Chapter 1

When the Alpha's pregnant mistress showed up on my doorstep, I let out a sigh of relief.

No one knew how long I had been waiting for this day.

Lily tilted her chin up, looking at me with the smug gaze of a victor.

"You should know very well who holds Jason's heart."

I held up a hand to cut her off.

"I know. He loves you."

The next second, I wheeled out the chair from behind me.

"So, this one's all yours."

Lily's eyes fell on the emaciated woman in the wheelchair, her pupils shrinking in terror.

"Are you insane? Jason said his mother died years ago!"

I waved my hand dismissively.

"You're mistaken. This is his father's former mistress."

Lily staggered back two steps, her swollen belly bumping against the edge of the table.

"What do you mean? What does his father's mistress have to do with me?"

I nodded solemnly.

"It really had nothing to do with you. But starting today, it does."

With that, I shoved a contract into her arms.

"From now on, her food, clothes, living expenses, and herbal treatments are all on you. Oh, right, along with financial support for me and my pup."

I turned around, dragged out my packed suitcase, and strode toward the door.

Heavily pregnant and clumsy, Lily couldn't react in time.

Ever since the day I first caught Jason's scent all over her, I had been waiting for this exact moment.

Go confront Jason?

No. He had already locked down the pack's storehouses tight.

Wait for his conscience to kick in?

No. An Alpha who betrays his fated mate threw his conscience to the wild dogs long ago.

"Stop right there! Thomas's mistress... Why the hell are you dumping her on me?"

"Because Jason loves you! Didn't you want to be the mistress of this house? Well, you got your wish!"

I slammed the heavy front door shut.

Didn't they want to force me out?

Fine. I'd hand the whole damn house over to her.

Just as I crossed the pack's boundary line, Jason's voice blasted inside my head.

The Mind Link.

I sped up my pace.

Over thirty frantic calls, and I ignored every single one.

Then, his command snapped through:

"Get your ass back here within the hour and give me an explanation."

An explanation?

I let out a cold laugh and shot back through the link:

"There's nothing to explain. Your father's old flame naturally belongs in your care. Having your precious sweetheart look after the old lady will make quite the heartwarming tale when word spreads."

The year we mated, Jason told me about his past.

When he was fifteen, his father brought home another woman.

That woman drove his birth mother away.

He loathed the pair of them with every fiber of his being.

Yet fate had a sick sense of humor.

Less than two years later, his father died in a hunting accident.

The woman who swore she would raise him cleaned out every valuable in the pack overnight.

She left behind nothing but a rotting old estate.

I once thought my devotion could heal his childhood trauma.

Now, I finally saw the truth.

He had simply grown up to become his father.

"What kind of bullshit are you talking about? Why should Lily have to wait on that bitch hand and foot?"

Jason's roar tore through the Mind Link, making my skull throb.

I replied calmly:

"Because she loves you. Because she's your soulmate. Because she doesn't care about your Alpha title and only wants to spend the rest of her life by your side."

Since their love was so transcendent, what was a little trouble between soulmates?

I once asked him with tear-stained eyes why he had chosen to walk down the exact same path as his father when he hated betrayal more than anything.

He stayed silent for a long time before giving me his excuse:

"You're great, but Lily makes me feel alive. Being with her taught me what I truly want. I... I finally understand my father."

Looking at his shameless expression, a bone-chilling cold had washed over me.

He said he understood his father.

He understood the irresistible urge to abandon a wife and child.

Yet he completely forgot the hollow, hopeless look in his mother's eyes.

Of course.

A son could never truly comprehend his mother's pain.

Yet he could forgive his father's sins without batting an eye.

Since you understand your father so well, I'll make sure you get a front-row seat to the very mess he left behind.