Claimed By My Cheating Mate’s Rival Alpha Chapter 07

Claimed By My Cheating Mate’s Rival Alpha Chapter 07

MASON

My eyes blinked as shock surged through me.

I stood in the middle of that room with ten pairs of eyes on me and Celeste whimpering on the ground.

There’s no way Scarlett just ended things with me.

Instantly forgetting Celeste existed, I rushed out and caught up to Scarlett in the corridor. I grabbed her wrist, and she spun around.

The look on her face stopped me dead. She looked flat out determined an enraged.

“Let go of me, Mason.” The venom in her voice sent chills down my spine.

“You’re not ending this.” My voice came out harder than I intended. Desperate men don’t sound gentle. “C’mon. We’ve been together for ten years, Scarlett. You can’t just walk away because of a fight. All this because I forgot your birthday?”

“Because of my birthday?” She laughed, and the sound was hollow enough to echo. “You never even announced our wedding to the Pack. Ten years, Mason. You didn’t even give me that. You kept me like a secret, and you expect me to believe you gave a damn about me?”

“That was my mother’s idea. She wanted to wait until

“I don’t care whose idea it was. That’s just one of the many things you’ve done to me.” Her voice cracked, and I watched her eyes gleam with angry tears. “You had a thousand chances to treat me better, but you didn’t. You had all the time to choose me, but you chose her instead.”

“That’s not -”

“Keep her, Mason.” The words hit me like a fist. “Keep Celeste. I don’t want to listen to any of this anymore. You have my blessing to be with Celeste. I hope it makes you happy.”

She pulled her wrist free and walked away.

Panic clawed at my chest.

No. There’s no way Scarlett would leave me.

I wasn’t going to let her go so easily. I wasn’t going to let out the ten years we spent together go to waste.

This wasn’t how our story ended. We were childhood sweethearts. We were chosen mates. I was about to run after her when Celeste called my name.

“Mason… I’m feeling really dizzy.”

I clenched my fists together, then turned back.

I helped Celeste up from the floor, checked the bruise on her face from where Scarlett had slapped, then I told someone to bring ice. I lifted Celeste off the floor while my mind replayed Scarlett’s face.

She’d come back. She had to. After ten years, she couldn’t just end our relationship.

I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t.

SCARLETT

Maggie opened her door at midnight without asking

single question as to why I was at her place at midnight.

“Do you mind if I stay over for a while?”

She took one look at my swollen face and pulled me inside.

“Of course. You’re always welcome.”

She sat me on her couch, wrapped a blanket around my shoulders, and poured two glasses of whiskey. She drank hers. I held mine and stared at the wall.

“Let me guess. It’s that dick, Mason,” she said.

I nodded and told her everything.

By the time I finished, Maggie’s knuckles were white around her glass.

“I’m going to kill him,” she said evenly. “And then I’m going to kill her.”

A broken sound came out of my mouth. It might have been a laugh.

“I’m serious, Scarlett. What he did tonight. Protecting that snake in front of everyone? After everything you did for him?” Her eyes were bright with fury. “You’re the daughter of David Blackwood. Your father would have ripped Mason’s throat out with his bare hands.”

The mention of my father was a blade I wasn’t ready for. I pressed the heels of my palms against my eyes and breathed until the sting passed.

“I told him we’re done,” I said quietly.

“Good.”

“He didn’t reject me.”

“He doesn’t get to decide that.”

But he did, in a way. The chosen bond still hummed between us – weakened, strained, but alive. A dull burn in my chest that flared every time I thought about him.

Until Mason rejects me, the mate bond would keep pulling. Keep hurting. Keep reminding me of everything I was trying to leave behind.

Margot re-bandaged my hand with supplies from her bathroom, cursing Mason’s entire bloodline while she worked. Then she tucked me into her guest bed like I was something fragile, and I let her, because I was too tired to pretend I wasn’t.

“So what’s your plan now? How do you get money. Maybe you could ask your mom for assistnace, afterall, she married a rich Alpha KIng. “Maggie asked.

I shook my head. “My mom abandoned me. She doesn’t care about my life anyway so I won’t waste my time asking.”

Sleep finally came.

I dreamt of Mason first. The good version – the one from before. Seventeen years old, standing at the stone lookout above the river, lanterns glowing around us.

I dreamt of his arms around me at my father’s funeral, the way he’d whispered I’ve got you against my hair while I broke. I dreamt off th day we were mated and married.

Then the dream shifted suddenly shifted.

The warmth drained out. Mason’s face blurred, and in its place – familiar blue eyes appeared. The scent of pine wrapped around me like smoke.

Cassian.

I wake up abruptly, my body burning hot and wolf stirring so restlessly in my chest.

Why the hell was Cassian in my dreams?

I recalled a memory I had of him when we were in high

school.

I’d been waiting for Mason at the staircase when Cassian walked in. The air immediately shifted because that was what his presence always did.

He looked like he’d been in a fight. Blood on his knuckles. A fresh cut above his eyebrow. His breathing was heavy as his chest rose and fell faster than normal. There

was something wild in his expression that made my sixteen-year-old self’s body hot.

He didn’t speak. He never did, back then. He just stood there, three steps above me, and stared down at me with

those cold blue eyes like I was the only solid living thing

in the world.

I’d been terrified of him then. Mason had told me he was dangerous – a psycho, a transfer from the north with a bad reputation and a worse temper.

Stay away from Cassian North, Scarlett. I mean it.

So I had. For years. I’d crossed hallways to avoid him. Sat on the opposite side of every classroom. Refused to look when I felt his gaze on the back of my neck — which was

almost all the time.

Cassian North had spent our entire school years watching me, and I’d spent those same years pretending I didn’t

notice.

The guest room was dark. I looked out the window. It was morning but the sun hadn’t risen yet. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in ears. The image of Cassian from my dream clung to me like cobwebs.

My phone glowing the nightstand immediately grabbed my attention.

I reached for it and saw I’d gotten a message from Mason,

Mason: We need to have a serious talk. I’ll arrange for us

to meet

I stared at the screen until the light burned my eyes.