Zoe's POV

Suddenly, Aaron grinned and I knew it wasn't meant for me.

He muttered, “I’ll take you out another time. Hannah just mind linked me that she's here, and we need to go to the pack office right now.”

I was about to answer, but saw that he was already walking out of the room.

I stood up just as I heard Hannah's voice with my werewolf hearing, “There you are, Aaron!”

“My Hannah banana.” He murmured as I realized that their voices were moving farther away which meant that they were walking to the car.

He was the Alpha and no one in the pack would dare call him by his name except me, so how did he let it slide? Was their relationship really professional?

“Here, I bought roses for you. I know how much you like them.” He said, sounding like he was grinning.

So it was just as I had thought; the roses were for her.

He has never bought me roses before.

I sighed.

I knew that they were heading to the pack office for pack work, but what was this queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach?

I wanted to go to the pack office to be with my mate.

I was the Luna and that meant that we should run the pack together including doing pack work together, but instead, he was doing it with Hannah.

So my daily duties were checking on the pack members, visiting the sick in the pack's clinic and cooking for the pack.

However, Hannah has taken over checking on the pack members and sometimes cooking.

“I’ve won the bet! Alpha Aaron has given Beta Hannah flowers! It's obvious that they're going to be mates soon enough.” I overheard a she-wolf in the pack, Quinn, say to her friends as they walked into the pack house.

“From what I've heard, they're already mates!” Jenny replied.

“How can they be mates when he already has a mate?” Kate asked them, her voice sounding closer to the dining room.

Quinn muttered, “Well, I've heard that Luna Zoe is not his fated mate and that it's Beta Hannah that's his fated mate.”

“And you believe that?” Kate asked her in disbelief.

Jenny and Quinn replied, “Yes!”

Jenny grinned as she said, “I saw them running in the woods together on Friday night. Oh, how romantic is that?”

A gasp left my lips as my knees gave way and I dropped to the floor.

They rushed into the dining room and Kate gasped, “Oh, Luna Zoe. We had no idea that you were here.”

That was the last thing that I heard before I lost consciousness.

When I came to, I saw Aaron standing beside the bed that I was lying on, and the second he realized that I was awake, he scowled, “Why weren't you answering my mind links?”

“Maybe because I was unconscious.” I muttered as I sat up.

The scowl disappeared and he grimaced then placed his hand in his pocket. He pulled out a gold necklace, “I wanted to ask you what kind of necklace you like.”

My heart didn't flutter and butterflies didn't fill my tummy as it used to whenever he would buy me a gift.

“I don't like gold, I prefer diamonds.” I muttered as I remembered Jenny's words.

He frowned and threw it on the bed, “Fine, don't take it.”

He walked out of the bedroom and slammed the door shut very loudly. It was obvious that he was angry, but I didn't care.

The door opened and Hannah walked in. She was wearing a diamond necklace with matching earrings.

“How are you feeling, Zoe?” She asked me as she smirked.

Before I could reply, she saw the gold necklace on our bed and grinned, “Oh, did Aaron give you that necklace? He gave me one too, you can see that it's quite expensive!”

She touched her necklace and let out a small laugh. It was like she was laughing at how pathetic I was.

“I'm fine. Why haven't you gone home yet? It's 9:00 pm.” I asked her as I tried not to glare at her.

“I had no idea that it was this late! I'll go now, bye!” She exclaimed then ran out of the bedroom.

I stood up from the bed and made my way to my closet.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I started packing.

Just as I was done, the door opened and Aaron walked in. He glanced at my empty closet and the suitcase beside it just as I closed the closet, but he didn't say anything about it.

“Zoey, I'll be travelling to another pack in a few weeks with Hannah for pack business. The pack is in the Philippines, what do you want me to get you from there?”

“Nothing.” I muttered as I walked back to the bed.

He looked confused, “Are you still angry about the necklace? Don't be petty, I would have bought you a diamond one, but it was sold out.”

I ignored him and it made him so angry that he yelled, “You should be grateful that I even bought you a gift!”

