I got home with the fake mate certificate in my hand and felt empty.
The Werewolf Pack Council gave every mated werewolf couple a mate certificate. It was a sign that their relationship was real. In human terms, it was like a marriage licence.
But mine was a lie.
As I got closer to the door to our house, I made myself stay calm.
I was just about to open it when I heard David’s voice inside talking to his Beta.
“Alpha, it’s been five years. Are you still not going to mark Sophia?”
I couldn’t move, and my breath stopped.
There was a long silence before David’s voice came back, low and steady.
“Not yet. She needs me to help her get a foothold first.”
The Beta didn’t hold back when he said, “But Sophia doesn’t even have a real mate certificate with you. If she ever finds out the truth, she could leave at any time.”
David looked down. He thought for a moment and then said, “Ella gave birth to my daughter. I have to do everything I can to keep her safe. As for Sophia, she loves me too much to leave. She broke up with her birth pack just to marry me, so she has nowhere else to go. She can only stay with me.”
The truth hit me like a winter storm, bare and bleeding. I felt like I was falling into a cold void.
My dad was very against my relationship with David. David hadn’t become an Alpha yet, so he thought he wasn’t good enough for an Alpha’s daughter. I had gone against my father, cut ties with my birth pack, and gone to the Moonlight Pack by myself with David.
And now… That very sacrifice had become the chain that kept me tied up.
My thoughts were all over the place, crazy and wild. I didn’t even see where my foot slipped. One second I was standing, and the next I fell to the ground.
A gentle breeze blew, and in a flash, David was standing in front of me. He picked me up and held me gently in his arms as he carried me inside to the couch.
He moved so slowly, as if I were a fragile piece of glass that he didn’t want to break.
“Why are you being so careless? Are you hurt?”
He worried about my hands and feet, and his voice was soft and his eyes were full of worry. It didn’t seem fake at all.
I had been living in his fantasy for five years, lulled by the careful lie he told just for me.
I suddenly took his hand. Even now, I couldn’t believe that the man who loved me so much could lie.
The Werewolf Affairs Division might have made a mistake. It’s possible that David really didn’t know.
“David, I lost our mate certificate. Should we get another one?” I asked, holding on to the last bit of hope.
There was a flash of panic in his eyes, but it quickly turned to calm.
He turned his head away from me, not looking at me.
“Let the Beta handle that. All you have to do is get better.”
I closed my eyes and felt despair wash over me like a wave. I nodded slowly after a long pause.
“Okay.”
David’s face showed a hint of worry. He was about to say something, but his phone rang.
I raised my head. The name on the caller ID was Ella.
He quickly let go of me and grabbed the phone, giving me only a quick excuse as he walked towards the door. “Tell the Beta to take care of the certificate. The pack has something going on that I need to deal with.”
He answered the phone without waiting for a response.
“Don’t worry, Ella. I’m on my way.”
I got a call from the pack orphanage at the same time.
“Sophia, your friend said they wanted to adopt Maya, but now another couple is interested in her. Can you come see her?”
I got myself together, put on a calm face, and drove to the orphanage.
I could see David already standing at the door from a distance. Before I could even get close, a person ran up and threw herself into his arms.
“David, you’re finally here! Please save Maya! I don’t want her to be adopted by people she doesn’t know. I don’t want her to call someone else Mom and Dad.”
I was shocked and stared at the woman he was gently comforting.
Ella was it.
