacle of it for a year. In the end, I was moved, and I agreed to reconcile.

To celebrate, we threw a lively bonfire party in the main hall.

We invited the elders of Blood Moon Pack to witness it and announced that we were about to complete the mate ceremony.

I would become his Luna.

Someone gossiped that with omega blood, I wasn’t worthy of an Alpha.

He turned around and crushed the company that person ran on Blood Moon territory, then made him kneel in front of me and apologize.

I believed, completely, that Adrian truly loved me.

Not because of status. Not because of fate.

Until one day at the racetrack, he took me to support a friend, only for us to see a girl in revealing clothes, crying so hard. People shoved her to the finish line, where she stood there as the winner’s “trophy.”

Just one look, and Adrian’s brows knit.

The next second, he got up from my side. Without saying a word, he announced he was joining the race.

I stood there, watching his back as he walked toward the track.

And I knew.

She was Adrian’s fated mate.

My wolf let out a low, wounded whimper at the betrayal, body snapping into a stance like it was ready to fight.

The starting gun cracked.

Adrian’s car shot forward like an arrow. He barely slowed for the turns, tires screaming against the ground.

His driving was just like the way he’d chased me back then reckless, brutal, all-or-nothing.

On the final lap, his car practically flew. He blasted through the finish line first.

The whole place erupted in deafening cheers.

The dust hadn’t even settled when Adrian shoved the door open and strode straight toward the blonde girl at the finish line.

In front of everyone, he peeled off his shirt, revealing a strong upper body, then gently draped his expensive coat over Emma’s shaking shoulders.

“It’s okay now,” he told her with his voice so soft I’d never heard it before.

Then he pulled Emma onto the racecar, whipped it around, and rammed it into the vehicle of the man who’d offered Emma up as a prize, Eric, the Alpha of Sliver Claw Pack.

Only after that did he get out and look up at me in the stands.

“Ann, don’t be mad.” He lifted his head, his voice carrying clearly through the suddenly silent track. “She ended up like this because of the two of us.”

All at once, I remembered a year ago when I found out that while he was chasing me, he’d also slept with a stand-in.

He’d looked at me the same way and said, “Ann, listen to me. I was drunk. I thought she was you.”

Back then, I’d smashed the engagement ring he’d brought me again, and stormed out.

Now I stood there, my nails digging deep into my palm.

“Because of us?” I echoed softly. My voice wasn’t loud, but in the dead-quiet track, it rang out anyway. “Adrian, tell me because of us what?”

He froze, clearly not expecting me to challenge him right there.

“A year ago you said you were drunk and mistook her for me. Today you race for her, you fuss over her, and you tell me she fell into this because of us.” My voice started to shake. “Adrian, how many excuses do you have left?”

His brows drew together, his tone turning cold. “Ann, don’t start here.”

“Start?” I laughed, and the tears slid down anyway. “I thought I was done crying over you.”

Behind him, Emma tugged lightly on his arm and whispered, “Adrian, don’t fight with Ann because of me…”

Adrian patted her hand, but his eyes stayed locked on me. “Whatever you want to say, we’ll talk at home.”

“At home?” I stared at the way he was shielding another woman, and the whole thing suddenly felt ridiculous. “Adrian, do you even remember what you used to say?”

His face darkened, like he was about to answer but I turned away first.

“Ann!” he shouted behind me.

I didn’t look back. I walked away, step by steady step, leaving that suffocating place behind.

The next day, my best friend and I came back from the mall. We’d barely gotten out of the car when I saw Emma stumble out of a hotel, clothes rumpled. Her hair was a mess, her lips swollen red, and the bite-mark bruises on her neck were painfully obvious in the sunlight.

Adrian chased out right after her. The moment he saw me, he stopped short.

“Ann, let me explain.” He looked genuinely rattled for once. “She bribed the security guard to get in, said she wanted to thank me for yesterday. Nothing happened.”

I stared at the intimate marks on Emma’s neck, and my stomach rolled.

“Adrian,” I said quietly, “send her away. To another pack nearby, overseas anywhere. Just don’t let me see her again.”

He was silent for a moment. “She’s all alone right now. She can’t survive out there.”

“Then let’s erase the mate mark,” I said. “Either you send her away, or we get divorced.”

Adrian’s eyes narrowed, his gaze cooling by the second.

“Ann. That trick doesn’t work the second time.” He stepped closer, looking down at me like he held the high ground. “The first time, I was willing to spoil you, to let you throw your little tantrum.”

He reached for my face. I dodged.

“You say divorce and we divorce?” He gave a low laugh. “What do you think I am?”

“And without me, back in the White family you’re just a pawn they can hand off at any time to curry favor with noble werewolves.”

The words hit like a poisoned blade, precise, ruthless, straight into the softest place in my chest.

He knew exactly where my weakness was.

“Emma stays,” he declared at last, voice final. “She’ll be by my side as my Beta.”

Something in me snapped. I raised my hand and slapped him hard.

“Adrian, you disgust me.”

He tilted his head, ran his tongue over the inside of his stinging cheek, and looked at me with cold eyes.

“Cool off,” he said. “I won’t be coming home for a few days.”

As I watched his back as he walked away, I let out a laugh.

Right then, my phone buzzed. I glanced down at the message I’d been waiting on:

“Luna, as requested, your diving gear and private sub are ready. We can depart for the Mariana Trench at any time.”

It was the anniversary surprise I’d prepared for Adrian—taking him to the deepest place in the world, telling him in the ten-thousand-meter deep sea that we had a pup.

Now, it seemed… unnecessary.

I replied: “Cancel the plan.”

Then I dialed another number. “Prepare a divorce agreement for me.”

After I hung up, I rested a hand over my lower belly where a little pup lived, one Adrian still didn’t know about.

“Baby,” I whispered, “Mom’s going to take you to a deeper sea.”