Rejecting the False Alpha

The silver moon charm bracelet felt cold against my wrist as I climbed the steps to our pack house, my heart racing with anticipation. Three years. Three years since Thomas and I had completed our mate bond ceremony, and I'd planned something special to surprise him tonight. The champagne was already chilling in our private chambers, and I'd even managed to get his favorite dessert from that little bakery in town.

But as I reached the top of the stairs, something made me freeze. Sounds drifted from behind our bedroom door—intimate, breathless sounds that made my stomach clench with a terrible recognition. My hand trembled as I reached for the doorknob, my wolf whimpering inside my mind.

*Annie, don't,* she whispered, but I couldn't stop myself.

The door swung open silently, and my world shattered.

Thomas had Natalia pressed against our dresser, his hands tangled in her dark hair as he kissed her neck with a passion I hadn't seen from him in months. Her head was thrown back in ecstasy, and that's when I saw them—fresh marking scars along her throat, still red and tender. The mate marks that should have been mine alone.

"Thomas." The word escaped my lips like a broken whisper.

They sprang apart, but neither looked particularly surprised or ashamed. Natalia actually smiled as she adjusted her blouse, making sure I could see every mark he'd left on her skin.

"Annie," Thomas said, his voice steady, controlled. "You're early."

Early. As if I'd interrupted a business meeting instead of catching my mate in the arms of another woman. "What is this?" My voice cracked, and I hated how weak I sounded.

Natalia stepped forward, her chin raised defiantly. "This is what should have been from the beginning, Annie. Thomas and I are chosen mates from childhood. We've always belonged together." She touched the fresh marks on her neck deliberately. "The Moon Goddess may have given you a fated bond, but the heart wants what it wants."

"Thomas." I turned to him, desperate for him to deny it, to explain, to do something other than stand there looking at me with those cold amber eyes. "Tell me this isn't what it looks like."

He sighed, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "Annie, you're being dramatic. You know how much I care about you."

Care about me. Not love. Care.

"But you marked her." The words felt like glass in my throat. "You gave her what belongs to your mate."

"What belongs to me?" His voice shifted, taking on that Alpha tone that always made my knees weak, that commanded submission from every wolf in our pack. "Annie, let's not forget who saved you from that hellhole of a pack. Who risked everything to get you out of Moonridge territory. Who built this pack with you."

The mate bond pulsed between us, and suddenly I felt guilty—guilty for questioning him, guilty for being hurt, guilty for not being grateful enough. My wolf whimpered and tried to