Aurelia

"I can't wait to see our mate." My wolf purred inside of me and I giggled. I was almost bursting with happiness at the thought of seeing my husband.

He'd missed the New Year celebrations because of how busy he'd been. He'd even had to leave some of the pressing pack tasks to his Beta, Lucas.

He had been away from the pack estate for days, claiming that negotiations in the city were taking longer than expected.

"My beautiful Luna, there's just too many meetings and things to settle. I might have to work through the holiday, I miss you so much and I wish you were here."

That was the sweet message my mate had sent me some weeks back and I believed him. Why wouldn't I?

He had always been busy.

Even before he became the Alpha everyone in the western territories knew by name, he had been obsessed with building something of his own.

After inheriting the White Fang Pack, he expanded its businesses until our pack's influence stretched far beyond our territory.

To humans, he was a ruthless CEO. And to wolves, he was something far more intimidating…

The Ruthless Alpha.

And I was his Luna.

He loved me so much and the whole pack could see it. I loved him too, and being apart for this long had me longing to be in his arms once again, so…

I decided to do what I knew how to do best…

Surprise him!!

I booked the first flight to the city where he was supposedly working, even though it wasn't convenient for me. I spent over $6000 on a business class ticket but I didn't even care.

What was money compared to the joy of seeing my beloved husband?

I thought about all the things we'd do once I got there and how I might even have to drag him back with me. The thought made me smile as I boarded the plane.

……

My seatmate was already there when I arrived.

She was a beautiful young woman with long dark hair and flawless makeup.

Her sweet floral scent brushed against my senses, but beneath it was something artificial, almost as though she had drowned herself in perfume to hide her natural Omega scent.

I didn't think much of it though. I just placed my bag beneath the seat and sat down. Then I immediately struggled with the tray table.

"Ughhhh.." I groaned, pushing and pulling the tray table that had decided to frustrate me.

"Need help?" The woman beside me asked and I turned to see her looking at me with a smile on her face.

"I'm sorry, this thing is just…"

"It's fine." She interrupted, still smiling. "There." She reached over and opened it effortlessly.

"Thank you." I gave her a polite nod.

"No problem." She replied, adjusting the sleeve of her designer coat before leaning back. "I'm Isolde, by the way. Isolde Vale."

"Nice to meet you." I offered a small smile and left it at that.

"Do you know, I almost missed my flight this morning? My sugar daddy hates waiting for me." She giggled.

I wasn't a very big talker but she'd just helped me out, so the least I could do was give her a listening ear. This was going to be a very long flight after all, and I might as well have some company.

"Oh?" I smiled politely.

"He's very patient, though." She sighed dreamily. "Honestly, I don't know how I got so lucky. Most men with his status wouldn't tolerate an Omega like me making mistakes all the time."

I glanced at her.

Something about her wording reminded me of someone. There was a female wolf who worked with my husband and was notorious for making mistakes during pack meetings.

She would forget documents, send messages to the wrong people, and somehow still escape punishment every time. I wondered if this woman knew her.

"Is your sugar daddy also in business?" I asked casually and her smile widened.

"Very much so." She lowered her voice. "He's actually one of the most powerful Alphas across all territories." She looked pleased with herself. "He was supposed to spend the New Year with his Luna, but he lied to her."

"What?" My heart skipped.

"Oh, darling." She chuckled. "These men do it all the time when they want to have a good time with someone better. He told her he had to work overtime." She giggled.

Work overtime.

I almost laughed. Of course. That was the oldest excuse in the book, the one cheating men used whenever they wanted a night with someone else.

But my husband wasn't one of those men. His overtime was real. I'd seen the stacks of files, the sleepless nights, the calls that kept him up until dawn. I'd watched him work himself to the bone for this pack.

Other women's husbands might lie about being busy. Mine really was.

I let out a breath and shook off the strange chill creeping up my spine.

"But he actually wanted to spend the holiday with me. He kept going on and on about how he missed being inside of me, it was honestly so sweet." She added.

Something inside my chest tightened but I told myself it was nothing.

There were thousands of married Alphas in the world. My husband wasn't the only one working through the holidays and besides, he loved me too much to even look at another woman.

I was about to say something else when I noticed the ring sitting on her left hand. It was an emerald band engraved with a tiny crescent moon surrounded by black stones.

My breath stopped.

I knew that ring.

How could I not recognize my own wedding ring? I had worn it for years after all, until I'd mysteriously lost it two years ago. This was the same ring my mate had given me when we completed our mating ceremony.

"Where did you get that?" I asked, still staring at her finger. She followed my gaze, then smiled.

"Oh, this?" She lifted her hand proudly. "My man gave it to me."

My stomach twisted.

I didn't want to believe it. There had to be an explanation. It could be a similar ring. A copy. Anything.

