Beloved Alpha Mated With My Best Friend, I Turned To Mate With His Rival Chapter 03
I hunted down every last trace of them scattered throughout my bedroom: old combat technique magazines Bonnie had left behind, every birthday gift Barnett had ever given me, and an unread love letter I’d penned for him on my eighteenth birthday but never worked up the courage to hand over.
After dinner, I hauled two full garbage sacks outside to the dumpster.
“Heavy load. Why didn’t you call for help?” A gravelly voice pulled me around.
Barnett leaned against the building in casual loungewear, hands tucked into his pants pockets, watching me lazily.
Once upon a time, I’d hated hauling trash downstairs, and no matter how trivial the errand, Barnett would drop everything to rush over and help. For five years of our relationship, he’d spoiled me with that unspoken devotion.
“You’re still upset?” He lifted an eyebrow and stepped forward, reaching to take my hand.
I stepped sharply backward, putting clear space between our bodies.
Surprise flickered across his face, his brows knitting tight.
I met his gaze evenly, my tone flat and unyielding.
“The entire Dewmoon Pack knows Bonnie’s your intended Luna. Any further contact between us is inappropriate—we need to cut all ties.”
Barnett brushed off my words with a scoff.
“This ceremony’s nothing more than a repayment favor to her family. I’ll dissolve the fake mating eventually; you know my whole plan, so why hold a grudge?”
The day before I’d headed home to visit Mom, I’d pressed him three separate times to confess our relationship to my parents. He’d looked down at me with lazy amusement back then.
“Can’t wait to lock in your Luna title, huh? Never took you for such an ambitious she-wolf.”
I’d pretended to snap at him in playful irritation, and he’d caught my wrist and pulled me snug against his chest, patting my back soothingly. “Be patient. I’ll make our relationship official when the time’s perfect.”
For five secret years, I’d dreamed of him announcing to the whole pack that Eileen Sable was his future mate, their destined Luna. I’d chosen not to throw a scene earlier not out of apathy, but to spare my family from becoming the pack’s biggest laughingstock.
My thoughts scattered as Bonnie’s familiar voice cut through the quiet.
“Barnett, your mom sent me to pick up her prescription, but I don’t know where the apothecary is. Can you drive me?”
She rounded the stairwell alongside my mother, her smile bright and effortless as she spoke to Barnett, acting as if she’d spent five years in his bed instead of me. He pressed his lips together, abandoning our unfinished conversation to leave with her.
I stared at their retreating figures while Mom sighed beside me.
“I’d always figured you’d end up paired with Barnett. Funny how things turn out; I’m glad I never pushed for a match between you two—would’ve made future run-ins painfully awkward.”
Her casual chatter kept rolling, each sentence chipping away at my composure.
“What a dependable Alpha. He takes time off from pack duties every time Bonnie has a family emergency and drives her home without fail. Hard to see what you ever saw in him; he always bailed on our Winter Moon feasts with last-minute ‘work obligations.’”
Her voice faded into white noise as my mind went numb, my inner wolf screaming furiously inside my bones.
Every year when Winter Moon Festival rolled around, I’d beg Barnett to join our family dinner, and he’d always feed me the same excuse. “I’m hammering out an alliance with the northern pack’s Alpha; paperwork keeps me swamped. I’ll come clean to your folks once things calm down.”
The brutal truth crashed over me at last. Those supposed diplomatic meetings had all been empty lies. Every time he’d turned me down, he’d been sneaking off to spend time with Bonnie, my own best friend.