Chapter 1

WREN ASHWOOD

"She will kill you if she finds out."

I stifled the giggle that tried to escape from my lips as I sneaked into the hallway of our shared apartment.

After six months of delays, excuses and back-and-forth, tomorrow was finally the day we will have our mate-bonding ceremony.

My heart skipped a tiny beat at the thought of him, Soren.

"What do you think?" Soren's soothing voice reverberated from the sitting room.

Then I heard Nicholas laugh. "Are you actually going through it? I am so sorry you have to swear forever to the boring and stuck-up Mummy Wren is."

I stiffened, my legs gluing to the spot as my eyes widened.

What the fuck was that bastard saying, the hairs on my arms bristled in fury. I was tempted to charge in but I took a deep breath and relaxed, a smile climbing its way back to my face.

Soren was there, he has always been protective of me, he won't let his friends say shit about me, even if it was his best friend.

"Please... Goddess knows how hard I've tried, why do you think I've been holding it off with a fake mate-bond trauma, but sadly... all good things have to come to an end."

The sound of careless laughter slipped into my ears from the sitting room as I stood right there in the hallway, my head ringing with what I've just heard.

"Awwnnn, Becky will be so sad, no more Saturday and Sunday rendezvous for you two." Another one of Soren's friends added in an airy tone.

"I will make it up to her, she's my favourite and the best, I wouldn't give her up for anything. Even if Wren finds out about it, she won't do shit." Soren bragged.

"Yeah right, she's fucking obsessed with you. No she-wolf in her right senses will let her mate cancel their mate-bonding ceremony 10 times in the course of 6 months." Nicholas chipped in.

My whole body froze, it was like a bucket of ice water had been doused over my body.

What?

What exactly were they talking about?

Soren's friend giggled. "Well, not if he has a legitimate reason"

"Mate-bonding trauma!"

All of them chorus together and burst into loud laughter, the sound echoes in the hallway then turns into a sharp sword that stabs through my already bleeding heart.

"Not if the mate-bonding trauma was fake. Thank God I have the foresight to pay off that healer bitch." I heard Soren inform them

The pack healer.

The same woman who had broken the sad news to us with a grim look on her face.

She had assured us that it wasn't a death sentence. "He will function fine, his wolf just can't bond with another for the time being."

This was just a few days before our first ceremony, I could remember crying my eyes out, feeling guilty for it.

My body trembled, as a whimper tried to escape from my mouth but my hands clasped over my lips, swallowing it.

So all these while, it was all a lie?

Our 10 years together as mates was just a sham?

So what's in it for him?

To him, I wasn't beautiful, wasn't sexy, he would even go as far as faking a serious injury just to avoid completing the mating bond with me, then why accept me in the first place?

My parents were the previous Alpha and Luna of the Ashwood pack and I was their only surviving heir.

They had also been friends with Soren's parents and had treated him like their own son.

Before they died, they were sure that I would be his mate. They had handed me over to Soren and made him swear that he would take care of me and treat me like a princess.

Because of their words, we weren't surprised when 3 years later, we discovered that we were mates.

Soren's position as future Alpha existed because of me, because he was my mate.

Was that why he was with me?

Because of a stupid oath with my parents?

I didn't need to dwell on this question for too long because Soren's next words answered them.

"If only those old couples hadn't made me swear that oath, I wouldn't have gone through with all this."

"Sorry man, they fucking ruined you." Nicholas sympathized.

I heard Soren sigh. "Not for too long though, once all this is over and I get access to full authority..." He chuckled darkly. "I will make sure Wren knows her place. She's been doing too much lately."

Something inside of me shattered.

I stumbled backward, my back hitting the wall, my hand flew to my lips as a sob tried to claw its way out of my throat.

Know her place?

What place?

The place of the woman who has been his mate and loved him for ten years.

The place of the girl who had stood beside him and defended him every time someone accused him of being with me because of the Alpha title.

All my life, I had believed Soren to be the least person that would ever hurt me.

Yet, he had let his friends degrade and humiliate me. He had even gone as far as faking a mate-bond trauma.

Oh Goddess!

I pressed a trembling hand to my chest, trying to contain the burning ache in it.

Tears spilled down from my cheeks

My nails dug into my palm. Just how stupid had I been to be blind to everything happening right under my nose.

Blind to his affairs and lies.

Mate

My wolf whimpered in my head but I shot her down.

Not anymore!

I was short of snarling at her.

With trembling legs and a choked scream in my throat, I stumbled out of the apartment, years blurring my vision.

Once I was a distance away, I knelt on the floor, claws digging into the dirt floor as a mournful scream left my lips.

A part of me begged me to go into that room and demand for answers but another part of me was so done.

That part of me wanted him to hurt.

Wanted him to watch everything he had spent years plotting for to crumble between his fingers.

I glanced towards the house, my eyes glowing a bright orange as a smile crept onto my face.

"Soren Thorne, let's see if you can take what you dish out"