His Mother And New Mate

POV: Sienna Adler

I stepped cautiously out of the damp, isolating confines of the servant quarters. The chilly, stale air clung to my skin, a stark and immediate reminder of my sudden fall from grace. My heart felt incredibly heavy in my chest, weighed down by the desperate need to find Kaelen. I needed to look into his eyes, to find the man who loved me, and make him listen to reason before the pack poisoned his mind any further.

Almost immediately, the harsh reality of my new status hit me like a physical blow. As I turned the corner into the main corridor, hushed voices drifted through the shadows. Two maids strolled past, balancing a large silver tray loaded with sweet pastries between them.

"Can you believe the Alpha King is already looking for a replacement?" the taller maid whispered loudly. Her voice dripped with malicious glee, echoing off the stone walls.

My stomach dropped. I held my breath, pressing my back flat against the cold wall, hoping they would pass by without noticing me.

"He will get it right this time," the second maid replied, adjusting her grip on the silver tray. "I heard he wants a high-ranking mate from an affluent family. Not some worthless omega who rolled in from nowhere and tricked him."

The taller maid paused mid-step. Her eyes scanned the dim corridor until they locked directly onto me. Her smirk widened into a cruel, knowing grin. She dragged her gaze up and down my frame, open mockery swimming in her eyes. A cold sweat broke across my brow. My hands balled into tight fists, my nails digging into my palms. My body tensed as I realized they were openly reveling in my utter misery and downfall. They enjoyed watching their Luna fall into the dirt. Refusing to let their cruel whispers break my spirit, I lifted my chin and marched past them. I quickened my pace, my bare feet padding softly against the hardwood floors as I headed straight for the grand foyer. I had to reach my mate before it was too late.

The moment I stepped into the vast, brightly lit expanse of the foyer, my path was abruptly blocked. Standing tall near the towering marble pillars was my formidable mother-in-law, Mrs. Croft. Beside her stood Cleo, exuding a quiet, smug arrogance that made my stomach churn with nausea. Mrs. Croft’s eyes locked onto mine, narrowing into harsh slits of pure disgust.

"Ah! You shameless omega!" Her voice cracked through the massive room like a whip, freezing me in my tracks before I could even open my mouth to speak. "You had every privilege in this pack. You had everything a wolf could ever dream of, but you threw it all away for the sake of your dirty desires."

The sheer injustice of her words made my blood boil hot in my veins. "I am innocent, and she knows it!" I yelled, refusing to cower under her hateful glare. I jabbed a trembling finger straight at Cleo’s composed, unbothered face. "In four months, when the test is done, I will prove it."

Mrs. Croft’s face twisted into an ugly sneer. "My son's life will not be put on hold waiting for you," she spat.

She lunged forward with surprising speed. Her iron grip latched onto my arm, pulling me uncomfortably close. Her nails bit into my flesh. I could feel the heat of her breath fanning over my face as she hissed a vicious threat.

"He will find a new mate," she sneered, her tone laced with venom. "One of higher rank. One with unwavering loyalty. Someone who will never drag our prestigious name through the mud again."

With a harsh grunt, she shoved me backward forcefully. I stumbled, my arms flailing wildly as I fought to keep my balance on the slick marble. As I caught myself, Cleo stepped out from behind the older woman’s shadow. A sickening, smug grin plastered across Cleo's face. Mrs. Croft reached out and rested an affectionate, maternal hand on Cleo’s shoulder—a gentle gesture of warmth she had never once offered me in all our time together.

"He deserves someone better," Mrs. Croft declared, her eyes never leaving mine. "Someone exactly like Cleo."

Cleo tilted her head, batting her eyelashes with a practiced innocence. "Kaelen is going to choose me," she stated nonchalantly. Her voice dripped with fake sweetness and undeniable triumph.

