Chapter 1
Reyna Cruz:
Unknown: Your Alpha mate is cheating on you.
Unknown: He will soon break up with you and get another she-wolf pregnant.
A frown covered my forehead as I read the texts from this unknown sender. This same person had been sending me nonsense messages for over a week now.
"Honey, do you need anything else?" I asked my mate, setting my phone aside. He was engrossed in his own phone, looking weary as we shared breakfast together.
We had been married for a few months now, and things had only taken a turn for the worse. Back when I first felt the mate bond with him, I thought I was the luckiest she-wolf alive, and for a while, I truly was. But then something inside him shifted. Just when I thought we were ready to start a family, he withdrew into his shell. It had been two weeks since he had barely spent any time with me. Something had definitely changed, and these messages from the unknown source were not helping matters.
"Hunter!" I cleared my throat. "I'm talking to you," I said, resisting the urge to grab his phone and see who was occupying him to the point that he had so little to say to me.
"Huh?" he raised his thick, black eyebrows before once again getting lost in his cellphone.
Alpha King Hunter Sparrow came into my life when I was just 11, and he was 13. We started as friends before discovering years later that we were mates. My wolf was so weak that all she could do was recognize my mate. But Hunter saved me from being kicked out of the pack because I didn't have a proper wolf.
"Reyna! I don't feel like eating anything. I have some pending work that needs to be taken care of," he finally said after acknowledging my presence.
"And don't wait for me tonight; I'll be late," He finally put his phone down and grabbed the glass of juice without touching any of the food I had made for him.
"Is there a meeting in the office?" I asked, playing with the berries on the waffles on my plate.
"Sort of," he answered. "I'm going to leave; I don't want to be late for the office." His beautiful gray eyes shone as he got out of the chair and grabbed his phone and laptop bag.
"But you didn't even finis---," the words dried up in my mouth as he got up and left.
"This isn't right. He's been acting up so much these days. Could it be that whoever is texting me is telling the truth?" I asked myself, tears welling up in my eyes as I stared at my phone's screen. Cheating between true mates rarely happens, but when it does, it hurts like hell.
"Hey, you're eating breakfast alone? Where's your charming husband?" My best friend Tara asked. She had been living with me for a few months after her alpha mate rejected her.
Tara herself was the daughter of the Alpha King of the West Pack. She had a brother next in line for the alpha position, and she held the rank of Gamma. It was quite unusual for her to befriend an Omega like me from her pack, The Mystic Crystal Pack. I was now living in my mate's pack: the Flaming Fangs Pack.
"Tara, I'm beginning to think that the wrong number isn't lying. Hunter hasn't spoken to me in days. He's always engrossed in his phone. It's been weeks since he even asked me to share a bed with him. I'm just very scared now," I confided in her, pouring out my feelings as I always did. She gave me a sympathetic glance before sitting down with me. Having her living here with me had been such a comfort. Hunter's mother rarely visited the mansion, but when she did, she made it clear she didn't like her Alpha King son marrying an Omega like me.
"I hope it's not because you're sleeping in my room. I kind of feel guilty for disrupting your early years of marriage," Tara pouted sadly, her green eyes fixed on me.
"Hey, don't blame yourself. You have nightmares from the rejection, and you need your friend beside you. I'm sure that's not why he's acting up," I forced a smile across my lips instantly so that she wouldn't blame herself.
It was somewhat true, though. The moment I got married, she arrived, and I had to spend time with her because whenever she was left alone, she had anxiety attacks.
We had just started talking when my phone beeped again, and this time, the text message was even more terrifying to me.
Unknown: Your mate is on his way to a luxury suite he booked for his mistress. They're going to spend hours together.
The look on my face changed, and my vision blurred as tears welled up in my eyes.
"Reyna! What's going on? You're making me worried," Tara must have noticed the intensity in my gaze as I stared at my phone's screen. For a moment, the world around me seemed to go silent, and I felt like time had frozen.
She got up from her seat and moved closer, snatching my phone from my hands to read the text for herself.
"Oh Goddess! This is serious," she exclaimed with a look of concern.
"Tara! I don't want to catch my mate with someone. Why is this happening to me?" I couldn't hold back any longer and began to break down. "I've put up with his mother and everyone's hatred for so long. All fo what? So that he can go out and cheat on me?" I sobbed, panting as if I had just run a mile.
"Hey! Please calm down first," Tara placed her hand on my back and rubbed it gently in an attempt to soothe me, but it didn't help. Instead, I felt an overwhelming urge to throw up.
I quickly got to my feet, rushing to the nearest bathroom, and vomited more violently than I ever had before. I had been feeling very ill for the past few days, and it was likely due to the stress caused by Hunter's sudden change in attitude towards me.
