Chapter 1: THE BETRAYAL
Chapter 1
Lumi
My phone lights up on the conference table, vibrating once against the wood.
Callum.
I silence it quickly and mouth "sorry" to the clients across from me. This is the third time today. I’ll call him back the second this meeting ends.
Forty minutes later, I’m in the hallway, pressing his name with a smile already forming.
He picks up on the first ring.
"Hey you."
Just the sound of his voice does something warm and familiar in my chest. Seven years, and he still makes my wolf lift her head inside me, ears pricked, tail giving a lazy, contented flick.
She’s been quiet for so long, but she still knows her mate.
"Hey," I say, leaning against the wall. "Sorry I missed your calls. The meeting ran long."
"How’s it going? You close it yet?"
I can’t keep the grin out of my voice. "Actually... yes. Just now."
He laughs, low, warm and proud. "That’s my girl."
I close my eyes for a second, letting the praise sink in. My wolf presses closer under my skin, calm and happy. I still thank the Moon some days that I have this kind of love that’s steady, public and real.
"I miss you," he says softly. "The bed feels wrong without you. How much longer?"
I look out at the drizzling London sky. For a moment I almost tell him the truth that I can could come home tonight.
I picture walking through our front door, the way his face will light up, the way he’ll pull me into his arms before I can even drop my bags. My wolf likes that picture. She wants to be close to him again.
But I decide to surprise him instead. It will feel sweeter that way.
"Two more days," I lie gently. "Maybe three. Still a few things to wrap up."
He groans dramatically. "Three days? You’re killing me, Lumi."
I laugh. "You’ll survive."
"Barely. Miss you so much."
"Miss you too, baby."
There’s a small pause, then he adds, "Theo misses you too. He keeps asking for ’Mama Lumi’ and dragging his little blanket around the flat like you’re hiding under it."
My heart squeezes with fierce, protective love. I smile so wide it hurts my cheeks. "Tell him I’ll be home soon. Give him an extra hug from me tonight, okay?"
"Will do. He’s been extra clingy since you left. You know how he gets when his favourite person isn’t here."
I hang up still smiling at my phone like a lovesick fool. Dana walks past and raises her eyebrows.
"Husband," I mutter, the smile stuck on my face.
She puts a hand over her heart. "I want what you have."
Me too. I want exactly what I have.
A mate who loves me openly. A beautiful three-year-old boy who calls me Mama. A safe, quiet life far from the complications of pack territory. A wolf who no longer has to fight every day.
Callum had been so thoughtful when my best friend, Sienna, told me about a baby boy who needed a home.
"We should adopt him," Callum had said, squeezing my hand with that gentle smile I loved. "You’ve always wanted to be a mother, Lumi. This could be our chance to build the family you dream of."
He had welcomed Theo into our lives with open arms — changing nappies at night, rocking him when he cried.
That was the ultimate proof of his love, that he was willing to raise another man’s child just to give me the motherhood I craved.
I loved him more since that day.
I call my boss twenty minutes later and ask to leave early. She says yes without questions.
I book the earliest flight home.
The taxi drops me outside our building just after eleven. Lights are still on upstairs. Good, he’s awake.
I let myself in with my key, setting my bags down softly in the dark hallway. I want the moment. I want to see the joy in his eyes when he realises I’m home early.
Then I hear voices.
My steps freeze. My wolf goes utterly still inside me.
I’m sure it was from the TV, a phone call or probably the neighbours.
Then I hear the laugh.
I know that laugh too well. I’ve heard it at work, at lunch, at Friday drinks. I laughed along with it.
Sienna.
The bedroom door is ajar.
My body moves even though my mind screams not to. The air feels thick and suffocating. I stop at the gap and look inside.
They are in our bed. Naked. Moving together like they’ve done this a thousand times.
Everything inside me goes quiet.
No. No. No.
This can’t be happening. No.
My hand finds the wall. I press my palm hard against it, but my knees still buckle.
A sharp, strangled sound escapes my throat, my lungs seize like someone has punched straight through my ribs.
I can’t breathe, the hallway tilts sideways. Black spots bloom at the edges of my vision.
