Chapter 2: His Mate

Juno's POV

The burning sensation on the back of my neck reminded me of what happened before we were claimed. When other wolves whispered about waiting for fated mates, Matthew had looked me in the eyes and promised that even if his mate someday, he would choose me.

"You're enough for me, Juno," he'd said as he marked me, his teeth sinking into my neck while I did the same to him. "I choose you. Not fate."

I believed him. Fucking idiot that I was.

Now I was running through the forest, my paws hitting the ground so hard. My heart was a thundering drum, pain radiating from it in waves that made it hard to breathe. Seraphine was as furious as I was, letting out growls. She wanted to hunt, to tear, to destroy.

The burning sensation at my mark wouldn't stop. It felt like someone was pressing a white-hot poker against my skin, deeper and deeper with each passing second. My heart felt like someone was squeezing it, twisting it, tearing it apart fiber by fiber with every beat. I knew what it meant. Matthew was with her. Touching her. Wanting her. Every cell in my body screamed in betrayal as the bond we shared through our marks tortured me with every caress he gave her.

"That lying, pathetic bastard," I snarled internally.

Seraphine lifted her head and howled at the new moon, a sound so full of anguish it made my own chest ache even more. It was a cry of mourning—for what we'd lost, for what had been stolen from us.

"Why us?" I asked my wolf, desperation clawing at my insides. "What did we do to deserve this? We gave him EVERYTHING!"

Seraphine had no answer. Her pain mirrored mine, doubling it. We just ran faster, deeper into the woods, as if we could somehow outrun the reality of what was happening. I wanted to run until my lungs burned and my muscles gave out, until physical pain could drown out the emotional agony tearing me apart.

When exhaustion finally forced us to stop, I collapsed in a clearing, shifting back to human form. After retrieving the clothes I'd hidden, I wiped away angry tears that seemed endless. My chest heaved with sobs I refused to let out fully.

Time to face to him.

Matthew was sitting on our couch when I walked in, a glass of whiskey clasped in his hand. Our home, the one we'd built together, the one I'd decorated with careful attention, suddenly felt foreign and hostile. His eyes met mine, and I knew he knew that I knew. His face was etched with guilt.

"Juno," he said softly.

The sound of my name in his mouth sent a wave of fury through me so intense my vision blurred. How dare he say my name with the same lips that had touched her?

"Don't," I snapped. My fists clenched so tight. "How could you? After everything you promised me. You said I was enough. You SWORE I was enough!"

He didn't answer. What could he say? We both knew the truth. I could smell her on him. The scent of another woman mingled with his cold spruce and morning dew scent. It made my stomach turn violently.

Inside him, I could sense Zephyx restless and uncomfortable.

"I'm going to shower," I said, unable to stand there looking at his guilty face for another second. I was afraid of what I might do—throw something, scream until my throat bled, collapse into a sobbing mess. None of those options would give me back my dignity.

I spent over an hour under the hot spray, sitting on the tile floor until the water ran cold. I scrubbed every inch of my skin until it was raw and red, trying to wash away any trace of Matthew's scent mark that might still cling to me. The irony wasn't lost on me—wolves marked their mates by scent to warn others away, but no amount of washing would remove the permanent mark on my neck. I was branded. Claimed. And now, unwanted.

"How dare he do this to us?" Seraphine growled through our connection, her rage matching the storm inside me. "We should rip his throat out. We should make him feel a fraction of this pain."

"We gave him everything," I replied silently, tears mixing with the shower water as a sob finally tore from my throat. Seven years of my life. My loyalty. My love. My body. My future. Everything I had, I'd given to Matthew and Pineridge Pack.

And now what did I have? A mark that no one would want and nowhere to go.

That night, I lay in our bed staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I imagined Matthew with her—touching her, wanting her, choosing her over me. The images were like knives twisting in my gut. The mattress dipped as Matthew finally came in and lay down beside me, keeping a careful distance.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into the darkness.

A laugh escaped me. "Sorry? SORRY? You think 'sorry' means anything right now?"

"I need time to figure this out," he said.

I sat up, glaring down at him. My entire body shook with the force of my anger. "Time? You need TIME? What about me, Matthew? What am I supposed to do while you 'figure this out'? I can't leave. I can't join another pack. No Alpha would want a marked Luna. I'm trapped here, watching you fall for someone else, with nowhere to go and nothing to call my own."

"That's not—"

"What about my future? My life? Everything I've sacrificed for Pineridge?" My voice cracked. "I gave you everything. I GAVE YOU MY ENTIRE LIFE!"

He reached for me, but I pulled away violently, baring my teeth with a low growl that surprised us both.

"Please understand," he begged, his eyes pleading. "The pull to her is so strong. I wanted to resist, but Zephyx... he wants her more than anything. It's like fighting against nature itself."

I laughed bitterly. "And what am I supposed to do when you're fucking her?"

"I won't touch her again," he promised.

"You already did," I spat back. "I felt it through our claim, remember? Every. Single. Touch. I felt your desire for her. I felt your hands on her body. Do you have ANY idea what that did to me?"

He meet my eyes. "Isabelle is my fated mate, Juno. I never expected to find her. Please give me some more time, I want to reject her, I will reject her, I only love you."

"Can you really do it?" I turned my back to him.

I heard him sigh, felt him turn away too. The distance between us in the bed might as well have been miles.

I knew how this would end. I wasn't stupid. A chosen mate versus a fated mate? I'd seen it play out in pack. The chosen mate always lost. Always. Those women came to me for comfort. Now I would become one of them.

If Matthew rejected me, I couldn't stay, but I had nowhere to go. No pack would accept a marked Luna. No Alpha would want me. And I couldn't bear the thought of leaving Pineridge after spending seven years building it. Every option before me led to misery.

"We have options," Seraphine whispered in my mind. "Just none of them are good."

I closed my eyes, feeling tears leak onto my pillow.