A Ceremony, A Ghost, And A Lost Wolf Pup Chapter 01

A Ceremony, A Ghost, And A Lost Wolf Pup Chapter 01

My fated mate of three years used the name Summer on every public PackNet account he had.

I figured he just liked summer—sunny, warm, bright—and left it at that. So I never questioned it.

Not until the day of our mate ceremony.

Not until his ex-girlfriend sent a gift.

The moment I saw the name signed on the gift box, my inner wolf felt like she’d been plunged into ice water.

So that was it.

He didn’t just like summer.

He loved Juliet Summer.

The realization cut through me. My stomach dropped.

—

At my mate ceremony with Alpha Aaron, a young woman in a white dress got drunk.

Aaron’s expression darkened. “Enough already.”

She ignored him completely. Instead, she smiled at me.

“Diana, I heard you’re pregnant.”

“Have you picked a name for the pup yet?”

I rested a hand on my stomach and smiled gently.

“We call the pup Summer.”

“Summer.” She repeated the name softly.

Then her gaze drifted toward Aaron. A laugh escaped her lips, but tears streamed down her face.

“How can you call the pup Summer? He already gave up on Summer.”

The entire pack house fell silent. A heavy tension settled over the room.

I blinked, unable to understand what she meant.

Aaron’s Beta, Dylan, was the first to break the silence.

“Luna Diana, she’s drunk. I’ll take her to the pack hotel.”

After they left, I couldn’t hold back anymore.

I looked at Aaron carefully.

“Aaron… who is she?”

His eyes stayed fixed on me. His expression was flawless. Not a crack. Not a hint.

“A classmate.”

I wanted to ask more.

But he changed the subject before I could.

“Di, one of our allies from the Pack Council drank too much. I need to deal with it.”

I opened my mouth, then swallowed every question I had. “Okay.”

He turned and left. So rushed that the second he stepped out of the pack house, he shifted and sprinted away.

I watched his figure disappear.

Inside me, Fiona—my inner wolf—curled up tight.

An unease settled in my chest. Something felt off.

When my best friend Brianna came looking for me, she was carrying an elegant gift box.

She tossed it onto the table in front of me.

“Di, your competition left this behind.”

“My competition?”

My heart skipped a beat.

Immediately, the girl in the white dress flashed through my mind.

Brianna rolled her eyes.

“The she-wolf who was crying her eyes out earlier.”

“Crying over someone else’s fated mate at someone else’s mate ceremony? Shameless.”

The more I listened, the worse I felt.

Brianna patted my shoulder. Her voice was full of certainty.

“Don’t overthink it. Everyone in the Stormridge Pack knows how much Alpha Aaron loves you.”

“There’s no way he’d betray you.”

She was right. Aaron adored me.

He remembered all my likes and dislikes when it came to food.

Every time morning sickness hit, he’d stay up worrying.

When leg cramps woke me in the middle of the night, he’d massage them till dawn.

The she-wolves of the Stormridge Pack envied me.

They always said my fated mate wasn’t just a powerful Alpha.

More importantly, he genuinely loved me.

Not because of the pull of the mate bond. Because he wanted to.

I shouldn’t have doubted him.

I let out a long breath.

Maybe I was worrying over nothing.

As Brianna and I talked, I fiddled with the gift box without thinking.

Then something caught my eye. A name.

I looked closer. And finally made out the name clearly—Juliet Summer.

Juliet Summer. Summer.

Aaron’s PackNet username.

The nickname we’d chosen for our pup.

My mouth slowly fell open.

Something inside my head snapped.

Inside me, Fiona—who had been trembling—went completely still.

“Di?” Brianna’s voice turned sharp with alarm. “Why are you crying?”

“Don’t scare me. You’re pregnant.”

I grabbed her hand. My fingers shook hard.

“Find Aaron.” My voice broke. “I need to see him. Now.”