"Umm! Are you okay?" Tara's voice came from the doorway that I hadn't closed behind me.
"I'm fine. I've been feeling sick lately, probably because of the stress," I replied, washing my face before I steadied myself and walked out of the bathroom.
She remained silent for a moment, then grabbed my hands, forcing me to meet her gaze.
"You can't let him play you. That person sent you the hotel's address and room number; you should go see for yourself what's going on," her demand shook me a little. Catching him would mean it might be all
over.
"I can't," I hesitated, shaking my head. "Why don't you go for me?" The miserable part of me was taking control, and I knew I shouldn't feel like this when I was the victim here.
The victim of my mate's betrayal.
"Reyna! I haven't told you this, but I saw him with a girl yesterday. Please wake up and recognize your worth. If he's cheating on you, he needs to face you and be confronted," her words knocked me for a loop I stared at her in horrified disbelief.
Why didn't she tell me this before?
I knew she was aware of the text messages from the wrong number because she had been using my phone to communicate with her brother and pack members. However, she wasn't ready to face them or have a phone they could blow up to get her to return.
"So, go and catch him," she nodded, emphasizing her suggestion.
"Please come with me," I pleaded, but she shook her head faintly in refusal.
"I can't. I still have nightmares from my confrontation with my mate. If I had to witness it happening to you, I'd probably lose my mind," she pouted, rubbing my hands between her own to comfort me. "Reyna! Just go before you become the sidechick, and the mistress takes over," Tara urged me to get ready for the mission.
She was probably right. If I stayed silent for too long, Hunter might become comfortable with this lifestyle. I wasn't automatically thinking about rejecting him, but a confrontation was necessary. Taking deep breaths, I gave the address to the driver and hopped into the car.
My heart was pounding louder than ever, and I couldn't stop fiddling with the hem of my black empire waist dress.
The car ride was silent and filled with an unsettling feeling.
"Shit!" I reached for my phone in my purse and realized I had left it at home. It seemed like the whole day was just one big mess.
The driver parked in the hotel's parking lot, and my stomach churned. He had brought his mistress to such an upscale hotel.
"Your highness!" The guard at the main door reluctantly bowed in respect. The pack members believed Hunter had made a wrong decision by accepting me. They would have preferred him to accept a chosen mate rather than his true mate, who happened to be an Omega.
"Thank you," I replied, hiding the trembling in my hands by clutching them tightly in front of my body. I knew the room number, so after enduring everyone secretly looking down on me, I took the elevator to the desired floor.
At this point, my blood pressure had dropped significantly. Everything felt cold and airy, and I seemed to be floating as I made my way to the room.
"367!" I whispered under my breath, feeling the rise and fall of my chest, accompanied by my racing heartbeat.
"Please stay faithful, Hunter!" Even when Tara confessed to seeing my mate cheat on me, I desperately wanted to believe it was a misunderstanding.
Hunter was all I had and all I would ever have. I would never be able to recover from his betrayal.
Standing in front of the door made me anxious. Not only that, but he was in such a hurry that he forgot to lock the door. There were red stilettos lying at the entrance.
"She must have dressed up nicely for him," my lips quivered, my eyes seeing her lovely red dress on the shiny tiles. I entered the suite, and the scene was shocking. It was clear that a lot had happened here before my arrival.
That's when my eyes landed on his coat near the bedroom.
"That's his coat," I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands and hurrying towards the bedroom. Something inside me boiled with anger, and I ended up bursting open the door and entering the dimly lit room. He was already fast asleep, lying naked on his stomach. The girl was nowhere to be seen. The scent was unfamiliar, something even my weakest wolf couldn't recognize.
"How could you do this to me?" I yelled as I grabbed the blanket and flung it off his body, exposing his naked bottom.
He jolted awake and turned to face me.
"Huh?" My mind was so overwhelmed with anxiety that I forgot to react properly to what I was seeing.
"Who are you?" I frowned at the unfamiliar naked man in bed.
"What do you mean, 'Who am I?' We had sex just a few minutes ago, and you already forgot about me?" The smirk he gave me left me bewildered. I wasn't sure why he would say that.
"I think I'm in the wrong room," I said, rubbing my hands on my face to calm down my breathing. By then, he had shamelessly gotten out of bed.
I tried to walk past him, but he instantly grabbed my hand and pulled me against his chest. The contact with his naked body caused a gasp to escape my lips.
Before I could react to his inappropriate behavior, I heard a gasp from behind me.
"You've been cheating on me?" Hunter's eyes darkened as he watched me standing so close to this unclothed man in a private suite.
It felt like my soul had left my body.