Design Rings for My Alpha’s Mistress? Oops. I Designed His Exile Instead Chapter 04

Design Rings for My Alpha’s Mistress? Oops. I Designed His Exile Instead Chapter 04

Every single pair of eyes locked onto me.

Shock. Confusion. Then rapidly shifting to embarrassment. Panic.

The smile froze on Ronan’s face.

His arm, which had been wrapped around Faye, dropped instinctively.

He stood there like he’d been nailed to the floor, his Alpha authority crumbling, his voice shaking.

“S-Seraphina? I thought you were at Moonstone Valley?”

First time I’d ever seen him this rattled.

I stared straight into his eyes, searching for even a trace of guilt.

Faye beside him froze for a second. Then, when she realized who exactly I was, her eyes filled with terror.

She instinctively shrank back behind Ronan, her hand moving protectively over her stomach.

“Seraphina? You… you…”

Clearly, she never imagined the mating ring commission would land in the actual mate’s hands.

Even less that his so-called “imprisoned fated mate” wasn’t locked up at all.

Eleanor’s crystal glass slipped from her hand and shattered on the marble floor.

She shot to her feet, panic written all over her face.

I walked in slowly, my wolf’s presence flooding the room with unmistakable authority.

Taking in every single priceless expression.

The lively ceremonial room from moments ago? Now so quiet you could hear nervous wolves trying to suppress their instinctive submission.

“Looks like I came at a bad time?” My voice was eerily calm.

“Or maybe… exactly the right time?!”

I held up the delicate ring box in my hand and opened it with deliberate slowness.

Inside lay the mating rings I’d designed according to Faye’s specifications.

I turned my gaze to Faye, my tone cold, laced with faint mockery.

“Ms. Ashwood. Your rings.”

“Eternal devotion. Wolfsbane symbolism. Custom-designed by me. Satisfied?”

Faye didn’t dare take them. She clutched Ronan’s sleeve like her life depended on it, her omega instincts screaming

danger.

Ronan finally snapped out of his shock.

He stepped forward, his Alpha command trying and failing to assert itself, his voice pleading.

“Seraphina, whatever this is, let’s talk at home. Don’t make a scene here. Please, I’m begging you…”

“Home?”

I laughed like I’d just heard the funniest joke in the world, my gaze cutting straight through him.

“Which home? The one where you told me you loved me while secretly planning to leave me with nothing?”

Before he could answer, Eleanor rushed over, guilt plastered across her face.

She reached for me. I coldly stepped back, my wolf snarling a warning.

“Seraphina! Seraphina, sweetheart! It’s Mother… Mother’s fault! The Blackthorns failed you!”

Her voice cracked, loud enough for the whole room to hear.

Like she wanted everyone to witness her apology. Or maybe she was just trying to salvage the pack’s reputation.

“But… but you have to understand Ronan’s position! Understand us as the elder generation!”

“You… you can’t bear pups anymore, but Ronan’s the only Alpha heir in the Blackthorn bloodline! We have this entire legacy, centuries of tradition-we can’t… we can’t let it end here!”

As she spoke, her eyes drifted involuntarily toward Faye’s stomach.

The longing in that gaze formed a brutal contrast to the “love” she once showed me.

Then she lowered her voice.

“Faye… she’s carrying a male pup! The healer confirmed it! Seraphina, once she has the heir, I’ll make them sever the mate bond. I promise you.”

“Mother’s on your side. I know you’re hurting. Whatever compensation you want from the pack, we’ll provide it. Just please, don’t cause a scene. Let everyone save some dignity…”

“Dignity?”

I rolled the word around in my mouth, the chill in my chest hardening into ice.

So all that warmth over the years? Worthless the second “bloodline heir” entered the picture.

Other pack members chimed in, voices overlapping.

Every word implied I was the one in the wrong-the barren Luna refusing to step aside gracefully.

Before I could respond, a sharp, furious voice rang out from the corner of the room.

“NOW you care about saving dignity?!”

Everyone turned. A young she-wolf with short silver-streaked hair shot to her feet, shoving her chair back with a

harsh screech.

Nayeli Blackthorn. Ronan’s cousin.

She’d always been blunt and bold, constantly lectured by the elders for her unconventional attitude and refusal to accept an arranged mate.

But she and I? We got along just fine.

She stormed into the center of the room.

“When Seraphina’s pack bailed the Blackthorns out, where was all this talk about ‘dignity’?!”

“When your shitty project was about to collapse, Ronan, Seraphina negotiated with her father for THREE days until the Ashmore Pack invested more money! Back then, none of you gave a damn about heirs!”

“And you!” She whipped around to face one of the female pack members. “Your training facility was bleeding money. Seraphina used her own pack dowry to cover your debts! How do you spew that shit without your conscience eating you alive?! Oh wait-you don’t have one.”

“And you! You!” She pointed at several other werewolves, who immediately shrank back. “Your pups’ pack school admissions, your mate matching ceremonies, your business ventures-who pulled strings for all of that? Seraphina!

And now you’re all ganging up to screw over your Luna?! FUCKING UNGRATEFUL MUTTS!”

Nayeli’s rapid-fire accusations landed like physical blows across every ungrateful face in the room.

The dining hall fell silent again.

When she finished, her eyes were red with fury. She grabbed my arm.

“Seraphina, let’s go. These assholes aren’t worth your time. They don’t deserve their Luna.”

I patted the back of Nayeli’s hand, signaling her to calm down, though my wolf purred approval at her loyalty.

Then I turned my gaze back to Ronan.

“Ronan Blackthorn. Did you hear that?”

My voice wasn’t loud, but it cut through the silence like a blade.

“You. And your entire pack. What you owe me isn’t just money. It’s loyalty. It’s the sacred trust of a mate bond. It’s years of my heart I gave to the wrong Alpha.”

I tossed the ring box onto the ceremonial table like it was garbage.

“As for compensation?”

I let out a soft laugh. Cold. Empty.

“Don’t bother. I’ll take back what’s mine myself. With interest.”

With that, I pulled Nayeli along and turned to leave.