My Alpha Let Me Die to Save His Mistress

The rain battered against the stone walls of the Pack House, echoing the hollow ache inside my chest. It had been exactly three years. Three years since the rogue attack that turned my life into a waking nightmare. Three years since I held the cold, tiny body of my daughter, Kiara, and screamed until my throat bled.

Today, the pack was silent, respectful of the Alpha’s mourning—or so I thought. I clutched the small velvet box containing the only thing I had left of her: a silver locket. I wanted Bennett to go with me to the gravesite. As the Alpha and my Chosen Mate, he should have been by my side. But he wasn’t in his office, and he wasn’t in our bedroom.

"Council meetings," he had told me this morning, his eyes failing to meet mine. "I’ll be busy all day, Carmen. Go pay your respects alone."

I wiped a stray tear from my cheek and turned down the west wing corridor, intending to leave through the back garden. But as I passed the Beta’s quarters, my steps faltered. The air here was usually sterile, smelling of cleaning supplies and Beta Victoria’s faint, floral perfume. Today, however, the hallway was thick with a different scent.

It was unmistakable. *Rain and Pine.* Bennett’s scent.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Why would Bennett be in Victoria’s room? And why was his scent so heavy, so agitated, mixing violently with the cloying, artificial sweetness of vanilla?

I stepped closer to the heavy oak door. It was cracked open just a fraction, a sliver of darkness peering out. I meant to knock, to ask if the meeting had moved here, but a voice from inside froze the blood in my veins.

"You need to calm down, Bennett. The pack will smell your distress."

It wasn’t Victoria. It was a man’s voice. Low, familiar, and laced with guilt. My brother, Mateo.

"Calm down?" Bennett’s voice was a growl, vibrating through the wood. "It’s the anniversary, Mateo. The whole pack is on edge. If anyone looks too closely at the logs from that night…"

"They won’t," Mateo interrupted, his tone pleading. "I buried the patrol reports deep. No one knows we diverted the warriors."

I stopped breathing. My hand hovered over the door handle, trembling.

"I still see her face, Bennett," Mateo whispered, his voice cracking. "Kiara. She was my niece. We left her car defenseless. We let the rogues hit them just to clear the route for Victoria’s extraction."

The world tilted on its axis. A high-pitched ringing filled my ears, drowning out the storm outside. It wasn’t an accident. The rogues hadn’t just gotten lucky.

Bennett let out a harsh sigh. "It was a strategic choice. Victoria is the Beta. She carries the pack's financial secrets. Carmen… Carmen is just a Chosen Mate. Her wolf is weak. And the pup…"

"Don't say it," Mateo hissed.

"The pup was collateral damage," Bennett finished coldly. "To save the woman I actually need."

Everything