Betrayed By My Mate, Crowned By An Alpha.

Warning: This story contains a huge age gap between the ML and FL, which may involve significant differences in life experience, maturity, and perspective. ****** (Aria) The wildflowers I'd spent three hours picking this morning were already wilting in my sweaty palm as I climbed the stairs to Daniel's room. My heart hammered against my ribs with excitement, each step bringing me closer to what I hoped would be the perfect surprise for our one-year mating anniversary. The delicate mountain lilies and Indian paintbrush blooms had been his mother's favorites, according to what Alpha Kael had told me once. I thought Daniel might appreciate the gesture, especially since I'd woken before dawn to hike to the meadow where they grew wild. The second floor of the pack house was unusually quiet for late evening. Most of the pack members would be gathered in the common room by now, sharing dinner and stories from their day. But Daniel had mentioned he was tired from patrol duty and planned to rest early. Perfect, I'd thought. We'd have privacy to celebrate properly. My free hand smoothed down my dress for the hundredth time today. The emerald green fabric brought out my eyes, or so my best friend Ashley, had told me when we'd gone shopping for it last week. She'd insisted I buy it, claiming it made me look "less like a warrior and more like future Luna material." The memory of her words made me smile now as I reached Daniel's door. I pressed my ear against the wood, listening for any sign he might be sleeping. Instead, I heard something that made my blood run cold. A soft feminine laugh. Breathy whispers. The unmistakable sound of sheets rustling. My hand froze on the door handle. Every instinct screamed at me to walk away, to pretend I'd never climbed these stairs. But Ember, my wolf, pushed forward in my mind with a growl that demanded the truth. 'Open it,' she snarled. 'We need to see.' I turned the handle slowly, my movements silent from years of warrior training. The door creaked open just wide enough for me to peer inside, and what I saw there shattered something fundamental inside my chest. Daniel was in his bed, but he wasn't alone. Tangled in his arms, her blonde hair spilled across his pillow like spun gold, was Ashley. My Ashley. My best friend since childhood, the girl who'd held me when I cried after my parents died, who'd trained beside me every day for seven years. She was naked, her pale skin glowing in the lamplight, and around her throat hung the silver crescent moon necklace I'd given her for her twenty-second birthday just last month. The wildflowers fell from my numb fingers, scattering across the hardwood floor like broken dreams. Ashley saw me first. Her blue eyes widened, but instead of shame or guilt, I saw something else entirely. Satisfaction. Triumph. Like she'd been waiting for this moment, hoping for it. "Daniel," she whispered, but she never looked away from me. "We have company." Daniel's head snapped up, his gray eyes finding mine through the c***k in the door. For a heartbeat, genuine shock and shame flashed across his features. Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, his expression hardened into something cold and cruel. "Well," he said, making no move to cover himself or push Ashley away. "This is awkward." I stepped into the room fully, my bare feet silent on the floor. Ember was roaring in my mind now, demanding blood, demanding revenge. But I held her back with iron will. I would not give them the satisfaction of seeing me break. "Eight years," I said, my voice wasn't trembling despite the hurricane of pain tearing through my chest. "Today marks exactly Eight years since we became mates." Daniel sat up, his arm still around Ashley's shoulders. "Aria, you don't understand..." "I understand perfectly." I looked at Ashley, taking in the necklace that caught the light with every breath she took. "The necklace looks lovely on you, Ash. Though I have to say, I never imagined you'd be wearing it to seduce my mate." Ashley had the grace to touch the silver pendant, but her chin lifted defiantly. "Maybe it belongs with someone who actually deserves nice things." "Deserves?" The word came out harsher than I intended. "And what exactly have you done to deserve it? Besides spreading your legs for another woman's mate?" "Enough," Daniel snapped, standing up and reaching for his pants. "Don't talk to her like that." I almost laughed. Almost. "I'm sorry, are you actually defending her right now? To me?" "This is exactly why this happened," Daniel said, pulling his pants on with angry movements. "You think you're so tough, so strong. But you're not Luna material, Aria. You never were. A real Luna would have known how to keep her mate satisfied." The words hit like physical blows, but Ember absorbed the pain and transformed it into something else. Something dangerous. "Is that so?" I asked, tilting my head to study him. Twenty-seven years old and still acting like a spoiled child when caught misbehaving. How had I never seen it before? "And I suppose Ashley is Luna material?" Ashley preened under the attention, sitting up straighter and making sure the sheet slipped just enough to remind everyone of what they'd been doing. "At least I know how to make a man happy." "By being a w***e?" The question came out conversational, almost curious. "You bitch..." Ashley started to lunge forward, but Daniel caught her arm. "Stop," he commanded, and she immediately submitted to his authority. Then he turned those cold gray eyes on me, eyes that had once looked at me with warmth and promise. "This is over, Aria. I, Daniel Stone, future Alpha of the Moonridge Pack, formally reject you as my mate." The rejection hit like a sledgehammer to my chest. The mate bond, already weakened by his betrayal, began to snap apart fiber by fiber. Most wolves would have collapsed, would have screamed and begged and pleaded. Daniel was clearly expecting exactly that reaction, his expression smug with anticipated victory. Instead, I felt something inside me unlock. Something that had been caged by trying to be what others expected, by trying to fit into the mold of the perfect future Luna. Ember stretched inside my mind, no longer held back by the artificial constraints of a bond that had never been truly complete. "I, Aria Blackwood, accept your rejection," I said clearly, my voice carrying enough authority to make both of them flinch. "And I have to say, Daniel, you've just made the biggest mistake of your life." I slipped the promise ring off my finger, the simple band of white gold that had once meant everything to me. Without ceremony, I dropped it at his feet where it landed with a tiny, final clink. "You think I was never strong enough to be Luna?" My smile was cold. "You're about to find out just how wrong you are." I turned to leave, but paused at the doorway to look back at Ashley one more time. "Keep the necklace, Ash. Consider it payment for teaching me exactly what kind of friends and mates I don't need in my life." As I walked away, I heard Daniel call after me, his voice uncertain now. "Aria, wait..." But I was already gone, my bare feet carrying me swiftly down the stairs and toward the door. Behind me, I could hear them arguing in harsh whispers, probably wondering why I wasn't sobbing and broken on the floor. They'd expected me to shatter. Instead, they'd just set me free. The wildflowers lay forgotten on his floor, already turning brown at the edges. Like everything else in that room, they were dead to me now.