No Past, No Pain, No Return Chapter 01

No Past, No Pain, No Return Chapter 01

My best friend Vanessa went into labor. I rushed to Silvercrest Pack Maternity Clinic overnight to see her.

Mother and pup were safe. I stood by the bed, my eyes burning.

Then I caught a familiar scent.

Cedar and frost. My fated mate’s Alpha scent.

I laughed to myself.

Caleb Calloway had been sent on a Pack Council classified mission. He hadn’t come home in two years.

I was just missing him. I was smelling him on someone else’s pup.

I smiled. “Have you picked a name yet?”

Her smile froze. “Elias Calloway.”

“Calloway?” I blinked. “I thought the pup was taking your name. The father is a Calloway too?”

Vanessa mumbled something and changed the subject.

“Serena, I really want that chicken wrap near the old campus. Can you get it for me?”

The familiar Alpha scent. The matching last name. A knot of doubt formed in my chest.

But she looked so weak. My heart ached for her. I pushed the questions down.

At the clinic entrance, I remembered I hadn’t given her my gift.

I ran back inside. I saw my mate walking into her room with flowers.

He sat by the bed. He held her hand.

“You did so well, my love.”

My mind went blank. Blood rushed to my head.

I was about to open the door when I saw my mother holding the pup.

She was laughing.

“Look, he smiled. He knows his father’s voice.”

Pack Council classified mission. Mysterious boyfriend. All lies.

Even my mother helped her adopted pack-daughter and my mate lie to me.

***

I wanted to rush in and confront them. But when Caleb looked up, I ran.

Like I was the third wheel. The one who didn’t belong.

I stopped outside the clinic. My heart lodged in my throat. I wanted to throw up.

Vanessa texted me.

[Serena, I’m sorry. I forgot. That place closed down.]

[You stayed up all night to come see me. Go home and rest.]

I laughed.

Home? Did I even have a home anymore?

I had the passcode to Vanessa’s place.

She’d said, “My home is your home. No. This is our home.”

Two months after our mating ceremony, Caleb was sent on a Pack Council classified mission. Communication was limited. It would last at least two years.

I spent most of my time at Vanessa’s. She joked, “We’re like newlyweds.”

Once, I came back from a business trip and found a condom on the couch.

I teased her. “Vanessa, since when do you have a boyfriend?”

Her face turned red. She stammered.

“No. Not a boyfriend. Just… we can’t be together.”

“Serena, if I did something wrong, would you hate me?”

I took her side without hesitation.

She didn’t want to talk. I respected that.

My only rule was that she not get hurt.

When she got pregnant and decided to keep the pup six months ago, I was shocked.

I was worried. But I told her.

“It’s okay. Have the pup. I’ll help you raise it.”

She cried. She kept saying, “I’m sorry.”

Now I knew. She was sorry for betraying me. With my mate.

I wandered back to my mother’s apartment. There was a new fingerprint lock.

It didn’t recognize me.

I sat outside for half an hour before my mother came home.

She saw me, opened the door, and scolded me.

“Phone dead? Why didn’t you text Vanessa back? She called you. She was worried you’d make a wasted trip.”

I watched her hunched back. She looked like a stranger.

“So you’re back too. Who’s at the clinic with her?”

She paused while changing shoes.

“The postpartum nurse will take care of her. Don’t worry.”

She went into the bathroom.

My concern was unwanted.

I rushed home the moment she went into early labor. To them, I was just a bother.

Her phone buzzed in her bag.

I took it out. The lock screen was a photo of the newborn pup. It used to be her and Vanessa.

The passcode was Vanessa’s birthday. It was also the day Vanessa’s mother died.

On Vanessa’s twelfth birthday, I got childhood wolf fever.

Aunt Diane drove me to the pack hospital.

We were attacked by rogues. I survived. She didn’t.

I’ve carried survivor’s guilt ever since.

I convinced my mother to adopt Vanessa as a pack-daughter.

She did. And she treated Vanessa better than me.

New clothes for Vanessa. Hand-me-downs for me.

Fresh orange juice for Vanessa. I had to wait.

The last roast rib was always Vanessa’s.

Her adult gift was a moonstone necklace. I got a bowl of pasta.

I never thought it was unfair.

Vanessa was sweet, thoughtful, and charming.

Of course my mother liked her more.

But I never expected that giving her everything would make me the fool.

Before Caleb and I mated, my mother whispered to Vanessa.

“You don’t have to give in to her.”

“I can tell Caleb likes you more. Even the bridal shop said you two looked better together.”