Beloved Alpha Mated With My Best Friend, I Turned To Mate With His Rival Chapter 02
She stood inches away, close enough to catch the faint tremor in my tone.
“Bonnie, you knew about Barnett and me. How can you live with yourself becoming his Luna?”
The day before her pack aptitude test, she’d slept over at my place and stumbled across my hidden journal filled with unspoken feelings for Barnett. She’d rolled around on my bed laughing as she read every entry, then teased me relentlessly afterward.
“Why not confess your crush to the Alpha yourself? If you’re too nervous, I’ll go spill your heart for you! Promise I’ll be your sole maid of honor at your mating ceremony once you two lock down the bond!”
None of that earnest friendship remained in her gaze now. She nipped her lower lip gently, her tone soft and placating.
“I genuinely fell for the Alpha later on, and in the end, he chose me. I truly wished you happiness at first.”
“Still, I’m the one set to marry him now. You’re my best friend, so I’m counting on your blessing, right?”
Rage, crushing disappointment, and the gut-wrenching agony of betrayal crashed over me all at once. My eyes burned hot with unshed tears, and my inner wolf whimpered, drained of its usual fire and strength.
Mom picked up on my crumbling mood quickly and stepped in to defuse the tension. “Eileen’s having an off day. We’ll skip dinner for tonight; we can all gather again for my birthday celebration instead.”
Barnett pinned me with a long, searching stare before leaving hand-in-hand with Bonnie without another word.
Convinced my supposed boyfriend had perished, Mom’s face creased with worry and spent the rest of the evening trying to comfort me.
“Sweetheart, don’t grieve too hard. The Moon Goddess is guiding you away from a mismatched mate—your real fated partner is still out there waiting.”
I forced a weary smile for her sake.
“I’m fine, Mom. I’m worn out; I’m heading to my room to rest.”
I dragged my suitcase into my bedroom, and my gaze landed on the hand-painted “Aim High” banner Barnett had hung on my wall years prior. Back when grueling pre-assessment training left me burnt out and ready to quit, the overloaded Alpha had stayed up all night drafting detailed training breakdowns just for me.
“Quit slacking, dummy. If you flop your test after all the notes I put together, don’t even show your face to me—you’ll embarrass my Alpha status.” Alongside his study guides, he’d scrawled that motivational quote to urge me onward.
Thanks to his coaching and my own grit, I’d passed the assessment and earned a spot in the pack elite unit.
Shaking free my reminiscence, I tore the banner clean in two and tossed it into my trash can. On my tidy desk sat a framed group photo taken the day Bonnie and I joined the elite unit together; we’d dragged Barnett along for the snapshot. I’d stood dead center between them, with both Barnett and Bonnie leaning naturally into my space. I still remembered Bonnie shoving me toward him mid-photo shoot, winking playfully.
“Seize your chance! Half the female wolves in the pack chase after our Alpha; hesitate and someone else will snatch the Luna spot right out from under you.”
A bitter huff escaped me. That someone else had turned out to be Bonnie herself.
I picked up the entire framed photograph and dumped it alongside the ruined banner in the garbage. If they’d cast our love and friendship aside without a second thought, I had no reason to cling to the past.