When I didn't reply, he added, “I'm going for a run!”

I looked up to see him walking out of the bedroom.

Whenever we fought, Aaron would say that he was going running and I would follow him then end up apologizing to him.

However, I wouldn't be falling for his trick anymore. I didn't even care that he was angry at me.

He didn't come back home that night.

Throughout the night, I kept wondering if Hannah had run with him and if he had slept over at hers.

The next morning, I woke up to the door opening.

Aaron walked in, looking disheveled.

He glanced at me with a scowl on his face, “Make me two very beautiful dresses before evening.”

Zoe's POV

I was a fashion designer and I always designed clothes for Aaron and his sister, but somehow, I knew that this request wasn't for his sister.

I replied to Aaron in a clipped tone, “I can't finish the dress before evening time.”

He sighed, looking irritated, “When can you finish it then?”

I nodded, “Tomorrow morning. I'll be going out to buy the materials now.”

He looked relieved as he nodded. He then pulled out his wallet from his pants pocket and pulled out a ton of cash, “Here is the money.”

I took it then grabbed my purse and placed it inside.

His phone started ringing and he picked up the call as he started walking out of the bedroom.

Aaron didn't like picking up my calls, yet here he was picking up other people's calls.

In the years that we've been together, he has only picked up my calls five times.

“Our mate doesn't want us anymore.” Kira murmured in my head.

“Don’t worry, he won't be our mate for long.” I replied as I drew in a deep breath and let it out.

I climbed out of bed and made my way to the bathroom.

The next day, I was in the living room while eating lunch when I saw Aaron's text in the WhatsApp group chat. It was a group chat for Aaron, Hannah, Zed and I.

[Zoe, the dresses that you made are gorgeous.]

Hannah texted next as she gushed, [Yeah, they're so beautiful! I could have bought them from the mall, but you know that they will scam me because I can't tell the high quality dresses apart from the low quality ones. Aaron just doesn't want me to be scammed.]

I knew that the dresses were for her, but he acted like it was his sister's.

I texted back, [Okay.]

Hannah replied, [I'm wearing one of the dresses for my friend’s party. You can come too, it's four houses down from the pack house and we're on the balcony.]

Aaron texted, [There's no need for you to come.]

I decided to ignore them, but then a few minutes later, I received a private text from Hannah.

[I'm craving some chicken wings, buy them on your way here.]

Designing a dress for her wasn't enough, she was now asking me to run errands for her?

I scoffed as I shook my head.

Half an hour later, I walked into the house to see people dancing as music blared from the speakers.

I made my way to the balcony and found Aaron and Hannah sitting at table for four people. They were the only ones there and I noticed that they were sitting very close to each other.

He was staring into her eyes and she was staring back into his.

The sound of my footsteps seemed to make them turn to me. A scowl made its way to his face and he pressed his lips into a thin line as if restraining his anger.

Hannah grinned in a mischievous way, “You've made it.”

Aaron's brows furrowed as he said through clenched teeth, “I told you not to come.”

Hannah grinned wider as she raised her hands, “Guilty! I texted her to bring me some chicken wings.”

Aaron grabbed her hands and pulled them down as he said, “You have nothing to be guilty about, Hannah banana.”

How could he always be on her side?

I remembered the real reason that made me come, so I stretched out the transfer form.

I drew in a deep breath and let it out, “I came here for an important reason. A friend of mine is looking to transfer to another pack because her mate belongs to that pack, so can you please sign this transfer form?”

He glanced at me with a frown on his brows as if thinking about it.

“Just sign it please.” I added, and he grabbed it.

He signed it without reading it as he grumbled lowly then handed it back to me.

I felt relief wash over me as I grabbed the form. I will finally be free from this heartache.

“Is this why you interrupted us?” He asked as he glanced at me.

“Yes.” I muttered.

His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. He scoffed and turned his head away from me like he couldn't stand the sight of me.

“The tattoo on your arm looks just like the one that Aaron had a few months ago, but then it disappeared and he told me that he had it removed.” Hannah said as she stared at my right wrist where ‘Mates’ was scribbled in tattoo ink.

