I Saw My Mate Kiss My Best Friend

The champagne flute slipped from my fingers, crystal shattering against marble as the sound echoed through the empty hallway.

I stood frozen outside the master bedroom door, my hand still raised from where I'd been about to knock. Through the crack in the doorway, golden light spilled across expensive Persian rugs, illuminating a scene that carved itself into my memory with surgical precision.

Lucas—my Lucas—had Selina pressed against the mahogany dresser, his hands tangled in her auburn hair. Her legs were wrapped around his waist, her emerald cocktail dress hiked up around her thighs. The same dress I'd helped her pick out this morning, laughing about how we'd both look stunning at my engagement party.

But it wasn't just the betrayal of bodies that stopped my heart. It was their voices, low and intimate in the aftermath.

"She actually believes you love her," Selina whispered, trailing her fingers down Lucas's chest. "Poor little Evelyn, so trusting, so naive."

Lucas chuckled, the sound I'd once found endearing now cold as winter steel. "She's perfect for what I need. Beautiful, well-bred, and completely malleable. The Council will approve the match without question."

"And after the ceremony?" Selina's voice held a cruel edge. "When you're officially Alpha?"

"Then she'll learn her place. A Luna who asks no questions and causes no trouble." His hand traced her jawline with the same tenderness he'd shown me just hours ago. "But you, my dear Selina, you understand power. You know how to play the game."

The hallway tilted around me. Three years. Three years of believing in fairy tales and fated mates. Three years of planning our future, of imagining little feet running through these same halls.

"She's so pathetically grateful for every scrap of attention," Selina continued, her laugh like breaking glass. "Did you see her face tonight when you gave that speech? She practically glowed."

"Useful trait in a wife. Gratitude breeds obedience."

My chest constricted, each breath becoming a monumental effort. The woman I'd called sister since childhood, the man I'd given my heart to—they spoke of me like a pet to be trained.

I must have made a sound, some small gasp of anguish, because Lucas's head snapped toward the door. Our eyes met through the gap, and for a heartbeat, I saw something flicker across his face. Not guilt. Not shame.

Annoyance.

"Evelyn." His voice carried that Alpha authority that usually made my knees weak. Now it just made me nauseous. "What are you doing lurking in hallways?"

I pushed the door open fully, my legs somehow carrying me forward despite feeling like they were made of lead. Selina had the grace to look startled, quickly smoothing down her dress and stepping away from Lucas. But her eyes held no remorse—only calculation.

"I was looking for you," I managed, my voice sounding foreign to my own ears. "The guests are asking about the Alpha heir."

Lucas straightened his tie with practiced ease, his expression shifting into the charming mask I now