"And where did he get it?" My voice came out thinner than I wanted.

"You want to know something interesting?" She leaned closer and I nodded hopelessly, ignoring the bile already rising.

"He got this ring from his wife. He told me she didn't need it anymore. Do you know she'd fallen, had a miscarriage, and lost the ring in the process? But he'd found it and given it to me to show how much he loved me.."

I wasn't listening to her anymore.

My vision blurred as the memory surfaced once more. I'd been pregnant two years ago and I was genuinely happy to be carrying my husband's pup.

He was over the moon too and kept promising to be the best father ever. He'd hold me at night, rubbing my belly and whispering sweet nothings.

Then everything had gone wrong one night. I'd slipped down the stairs when I wanted to get something and the next thing I knew, I was writhing on the floor in pain, blood streaming down my legs, and my wolf screaming inside me.

I lost my baby.

And somewhere during that nightmare, I lost my ring too.

For months, I searched for it. I had cried when I finally accepted that it was gone. My husband had graciously offered to have another one made but I refused, saying we had to save the money instead.

I never expected the ring to end up on the hand of another woman.

My goodness…

No. Don't think it. Don't you dare think it.

"Do you know he always talks about how plain-looking his wife is now? He claims she'd let herself go after marriage, all because she wanted to help him build an empire."

"The sight of her honestly disgusts him and that's why he prefers to spend his time with me. I'm sexy and young after all." She mocked. She gave me a sinister smile and continued.

"He told me he wasn't always this powerful. He started as the young Alpha of a small, struggling pack but his Luna stood by his side and helped him build."

A small, struggling pack. A Luna who stood by his side.

It was my life. Word for word.

"Of course, she has no idea the extent to which he's built himself up now. He's achieved great success and is currently expanding his pack businesses into other territories, but he's kept all of this hidden from his lousy wife." She sneered.

I wanted to smack that stupid smirk off her face, but I forced my fists to unclench. I needed to hear the rest.

I needed to know the true extent of this man's vile nature.

"He told me he'd begun to resent his wife because she'd aged from the stress and their sex life was nothing to write home about, I guess that's why he can't get enough of me." She chuckled.

That was a lie.

Our sex life had always been good. We'd only stopped having relations frequently because he was busy all the time. But he always apologized for that, so why all of this?

"Do you know he gives me $1,000,000 every month?" She boasted happily and I swallowed. My husband had never given me that much in all the years we'd been married.

I clung to that thought like a lifeline.

My husband was careful with money. He’d always been. Our anniversaries were quiet dinners at home because “we’ll do it properly once the pack is stable.” My birthday gifts were thoughtful and small. He’d squeeze my hand and promise, next year, I’ll get you the real thing. When I’d once admired a coat in a shop window, he’d smiled and said we should wait for the winter sales.

And I had never minded. We were building something together.

A man like that couldn’t possibly be the same man who handed a million dollars a month to another woman.

"How long have you guys been together?" I managed to ask.

"Oh, we've been messing around for some time now but made things official June 12th last year." She replied, smiling, and I felt my eyes go dark.

"Oh, you want to know another secret?" Her smile deepened. "That day was the day he started giving me an allowance of $1,000,000, and that money was originally meant for his wife's dying mother."

My blood turned to ice.

"She was in another territory at the time, so they had to pay before the healers attended to her but I'd given him an ultimatum. He had to give me that money or I wouldn't be exclusive with him."

"Of course he had to agree." She laughed. "He'd get jealous with anger anytime I joked about wanting another man. He wanted to be exclusive with me so he watched his mother-in-law die."

"It's sad, but a small price to pay if you want to be with a girl like me."

My entire body went cold and my hands began shaking as she recounted the whole thing. My eyes were burning and it was taking everything in me not to cry.

That… that was the same day my mother needed a million dollars for surgery because her wolf couldn't heal itself and her condition was deteriorating fast.

I'd called my mate crying and he'd sounded exhausted as he told me all he could come up with was $420,000. It was too far behind and the healers had refused to accept the money, which had resulted in my mother dying.

I'd lost my mother, but I'd believed my mate had truly tried all he could.

"He begged me to keep it a secret because his wife could forgive him for any other thing but she wouldn't forgive him for this. I agreed of course to keep his little secret."

"After all, what's my business if his cheap slut of a wife wants to keep playing Luna to an Alpha who had already chosen someone else? Even watch her mother die…."

My nails dug into my palms until I tasted blood where I'd bitten my lip.

My wolf had gone completely silent inside me. She was waiting too.

I lifted my eyes and looked straight at the woman beside me. My voice, when it came, was barely a whisper.

"What's his name?"

Isolde tilted her head and smiled, slow and sweet, like she'd been waiting for this exact question the entire flight.

"Alpha Caelan Draven." Her eyes glittered. "He's my sugar daddy."