The Alpha Who Threw Me Away for a Ghost Chapter 01

The Alpha Who Threw Me Away for a Ghost Chapter 01

On the day of our Mating Ceremony, I received a text from Alpha Alaric’s ex-girlfriend, Elara.

She claimed her curse was flaring up and that her time was running out. Her final wish was to wear a wedding dress one last time before she died.

To grant that wish, Alaric locked me in the dressing room, preparing to hold the ceremony with her instead.

Through the thick wood of the door, his impatient voice rang out.

“Can you stop being so cold-hearted? She’s dying. What’s wrong with letting her have this one thing?”

Later, my childhood friend, who had secretly loved me for years, climbed onto the roof and begged me to mate with him instead.

Alaric’s eyes turned bloodshot as he pleaded with me, “Are you really going to throw away our seven years together for him?”

I brushed his hand away. “What choice do I have? Let him die? It’s just a mating certificate, Alaric. Why are you being so cold-hearted?”

There was only an hour left before the Mating Ceremony was set to begin.

I sat alone in the temporary dressing room, staring at the photo Elara had just sent to my phone.

In the picture, she was wearing my custom-made Moonlight wedding dress, smiling radiantly as she wrapped her arms around Alaric’s.

Alaric was looking down at her, his eyes filled with absolute tenderness.

Her message read: [He said I look better in this dress than you do.]

Then came another: [If you want your Mating Ceremony to go smoothly, beg me.]

I darkened the screen, my voice dropping to a terrifyingly calm whisper.

“The custom dress from last time that suddenly couldn’t be worn… was it really because the tailor messed up the alterations?”

The werewolf stylist in charge of my hair and makeup didn’t dare meet my gaze. She merely shrank back and lowered her head in silence.

I already had my answer.

A cold laugh escaped my lips.

Whenever Alaric accompanied me to dress fittings, he was either answering emergency pack links or handling pack business. Yet, he was all smiles when he was with Elara.

I took a deep breath, forcing down the suffocating ache in my chest. “Go get Alaric. I want an explanation.”

The makeup assistant hurried out of the room.

The dressing room became suffocatingly quiet, save for the muffled chatter of the crowd outside.

I looked at the woman in the mirror, tightly bound in an ill-fitting gown, and suddenly found it hilarious.

Perhaps clothes that didn’t fit were never meant to be worn in the first place.

The one who arrived before Alaric was his Beta, Jake, his face a mask of embarrassment and guilt.

“Miss Sinclair,” he said, his voice trembling. “I’m so sorry, but you won’t be needed for the upcoming ceremony.”

“Not needed?” I almost laughed out of pure rage, my sharp fangs flashing bare beneath my lips. “Are you telling me that at my own Mating Ceremony, I, the future Luna, don’t even have the right to show my face?”

Before Jake could stammer out an excuse, the dressing room door was pushed open.

Alaric walked in.

He said, “It was my call.”

Alaric was wearing the black tuxedo I had handpicked for him, but the gem pin on his lapel wasn’t the one I had chosen.

Noticing my gaze locking onto the pin, he cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Elara doesn’t have much time left. The pack healers say she won’t survive the month. She said her only wish is to wear a wedding dress once.”

I let out a cold snort. “At my Mating Ceremony? With my groom?”

I knew all about Elara.

It wasn’t until our third year of dating that I discovered Alaric had a childhood sweetheart—an ex-girlfriend who had been cursed in an accident.

She was the daughter of their pack’s Beta. Even after breaking up, their ties could never be completely severed.

Breaking the curse was a perilous process that required the constant support of Alpha aura, and her Beta parents had begged Alaric to assist with her treatments.

At first, I felt genuinely sorry that a young she-wolf had to suffer through such a horrific curse.

But my sympathy plummeted when I realized that after every single date Alaric and I went on, she would call him to deliver soup to her house in the middle of the night.

I had endured it time and time again because she was sick.

Alaric used to keep his boundaries clear, always prioritizing my wishes.

No matter what Elara asked of him, he would respect me as his fated mate and report everything. He only visited her once or twice when it was a genuine emergency, and he always brought me along.

Until today.

When exactly did Alaric find the time to accompany her to a dress fitting? And when did he decide to give her my custom gown, letting her take my place at the altar?