Wrong Room, Right Mate Chapter 06

Wrong Room, Right Mate Chapter 06

He drove back to the pack house.

Sloane stayed quiet the whole time, sneaking glances at him every now and then like she was weighing something.

Arlo didn’t speak to her.

For days now, that night played on repeat in his head.

He’d been so close.

He’d almost stopped them from taking his mate.

“Arlo,” Sloane said, setting a mug of warm milk down in front of him. “You haven’t eaten much. Drink this.”

He took the mug. “Thanks.”

Sloane sat down next to him.

“You faked that partner contract with Nova to please your mom,” she said softly.

Arlo’s grip on the mug tightened.

“Now you’re legally bound to me, you’ve settled me here. You claimed me, you did every ritual.” She dropped her gaze.

“Arlo… it’s done now… why can’t we just be together?”

He stared at her.

“What are you talking about?”

Sloane’s cheeks flushed, but she held his gaze steady. “Can you look me in the eye and say you never felt anything for me? Hasn’t your wolf accepted me?”

Arlo opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

“You helped me secure my place here. You chose me over Nova. You defied your mother for me! You said it was just to get me out of Bloodfang Pack, but you never had to go that far!”

She leaned closer to him.

“Admit it. You love me. Nova’s not good enough for you.

“She’s always stayed on her dad’s territory. She never learned how to run your household, how to fit into your world. What can she even give you?

“But I’m different. I know what you want. I know how to please your mom. I can give you so much more than she ever could.”

Arlo looked at her.

Her eyes were nothing like Nova’s.

Nova’s eyes never could hide what she was feeling—joy, sorrow, anger, everything was right there on her face.

But Sloane’s eyes were soft as water, calm enough to trick you.

He asked himself—

Every time he’d brought Nova a gift… had he ever brought anything for Sloane too?

Later, when Sloane said the pack had left Nova in charge and she needed to find work elsewhere… had he really let her move in just because he pitied how fragile she looked?

He couldn’t be sure anymore.

Staring at Sloane’s smile, he couldn’t say for sure that what he felt for her was only friendship.

He didn’t know when those feelings had started sprouting.

Maybe he’d known all along, he just wouldn’t admit it.

But one thing he was absolutely sure of—

Nova was the one he wanted. She was the mate he’d chosen. The one worth crossing any line to get back.

“Arlo?” Sloane whispered.

He blinked and looked at her… but the figure that surfaced before his eyes was Nova.

She lay quietly on that man’s back, not even struggling a little.

The pain felt like someone was ripping a chunk of flesh straight out of his chest.

Yet the person she hated the most… must be him, of all people.

Not long after, his mother called. “You should be with Sloane. Stop grieving over that unfaithful woman—”

Sloane had taken care of him for three full years.

It was she who made him forget that girl, who’d worked silently in the kitchen, toiled late into the night and never once received a single word of thanks.

Sloane knew how to flatter, how to sweet-talk, and how to win his mother over with expensive gifts.

But what about Nova? She only gave silently, loved him honestly, and stood quietly there… waiting to be seen by him.

“Mother,” his voice came out rough. “Nova is a good woman.”

“Then why did she leave?” his mother snapped. “She ran off with another Alpha without a word. If she cared about you, she would’ve come back by now!”

“I don’t have the right to ask her to come back.”

His mother stared daggers at him.

Arlo stood up, his hands shaking uncontrollably.

“You said you would never accept her…

“So the bond we shared was a lie.

“She was never my true mate. She doesn’t have to come back. I have no right to force her.

“If she wants to bond with someone else…”

His voice cracked.

“I don’t even have the right to object.”

“Who are you blaming here?” his mother demanded. “I interfered! But everything after that was your own choice! If you didn’t love Sloane, why did you claim her? Why did you bond with her?

Arlo had no answer.

Claiming Sloane back then had been to help her escape that pack house. Bonding with her had been so she could leave Bloodfang Pack.

But even to himself, that sounded absurd.

Somewhere along the way, he’d lost himself.

“Mother,” Arlo said quietly. “I’m breaking my mate bond with Sloane.”

She gaped at him in shock. “What?”

His voice was rough and gravelly. “I can’t spend the rest of my life with her.”

After a long silence, she asked, “Then what do you want now?”

What did he want?

He wanted to find Nova.

But how?

He didn’t even know if she still hated him.