I glanced at his wrist and saw that she was right. He has removed the matching tattoo that we got five years ago after he marked me as his mate.

“It's just a tattoo, you can get it too if you want.” I replied to her as I felt anger inside my chest.

I was going to have my tattoo removed today since it didn't mean anything to Aaron.

I didn't wait for her reply and turned around.

My phone started ringing and I glanced at the screen to see that it was my brother, Alec.

I quickly picked up and heard him say, “Zoe! How are you? How's Aaron treating you?”

I sniffed, “I'm good. How's mom?”

He didn't acknowledge that I had ignored his second question and replied, “She’s fine, and we've been missing you a lot, especially Mom. When are you coming home? You told Mom that it will be this week.”

“I've missed you too, and don't worry, I'm coming home in two days.” I replied, feeling glad that he didn't ask why I was leaving Aaron.

As I hung up, I heard footsteps coming from behind me and turned around to see Aaron walking towards me.

I wasn't sure if he had heard me or not, but he didn't say anything about it.

“Let's crash here.” He murmured as he started walking up the stairs.

I didn't know why he wanted us to crash here when our pack house was close by, but I followed him.

I woke up to find that Aaron wasn't in the room. I glanced at the wall clock to see it was already 1:00 pm.

The door opened and Aaron walked in.

He glanced at me, “I've made us a special lunch, come to the dining room to eat it.”

I climbed out of bed and followed Aaron downstairs to the dining room.

Zoe's POV

I saw waffles in front of the seats at the ends of the dining table, and walked over to sit down at one end of the table.

Aaron sat at the other end of the table.

“Why did you change the password to your ipad?” He asked me as he stared at me.

The ipad was a gift that he had bought for me on my twenty-fifth birthday and he was the one that set the password for me. I changed it after I realized that he had gone running with Hannah.

He didn't even notice until now.

“No reason.” I answered him as I chewed on my waffles.

A frown fell on his brows and he said in a cold voice, “The Pack alliance party is tonight, and you've always wanted to be my date to such events. Do you want to go as my date?”

Hannah has always been his date for pack related stuff since she became Beta while I go with my friends, so what changed now?

If I declined his offer, he would grow suspicious and I didn't want him to know that I was leaving just yet.

I didn't look at him as I stood up and replied, “Sure.”

At the pack alliance party, I was sitting at a table inside the city hall where it was taking place with Aaron beside me.

“Are you having fun?” Aaron asked me as he saw the bored look on my face.

I nodded, not sparing him a glance.

Being his date wasn't as fun as I had imagined. I didn't know any of the other Lunas or their Alphas, and Aaron has been ignoring me until now.

“Are you-” He started, but stopped when we heard Hannah's voice.

“Aaron!”

We turned around to see her rushing to us.

She hugged him tightly.

“You look marvelous!” He exclaimed as he stared at her body.

Hannah held his hand, interlacing their fingers, “Thanks!”

She glanced at me as her eyes widened in surprise and she let go of his hand, “Oh no! Luna Zoe, I'm so sorry. It's just that we're very close.”

“You don't have to apologize, Hannah.” Aaron replied to her before I could.

Alpha Aiden walked over at that moment and started talking to Aaron.

“Rogues!” We heard someone yell and everyone started running around in panic.

“Come on, Hannah.” Aaron said as he grabbed Hannah's hand and pulled her towards the back door.

He didn't try protecting me, instead, he was protecting Hannah.

“Everyone, calm down. There are no rogues! A kid saw shadows of a bush and thought it was a rogue.” Alpha Aiden announced, making everyone pause.

I saw Aaron walking back into the hall with Hannah, and I glanced at the time on my phone.

My flight would be taking off early in the morning, so I had to retire to bed soon. I made my way out of the hall and took a taxi to the pack house.

The next morning, I was inside the plane when I heard Aaron's panicked voice in my head, “Zoe! Why am I feeling pain from the mate bond breaking? Why are you leaving? Where are you going?”