Chapter 6
Adelyn collapsed onto the couch in her pack territory, overwhelmed by a flood of tears. It wasn’t the rejection of the mate bond that shattered her heart, but the harsh truth cutting through her like a dull knife, inch by inch.
She was left in complete disarray, feeling as though the Moon Goddess had dealt her an unbearable blow.
In a way, Clover nudged her down the path to rejecting the bond with Miles. That day, Miles needed his pack identification, so Adelyn went to his car to find it for him. As she rummaged through the glove compartment, she noticed faint fingerprints smudged across the passenger-side mirror and door handle—traces of sunscreen and foundation, clear as day.
Adelyn hadn’t been in Miles’s car for days, yet the fingerprints were fresh and impossible to miss. Her first instinct was to check the dashcam footage, only to discover it had been completely erased. Suddenly, a chilling realization gripped her.
The thought of Miles’s infidelity took root in her mind, planting seeds of suspicion. Sitting in the parking garage, hands trembling, she mind-linked Clover. Clover worked with Miles; they were both members of the pack. When she first joined the pack, Miles had jokingly suggested that Adelyn must have sent her to spy on him to ease her mind. He had even helped her secure her position.
Adelyn had trusted that if Miles was up to anything sketchy, Clover would notice right away. She remembered that conversation vividly. Clover hesitated before finally speaking with determination.
"There are a few new trainees in the pack," she said. "One girl seems to be getting pretty close to the Gamma."
Adelyn pressed her fingers to her temple and shared her discovery with Clover. Clover gasped in surprise. From that point on, Clover began updating Adelyn almost daily on Miles’s activities.
Eventually, Miles figured out Adelyn was keeping tabs on him. They erupted into a fierce argument, unlike any they had before.
Confiding in Clover, she was indignant on Adelyn’s behalf. She detailed her grievances and hinted that once a mate bond was betrayed, it was irreparable. The fallout from their argument caused their relationship to grow more distant. Clover urged Adelyn to consider rejecting the bond, to cut her losses.
Adelyn thought she was simply dealing with a rotten mate, but it turned out she had been betrayed by both her best friend and her mate. In the end, logic won over emotion.
She saved the video evidence of Miles’s betrayal and made a mind-link call to Orion, her Beta. "Let’s schedule a pack meeting for tomorrow; it’s time to clean house."
You may also like
