Chasing back his Rejected Mate

Long before it happens, there is a hint of betrayal in the air. It always takes a minute to realize it, the pause before everything breaks apart, even if I didn't want to accept it. My heart palpitates slightly, a subtle tug on my abdomen, and everything around me seems to be a trap about to open.

I ought to have anticipated it. All the warning signs were there, like fissures in the once solid link, but I had been too naive, too trusting. And now as I was standing outside Zane's office in the dimly lit hallway, that gut instinct turned into something far worse.

For weeks Zane had been aloof, his thoughts elsewhere during our chats, his touch no longer comforting or warm. I dismissed it as the pressure of holding the position of Alpha and the responsibility of guiding the Crescent Moon pack pressing down on him.

I know better now, though. A gentle chuckle that made my spine tingle came from behind the slightly open door. It wasn't a laugh from Zane.

She owned it. Mia, my sister.

I have no business standing here. I have no business listening at all. But I was stuck in a moment I didn't want to see, with my feet refusing to move and my body immobile as if the air around me had become thicker..

Their conversation was hushed, personal, and all too familiar. As I edged nearer, gazing through the narrow gap between the door and the frame, my pulse pounded against my chest.

And there he was, standing way too close to Mia.

Zane, my mate, my Alpha, and the person I had put all of my confidence in. His hand was on her waist, his fingers brushing over her flesh as if he had done this a thousand times before. With her head cocked back and her lips split into a sated smile, Mia looked content.

"Zane, you don't have to hide it anymore," she said in a quiet voice that was laced with sinister undertones. "I understand you're sick of playing dress-up with her."

Her? Me.

I was having trouble breathing. All of me wanted to rip them apart, to rip through the door, and demand answers. But I was halted by something. Perhaps it was Zane's lack of opposition. Perhaps it was the way his hands, the hands that he'd said would hold me alone, constricted around her waist.

Zane mumbled, "I didn't want it to happen this way," his deep voice twisting my stomach sickeningly. However, it's finished. Nixie is not going to get it. Mia stated, "She'll never understand," with a bitter conviction in her voice. She lacks maturity. Zane, she can't take the truth. But we can.

I could feel the earth trembling beneath me. Not only did the physical betrayal hurt, but so did their language, which painted me as helpless, unintelligent, and unimportant. I ought to go. Turn around and forget that I ever saw them or heard this. However, the pain in my chest grew into rage. Anger that was beyond anything I had ever experienced. I wasn't feeble. I wasn't deserving of sympathy. And I was not going to let them determine my value.

I used a force I wasn't aware I possessed to force the door open. Zane and Mia both flinched as it smacked against the wall, turning their heads in my direction.

“Nixie. Zane began, but when he saw the expression on my face, his voice stuck in his throat. He wasn't prepared for me to be here. He didn't think I would find out. That was his error, too.

I trembled when I entered the room, feeling a mixture of betrayal and wrath. I said, sounding more distant than I had ever been. "Don't even attempt to explain."

Mia dared to appear culpable, if only for a split second. It turned into something more self-satisfied as if she'd received a reward. She stepped near me and said, "Nixie, it's not what it looks like.”

She stopped cold in her tracks when I raised my hand. "Well, I think that's exactly what it appears to be," I spit out, glancing back and forth between Zane and her. You and my Mate, My Alpha.

Zane's expression was unreadable as he ran a hand through his hair, but I could see the tension there. With a gentle, beseeching voice, he said, "I didn't want to hurt you."

"Hurt me?" I chuckled angrily, my voice piercing and insane. "Zane, you haven't only hurt me. Everything we owned is gone because of you. Everything in which I had faith.

A sneer tugging at her lips, Mia crossed her arms. Nixie, you were never the proper one for him. You always believed yourself to be flawless and untouchable. But hey, what do you know? You were never sufficient.

I wasn't prepared for how deeply her comments wounded me, but I refused to give her the joy of watching me crumble. Rather, I inhaled deeply and concentrated on Zane.

"So what now? You're picking her up right now? Following everything we've experienced?

Zane averted his gaze, his quiet affirmation of reality. He did not dispute it. He did not defend me in battle. And that was the source of the most pain.

I muttered, "I trusted you," the weight of his treachery bearing down on me so that my voice was hardly heard at all. "I had faith in both of you."

The room felt oppressively quiet. I felt Zane's remorse hanging in the air between us like an anchor pulling us all down, and Mia's eyes on me.

But before I could take in the whole horror, there was a loud bang on the door, startling everyone. Zane's beta, Kade, stood in the doorway, a worried look on his face. With a quick shift of his gaze between Zane, Mia, and myself, I knew he had heard everything.

"Nixie." There was something in Kade's voice that I couldn't quite identify. "There is something you should be aware of."

What more is conceivably possible? I looked at him and demanded, my voice breaking as I cried out for something, anything, to make sense of this moment.

Kade moved forward, his face serious. "Nixie, Zane's betrayal goes beyond a personal level. It goes beyond that. You are unaware of plans that exist. Hazardous ones. What he's done to Mia is just the beginning.”

I was trying to figure out what Kade was saying, and my heart was racing.

"What arrangements?"

Zane's jaw tightened as his expression grew gloomy. "Don't, Kade."

However, Kade disregarded him, his eyes riveted on me. "He has been collaborating with an enemy pack, “Nixie”. He has been preparing for more than just this affair. And everything will alter as a result.

The globe tipped on its axis, and all of a sudden, my betrayal seemed insignificant in comparison to the impending storm.

"What in the world are you talking about?”