I stand there. I don’t know how long. My fingers dig into the plaster until my nails crack.
I was bleeding but I couldn’t feel anything whatsoever.
I let them finish whatever they were doing, too preoccupied to even smell me.
I watch him reach his release, hear him let out that groan he does whenever he was about to cum.
I don’t know how, but I was already sitting on the floor, my back against the wall.
The bedroom door swings open wider.
Sienna walks out first, still pulling on a shirt. She sees me and freezes. Shock flashes across her face, then guilt.
But underneath it, I catch something else. Relief. Like she’s been carrying this heavy secret for years and can finally set it down.
She gives a nervous little laugh. "Lumi... what are you doing here? I thought you weren’t back until..."
I don’t laugh back. I use the wall as a support and pull myself up. My voice comes out flat and quiet, but my chest is heaving, trying to drag air in and failing. "What are you doing in my bedroom?" The laugh dies in her throat.
Callum appears behind her, bare-chested, hair messy. "Baby, why are you..." He sees me and stops dead.
For one second, something flickers across his face. Then it smooths into careful emptiness.
"Lumi." He still says my name like nothing is wrong.
"Don’t say my name like that," I whisper. The words scrape out raw. My throat is closing. I can’t get enough air. "Don’t say anything yet." I look at Sienna. "I asked you a question. What are you doing in my bedroom with my husband?"
She glances at Callum. He glances back at her. That single shared look is enough.
I stand there, staring between the two people I trusted most in the world. My legs are shaking so hard the wall is the only thing holding me up.
"How long?" I ask Callum. My voice cracks on the last word.
He doesn’t answer.
"How long?"
"Lumi, let me explain..."
"How long, Callum."
His jaw tightens, then he looks away. "Three years."
Three years.
My stomach drops like I’ve stepped off a cliff. A ragged sob tears out of me before I can stop it.
I press both hands over my mouth, but another one claws its way up anyway. My wolf is making a sound I’ve never heard, a high, keening whine trapped inside my ribs, echoing the way my heart is splintering.
Three years ago we got married. I wore my mother’s earrings. I cried during the vows and Callum wiped my tears with gentle thumbs. My wolf had been so happy that night she almost pushed me to shift under the moonlight.
I thought I had everything.
And he was already hers.
"Three years," I mutter, a strange, broken smile tugging at my lips as I shake my head. Tears spill hot down my cheeks.
"Before or after we got married?" I ask, voice eerily steady even while my chest keeps hitching.
He says nothing. The silence answers for him.
Cold spreads through me, but I can’t stop the tears now. They come faster, blurring everything.
"I love her," Callum says quietly, almost gently. Like he’s rehearsed it. "I have always loved her. She’s my true mate, Lumi. The bond... it’s stronger than anything."
I look straight at him but I couldn’t see anything.
"So what am I?" The words come out in a whisper that broke halfway. "You chose me. You knew I was never your true mate, then why did you marry me?"
"I didn’t know how to leave. You needed me. I didn’t want to break you."
"You pitied me," I choke out.
"That’s not..."
"Seven years, Callum." My voice rises, raw and ugly. "Seven years I gave you. You stood in front of everyone and said those words to me. You knew you loved her and you still..."
"There’s a child," Sienna says quietly.
I turn sharply to look at her. My breath catches again, a sharp, painful hitch that makes my whole body jerk.
"We have a son," she continues, her voice soft but steady. "He’s three years old."
My wolf goes completely still. Confusion crashes over me like ice water.
I blink at her, then at Callum. My mouth opens but nothing comes out at first. "What... what are you talking about?" The words are barely audible. My lungs won’t work right; every inhale feels like knives.
Sienna opens her mouth, but Callum cuts in quickly, his hand reaching toward her arm. "Don’t. Sienna... don’t. This isn’t how she should find out."
I look between them, my brow furrowing deeper. The confusion twists into something desperate. My hands are shaking so badly I have to grip the wall again. "Find out what? What... are you talking about?"
Sienna hesitates only a second, then meets my eyes. "Our child is three years old, Lumi. He’s Theo."
