The Alpha's Rejected But Defiant Fated Mate

ALLEGRA RIDDLE'S POV:

With a bang-the massive oak doors of the main hall slammed inward, pushed open by two guards. The welcome ceremony the Luna had prepared for her returning Alpha officially began.

Standing beyond the doors was my fated mate, Carson Welch, gently holding another woman, Finley, on his arm, his gaze tender and loving.

Finley's hand rested lightly on the slight swell of her belly. She was pale-skinned, with watery brown eyes and soft flaxen hair. She looked back at Carson Welch, and the two of them stood there like a perfect couple.

The entire estate froze. The servants' eyes turned to me, some with pity, more with mockery.

"Look, the Alpha has finally brought home a real Luna," one maid whispered behind her hand, just loud enough for me to hear.

For the past five years, according to the marriage treaty, I had been married into the Welch family as the widow of Carson's older brother. Later, out of duty, I had been forced to marry Carson-my fated mate. But he had never liked me. I had always played the role of Luna. I managed the household, paid off debts, and kept all kinds of secrets. And in all that time, he had never once looked at me the way he looked at her.

Carson's blue eyes, as cold and clear as a winter sky, swept across the hall. His gaze passed over me as if I were nothing more than a piece of furniture in the room-a grey stone on a grey wall.

His gaze fixed on Finley. He helped her over the threshold as if she were made of fragile glass.

Carson's mother, Eleanor, gasped beside me, a blade cutting through the silence. She took half a step forward, her face pale. "Carson... what is the meaning of this?"

Eleanor had always been kind to me, and I believed she would seek justice for me.

Carson finally looked at his mother, his jaw set like granite. "Mother. This is Finley Leach. She will be staying with us." His voice was a command, not a request. Finley Leach was not merely a guest; she was an announcement.

He ignored me completely, not even acknowledging my existence. At my mate's homecoming, I was like a ghost.

I remembered how, just a few hours earlier, I had dressed up and tugged at the front of my plain grey dress, looking at the flawless display in the hall-the floors polished to a mirror shine, the welcome banner hanging straight and proper, the scent of pine and cinnamon from the hearth still lingering in the air. Now I felt like a fool.

My loyal attendant, Holly, gave my arm a reassuring squeeze. Her warmth was a small anchor in the storm of my anxiety. She and Eleanor were among the few in this grand house who saw me as more than a political tool.

Finley gave Eleanor a small, trembling curtsy, her eyes downcast. She looked like a frightened deer caught in a hunter's light.

I felt my hands clench into fists at my sides, my nails digging deep into my palms. In a world that had just lurched off its axis, that pain was distant, yet grounding.

Eleanor seemed to recover, her years as the pack's Luna taking over. She forced a stiff, formal smile. "Of course. The Welch pack always has room for a guest." Her emphasis on the word "guest" was a small, sharp barb.

Carson's eyes narrowed, but he did not challenge her. Instead, he guided Finley toward the main staircase.

As they passed me, Finley's scent washed over me-lilies and something cloyingly sweet.

For a fleeting moment, her eyes met mine. There was no fear in them. Only a flash of cold, hard triumph. "Don't look so wounded. He chose me. He always would."

That sentence confirmed everything. This was not an accident. This was an invasion.

My inner wolf howled with betrayal and rage, a sound only I could hear, a silent scream in the hollow place where my heart used to be.

Carson stopped at the foot of the stairs and finally turned. Not toward me, but toward his mother.

"Finley is tired from the journey. I'll take her to the Blue Room," he declared. The Blue Room. The one next to his own. The room meant for the Alpha's chosen partner.

Eleanor's face hardened. "The guest wing is perfectly suitable, Carson."

"The Blue Room," he repeated, his Alpha tone leaving no room for argument. It was a direct challenge to his mother's authority-and to mine.

He took Finley up the stairs, leaving a trail of shattered expectations behind him.

The silence in the hall was deafening now. Everyone was looking at me, the abandoned mate, the fool in the grey dress.

Eleanor finally turned to me, her expression a mixture of pity and frustration. "Allegra," she began, her voice strained.

But she did not know what to say. What was there to say?

She finally settled on a command, a way to control the situation. "Go to your chambers, Allegra. Please. We will sort this out."

She was dismissing me to avoid a scene, to hide the pack's shame. I was exiled from the heart of my own home like an outsider, while my mate settled his pregnant mistress in the room next to his.

Nothing could be more humiliating than this.