Claimed By My Cheating Mate’s Rival Alpha Chapter 10

Claimed By My Cheating Mate’s Rival Alpha Chapter 10

SCARLETT

Margot picked me up an hour later and took me to a Japanese restaurant downtown to chill over food and drinks, and talk. It was just what I needed.

She ordered us both drinks, and we talked over it.

“Half a month’s paycheck,” she announced proudly, gesturing to the platter of sushi. “You’re welcome.”

I laughed from my heart, and it surprised me. Something about sitting across from Maggie in a restaurant with bad lighting and overpriced Japanese green tea made the weight in my chest feel, for a moment, like something I could actually carry.

“You didn’t have to do this,” I said.

“I know.” She refilled my cup without being asked. “That’s exactly why I did.”

That was Maggi. She never made a big production of qaring about you. She just showed up – sashimi in hand4

and acted like there was nowhere else she’d rather be.

“Where are you staying?” she asked.

“A hotel, for now.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Hotels are depressing. Come stay with me. You don’t have to pay for anything. You can sleep in my bed or the couch. Whatever your prefer.”

I smiled at her.

“I’ll think about it, ” I said, knowing fully well that I wouldn’t because I have to go as far away from this pack

and start all over again.

She studied my face for a second longer than necessary, then seemed to decide she’d pushed enough for one night. “Fine. But the offer stands until you do something stupid like go back to him.”

“I won’t.”

“Good.” She picked up her chopsticks again. “What else is going on?”

I hesitated, turning my glass in both hands. “My mom called this afternoon.”

The chopsticks went back down.

“Gina called,” Maggie said flatly. Not a question. “What/ the hell did she want?”

“She wants me to come and stay at Wolfbridge Pack..” I kept my voice neutral, even though my chest was caving in. “I told her no.”

Maggie’s jaw shifted in that way it did when she was working hard not to say something she’d mean. “Good. You should’ve hung up instead of even entertaining a

conversation.”

She’s right. I should have hung up. Instead, I’d stood by the window for ten minutes listening to my mom talk about how welcoming the Wolfbridge pack is, and how amazing her husband; the Alpha was.”

I had my phone pressed to my chest, staring out at nothing. I couldn’t tell Maggie that hearing my mom’s voice still sent warmth in my chest.

I’d only gone to Wolfbridge pack once. I was sixteen, freshly gutted by grief, and I’d taken two buses to get there because I needed my mother and I didn’t know

what else to do.

The pack grounds were beautiful – grand stone manor, ancient trees lining the path, everything well-kept and impressive. My mom met me at the gate of the manor, instead of inside, which should’ve told me everything.

It’s not that I don’t want you here, she’d said, with that gentle, apologetic gleam in her eyes. But I’m still finding my footing with this family. Hailey already resents me. Bringing you in would only make things harder.

Hailey Wolfbridge. She was the Alpha’s daughter who had lost her mother at a young age.

She was also my stepsister. I never met her and from what I’ve heard, I have no interest in doing so.

I could never forgive my mother for abandoning me and choosing another family. But deep down, I wished she could come back.

My throat felt tight. I wasn’t going to let myself think 5:24

about her tonight.

“You’re right,” I told Maggie. “I shouldn’t have picked up.”

She reached across the table and stole a piece of my salmon with zero remorse. “Next time, let it ring.”

MASON

Logan, my Beta, found me at the bar at exactly the wrong moment. I’d come to the bar to drink away my problems and try not to think that I might lose Scarlett forever.

He dropped into the seat beside me, his breathing heavy like he’d been running a marathon. He slung an arm over my shoulder.

“What’s up? Why are you here drinking alone with the guys instead of going home to your wife?”

“We fought,” I bit out. I genuinely didn’t want to speak about Scarlett in that moment.

“I saw her,” he said, an excitement in his tone that pissed me off. “She’s at a restaurant, eating with her friend,

Maggie.”

I kept my eyes on my drink, twirling the glass in my hand while trying to act as nonchalant as I can.

“So? What do you want me to do with that information?”

Logan’s eyes widened. “What do you even mean? Go make up with her!

I set the glass down. Before I could talk, he reached for my phone.

“Here, let me call her. We’ll get you two back on track.”

He was already dialing before I could protest. I watched his face go through three different expressions in about four seconds anticipation, confusion, then disbelief.

–

“What’s wrong?”I asked.

“She, uh…” He lowered the phone. “She blocked you.”

Something cold suddenly settled in my stomach.

Į took the phone and tried it myself. One ring, then,

silence. It rang the way a number rang when the caller is blocked. I sat with it longer than I should have, long enough for Logan to get uncomfortable and start studying the label on his bottle.

Scarlett didn’t block people. In six years, she’d never blocked me once, not even after our worst fights. She’d always left the line open. It was part of what made her arguments feel like something with the possibility of resolution on the other end.

This felt different.

“She’ll come around,” Logan said, but he wouldn’t know that for sure. He didn’t know just how grave the situation was so I can’t even blame him. “Give her a day or two.”

I didn’t answer. I was already thinking.

There was one variable I hadn’t used yet. One thing that had always without fail – gotten a reaction from Scarlett, even when everything else failed. I didn’t particularly feel good about it, but feeling good wasn’t really the point right now.

The point was getting her back.

“Call Celeste,” I said to Logan. “Tell her to come.”

Logan stared at me. “Isn’t Scarlett jealous of Celeste? Mason-”

I set down my drink and tucked a cigarette between my lips.

“And are you good at taking photos?”