My Alpha Cheated Me with His Pack Mate Bond

"Pass me the yellow blanket, Clara."

"This one, Luna?" Clara held up a soft, knitted square.

I took it and smoothed the edges over the crib rails. "Yes. Kael loves yellow. He says it reminds him of the sun."

"Alpha Kael is going to spoil this pup," the young maid grinned.

"He already does." I rubbed my swollen belly. Six months along, and the baby usually kicked like a tiny warrior.

"He bought three wooden rocking horses yesterday."

"Three?" Clara laughed. "Where are we even going to put them?"

"I told him the exact same thing," I said, folding a tiny white onesie. "But you know how stubborn an Alpha can be."

A sharp jolt ripped through my chest.

I gasped. The clothes slipped from my hands. My knees hit the hardwood with a heavy thud.

"Luna!" Clara rushed forward, hands hovering over my shoulders. "Are you in pain? Is it the baby?"

"No," I choked out.

It wasn't the baby. It was the bond.

A wave of intense, sickening pleasure washed through my mind. It wasn't mine. It belonged to my Alpha.

Kael.

He was having sex with someone.

"Get out, Clara," I whispered, clutching my chest.

"But you're hurt—"

"Leave!" My voice cracked.

The maid scrambled out of the nursery and shut the door hard behind her.

Alone, I curled into a tight ball on the rug. My wolf whimpered, clawing at the walls of my mind in pure agony.

Through the mate bond, Kael's wolf howled with joy. Six months of pent-up frustration shattered. He was euphoric. I felt his muscles flex, his pleasure flooding my veins like poison.

I gagged. Bile coated my tongue.

"You promised," I sobbed into the empty room. "You promised me, Kael."

Three months ago he had stood in our bedroom, face pale and drawn.

"My wolf is going numb, Elena," he had confessed, pacing.

"What do you mean?" I had asked, terrified. "Are we losing the bond?"

"I can't feel you the way I used to. I swear I'll keep you and the baby safe. I won't let anything happen."

"Is it because we stopped touching each other?" We used to share our bodies every night, completely inseparable.

"I won't risk hurting our child," he insisted, gripping my hands. "I can control my urges. I'll figure out what's wrong with my wolf."

But he couldn't control them. Not around her.

A hysterical laugh tore from my throat, harsh as metal scraping metal. Tears streamed down my cheeks, yet I couldn't stop grinning like a madwoman. The sheer absurdity of it cracked something inside me.

He tole me he locked her away.

Just two weeks ago he dragged Vivienne into the pack dungeons.

"She did something to me, Elena," he snarled, throwing the heavy iron keys onto the dining table.

"Vivienne? The orphan you brought back from the border wars?" I asked. "Kael, that was ten years ago. Before you even became Alpha."

"She used dark magic. A witch's spell." His eyes flashed gold. "My wolf reacts to her. It thinks she's my mate."

"You're an Alpha. Fight it."

"I am fighting it! I locked her in the silver cells. She stays there until I break this curse."

He lied.

Another surge of ecstasy pulsed through the bond, hotter and more violent than the last. Kael's wolf trembled with raw satisfaction. He had surrendered completely. The delight radiating from him felt like poison in my blood.

"Stop," I begged, digging my nails into the floorboards until they bled. "Please, Kael, stop."

He couldn't hear me. Or he simply didn't care.

Then the worst thing happened.

My belly, usually restless with our son's kicks, went completely still.

"Baby?" I touched my stomach.

Nothing.

"Wake up, little one. Kick for Mommy."

Silence. A cold, heavy weight settled in my womb. The pup felt lifeless, as if Kael's betrayal had severed the spark of life inside me.

"No, no, no." I tapped frantically. "Please. Talk to me."

Still nothing.

Fury replaced grief. Hot rage flushed my skin and dried my tears in an instant.

I pushed myself up. My joints popped in protest.

"I have to find him," I muttered.

I didn't call Clara back. I didn't alert the guards.

I slipped out the side door of the nursery into the dim hallway.

The bond was a fraying thread, weakened by whatever magic Vivienne held, but it was still there. It pulsed with a rhythmic, disgusting heat.

I followed the invisible pull.

"Where are you, Kael?" I whispered, keeping to the shadows of the packhouse.

I bypassed the grand staircase. Two guards stood by the front entrance, talking about the winter festival.

"Did you see the new meat shipments?" one asked.

"Yeah. Alpha ordered extra for the feast. Said we need to celebrate the new heir properly."

"Hope the Luna is feeling up to it. She looks tired lately."

I ducked behind a velvet curtain until they turned away, then slipped through the servants' corridor.

I climbed the spiral staircase, breathing hard. My pregnant belly slowed me, but I forced my legs to keep moving, gripping the banister for support.

"Just a little further," I told my quiet baby. "We're going to see what Daddy is doing."

The heat of the bond grew stronger. Kael's euphoria spiked again, sending a violent shudder down my spine.

I didn't know where this bond was going to take me, but I followed its pull until I found myself somewhere I could never have imagined.