My Mate’s Mistress Tried To Kill Me On My Wedding Day

Sweat trickled down my spine, cooling against the fabric of my shirt. My knuckles were white as I gripped the parallel bars I’d had secretly installed in the corner of my dressing room, hidden behind a heavy velvet curtain.

"Come on, Madelyn," I whispered through gritted teeth. "For him. For us."

My legs, dormant and unresponsive for three agonizing years, trembled violently. The nerves fired—a chaotic, burning static that felt like lightning trapped under my skin. But I didn't collapse. For the first time since the ambush that shattered my spine, I was standing.

Today was our seventh mating anniversary. Seven years since the Moon Goddess bound my soul to Kaden Hunter, the Alpha of the Ironveil Pack. For the last three, I had been the broken Luna, the wife in the wheelchair who smiled bravely while the pack whispered about my frailty. But tonight, I was going to walk to him. I was going to show him that his vow—to be my strength until I found my own—had not been in vain.

I collapsed back into my wheelchair, gasping for air, a triumphant smile stretching across my face. Sable, my wolf, stirred in the back of my mind. She had been nearly silent since the injury, buried under layers of trauma and medication, but today, she let out a low, uneasy whine.

*Hush, Sable,* I thought. *It’s a happy day.*

I wheeled myself over to the Alpha’s console on the desk to check when Kaden would be back from his border patrol. The screen was glowing, a notification blinking in the corner. It was a mind-link log, usually encrypted for Alpha eyes only, but someone had been careless. Or perhaps, arrogant.

The message flashed across the screen, intercepted by the localized server in our shared quarters.

*"I've left your favorite scent on the pillows in the study. Don't make me wait too long tonight, Alpha."*

The smile died on my lips. The sender ID was blocked, but the tone was intimate, possessive. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic bird trapped in a cage. *A prank? A mistake?*

Sable growled, a sound of pure warning.

I didn't want to believe it. Kaden was my mate. He had held my hand through every surgery, every failed therapy session. He had sworn to the pack that I was his heart.

I turned my wheelchair and exited the bedroom, moving silently down the hallway toward Kaden's private study. The heavy oak door was ajar. As I pushed it open, the scent hit me instantly—not the leather and pine of my mate, but something cloying and floral.

*Wild orchids and vanilla.*

I knew that scent. It belonged to Leslie Reyes, the Beta’s sister. A high-ranking she-wolf who always looked at me with a mixture of pity and disdain.

My hands shook as I rolled toward the large mahogany desk. I knew Kaden kept a hidden compartment behind the bottom drawer; he used to hide anniversary gifts there. I triggered the latch. The