Jumping to Death After My Mate’s Ultimate Betrayal

I was the mate Ashton Sullivan chose at random after his heartbreak with Isabela Johnson.

For seven years, Ashton, the future Lycan King, had poured all his affection into Isabela. But she, driven by her desire for freedom, repeatedly used and hurt him, even defying his authority to flee to the borderlands. Heartbroken, Ashton gave up.

Among the many noble candidates for his Luna, he randomly selected my portrait.

On our mark ceremony day, Isabela suddenly regretted her decision and rushed back from the borderlands. The moment she appeared, Ashton abandoned me without hesitation.

“If Isabela wants it, she will be my only Luna,” he said coldly, his Alpha tone cutting through the air. “Don’t even think of causing trouble, or you’ll regret it.”

Even my own brother, Brady Carpenter, the Beta of our pack, warned me.

“Isabela is pure-hearted. You’d better behave, or it wouldn’t be a big deal if the Carpenter family lost a daughter.”

But when I really died, they were the ones who regretted it.

Brady knelt at the pack’s gates, crying until he went blind.

Ashton aged overnight, his once commanding aura shattered.

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Brady watched as Ashton and Isabela left, his expression somber. But with so many pack members around, he dared not reveal too much of his feelings. After coldly warning me, he left as well.

I stood there, the ceremonial veil still covering my face, abandoned by my future mate in front of everyone. My only brother, who had grown up with me, had publicly told me to know my place.

It was clear to everyone that both Ashton, my future mate, and Brady, my own flesh and blood, shared the same sentiment.

As long as Isabela was happy, my pain and heartache didn’t matter.

Shelby Mitchell, my caretaker since childhood, helped me up, her heart aching for me. She didn’t dare lift my veil, fearing Ashton’s wrath. The ceremony wasn’t complete, and with Ashton’s attention entirely on Isabela, he likely wouldn’t care.

But I didn’t want to see the smug, pitying looks of the pack members either, so I let Shelby lead me away.

Though I couldn’t see, I could hear their whispers.

“The Lycan Prince only chose her to make Isabela jealous. Otherwise, he’d never have picked her.”

“I heard she had her brother, the Beta, use his influence to replace the original candidate’s portrait with hers.”

“How shameless, to chase after such a humiliating match. Serves her right to be abandoned at her own mark ceremony.”

“Even her own brother thinks she’s an embarrassment. He just left.”

I closed my eyes, trying to hold back the tears, but the bitterness was overwhelming.

Ashton had left me halfway through the ceremony, so I wasn’t officially recognized as his Luna. And now that Isabela was back, there was no guarantee Ashton would even acknowledge me.

The pack members, quick to follow the wind, closed the doors of the Lycan King’s estate, refusing to let me in. Shelby trembled with anger, but I had expected this.

“Let’s go home,” I said wearily. “I’m tired.”

Shelby, hearing the exhaustion in my voice, didn’t want me to suffer further humiliation, so she carefully helped me into the car.

But when we returned to the Carpenter estate, I saw Ashton and Brady playing with Isabela in the garden.

My parents had died early, leaving just Brady and me to rely on each other. Brady was a prodigy, the youngest Beta in the pack. But no one would believe that this powerful Beta, second only to the Alpha, would personally cook for a woman.

Once, when Brady spent days in his study, refusing to eat, I worried for his health and, with Shelby, prepared a meal for him.

But he coldly knocked it aside, scolding me.

“You’re the daughter of the Carpenter family, the future Luna of the pack. How can you act like a common housekeeper?”

“We have chefs for a reason. Are they just decorations?”

The Carpenter estate naturally had top chefs, and anything I made couldn’t compare. But I thought that something I made with my own hands would make him happy, encourage him to eat more.

Seeing the disdain in Brady’s eyes, I swallowed my hurt and retreated to my room.

But now, the same Brady who had once said, “A Beta has no business in the kitchen,” was personally cooking a beauty-enhancing soup for Isabela.

The usually composed Beta now looked like a nervous teenager, eagerly and anxiously holding the bowl of soup.

His eyes flickered to me, still in my mark ceremony dress, and he paused.