The Mate He Didn’t Deserve Chapter 01

The Mate He Didn’t Deserve Chapter 01

I woke up mid-surgery for an ectopic pregnancy—unplanned, fully conscious.

My eyes locked with Caleb’s, the Alpha operating on me.

He showed no surprise at all.

In a flat, detached tone, he said, “You don’t actually have infertility. Four years ago, I performed a ligation on you.”

“This isn’t an ectopic pregnancy either. The baby was healthy. But I removed it anyway.”

Ice flooded my veins. My eyes burned red with rage.

“Why?”

His gaze was steady, unapologetic. “My brother died in pack conflicts. His widow can’t survive alone in Blackthorn Pack.”

“I gave her a child. That means I can’t give you one.”

Outside the operating room, the very woman he spoke of—my best friend for years—was crying, supposedly worried sick over me.

“Why tell me this now?”

Caleb shrugged indifferently. “No particular reason. I’m just tired. Tried everything to keep you from conceiving, and still it happened. Annoying.”

“I’m done lying. I adjusted the anesthesia on purpose so you’d wake up sooner. Better you know the truth.”

With that, he resumed stitching me up.

The needle piercing my flesh felt sharp and vivid. I whimpered in agony, but the man didn’t so much as flinch. Only when he finished did he speak again, leisurely.

“The boy needs a father. I’m going to be the real partner Nadia deserves.”

“You can either dissolve our mate bond or keep it. I don’t care.”

When he saw my tears, he paused briefly.

“If you don’t end it, I’ll still look after her. Just don’t cause her trouble.”

……

I woke to a dull, throbbing ache in my lower abdomen.

The operating room hadn’t been a nightmare.

And from the bed next to mine, loud, breathless moans filled my ears.

“Alpha, stop—Aurora’s right there.”

The only reply was a deeper, rougher pant.

I knew that voice.

Too well to mistake it.

Without thinking, I ripped the IV from my hand, stumbled off the bed, and tore back the curtain.

Behind it, Nadia Wren’s shirt hung open, exposing soft skin marked all over with possessive bruises.

On her collarbone was the same tattoo as Caleb’s.

The woman’s face was flushed, her eyes hazy with lust.

The second she saw me, she shrieked and scrambled into Caleb’s arms.

“Aurora, don’t misunderstand—let me explain!”

Caleb barely glanced at me. He slowly buttoned her shirt back up, calm and unashamed.

“I couldn’t hold back. Don’t blame her.”

After his blunt confession in the OR, Caleb had dropped all pretense.

He gazed tenderly at the flustered woman in his arms and chuckled softly.

“No need to be shy. We already have a three-year-old son.”

Nadia hid her face, playfully hitting his chest, then quickly finished dressing and hurried over to me, grabbing my hand.

“Aurora, please listen to me.”

I stared at the messy scene around us, the sharp, cloying scent of sex still thick in the air.

Nadia’s underwear lay at my feet.

The exact same style as the ones she’d given me for my birthday.

Back then, she’d sworn up and down that if I wore them for Caleb, he’d love it.

I’d been confused then, wondering how she knew my mate’s tastes better than I did.

Now I understood.

One was my partner. The other, my best friend.

And they’d just fucked right next to my hospital bed.

My mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

Tears spilled over uncontrollably.

The second Nadia touched me, I jerked my hand away.

“Don’t touch me! You’re disgusting!”

Nadia fell to the floor as if pushed, her eyes wounded as she glanced back at Caleb.

She turned to me, voice trembling. “Aurora, we’ve been friends for so long. Can’t you even let me explain?”

“I had no choice.”

Caleb swept her up into his arms in one smooth motion, his eyes cold as he looked at me.

But his voice softened when he spoke to her. “Ignore her. You did nothing wrong.”

He shifted his gaze back to me, empty of any emotion.

“I already told you everything in the operating room.”

“If you can’t stand it, dissolve the mate bond.”

With that, he carried Nadia out of the room.

I grabbed the thermos from the bedside table and hurled it at him.

“Caleb, I’m not ending this bond!”

A bitter, hysterical laugh burst out of me.

“As long as I stay your mate, you two will always be a pair of shameful adulterers. You’ll never see the light of day, not for the rest of your lives.”