That proud, radiant smile slashed through me like a physical blade carving into my heart. My chest carved open, sinking my hopes into a dark, bottomless pit. I opened my mouth to protest this coordinated nightmare, to scream at the deceit unfolding right in front of me, but a heavy thud echoed behind me.

Heavy, uneven footsteps dragged across the marble floors. I spun around. Kaelen stood near the archway, his imposing frame swaying slightly. His appearance was startlingly disheveled. His shirt was untucked, his hair a rumpled mess. The pungent, sour reek of heavy alcohol rolled off his skin, suffocating the air around us and masking his usual comforting scent of pine.

"Kaelen!" My voice quivered. I took a hesitant step toward him, desperate for him to see reason through his drunken haze. "You will find out in four months. Just wait for me."

He let out a hollow, bitter scoff. "And that is supposed to excuse finding you in a hotel room with a complete stranger?"

Before I could defend myself, his mother seized the moment. She stepped forward rapidly, aggressively pushing Cleo into Kaelen's line of sight as the purer alternative.

"She is manipulating you again," Mrs. Croft chimed in quickly. "Look at Cleo. She is a much better match. She would never betray you."

"You cannot force him to accept my traitorous friend!" I cried out. Hot tears spilled over my lashes, tracking fast down my cheeks.

My words ignited a dark fire inside him. Kaelen surged forward, stepping fiercely between me and the two women. The sheer anger radiating off his large frame felt palpable. It sucked the oxygen from the room, making the massive foyer feel suffocatingly small.

"Why can't I move on?" he hissed. He glared down at me, his bloodshot eyes dripping with unadulterated venom. "You get to be pregnant by someone else, but I can't even move on with my own life?"

"No!" I reached out. I pressed my trembling hands flat against his broad, muscular chest, desperate to bridge the widening chasm between our souls. I wanted to feel his heartbeat, to remind him of our bond. "Kaelen, I would never cheat on you. This baby growing inside me is yours. I am your only mate—"

My voice broke, pleading into the tense silence.

He reacted with brutal swiftness. His large hand clamped around my wrist with a terrifying, crushing intensity. My bones ground together under his furious grip.

"No!" he muttered coldly, leaning in until his face was inches from mine. "This child is a bastard, and you are no longer my Luna."

With a powerful thrust of his arm, he shoved me backward. The force lifted my feet clean off the floor. I flew backward and crashed hard onto the polished marble tiles. A sharp pain shot up my spine, stealing the breath from my lungs. I gasped, curling inward to protect my stomach and the tiny spark of life inside me.

"Your punishment," Kaelen said, staring down at my crumpled form with dead eyes, "will be to stay here and watch me accept your friend. At least she knows how to remain loyal."

He turned his back on me. The sight of his broad shoulders facing away felt like a physical blow. He reached out and gently took his mother's hands. All the fire drained from his voice, dropping into a tone of submissive defeat.

"I made a huge mistake by going against you in the past," he whispered to Mrs. Croft. "This time, I will let you choose a mate for me."

Without looking back, Kaelen and his mother walked away together. Their footsteps faded down the corridor, leaving my shattered heart bleeding on the marble floor.

Only Cleo remained. Her bright, victorious smile pierced straight through my soul. As their shadows vanished around the corner, she lingered behind. She took a deliberate step toward me, slowly leaning over my paralyzed body on the floor.

"Even if you can prove that this is his child," she murmured, her voice dropping to an eerie, spine-chilling whisper, "I will make him fall so hard for me in these four months that he will gladly take that baby from you and lay it directly in my lap."

I stared up at her. The air caught in my throat, choking on my own sobs. This was the woman I had comforted.

"I was the one who looked after you," I gasped, the betrayal tearing my insides apart. "After your mate rejected you, I held you. I fed you. How could you betray me like this?"

Cleo’s mask of fake sweetness slipped away. She ground her teeth, her features contorting to reveal deep, bitter resentment.

"You looked after me?" she hissed, furiously jabbing a finger toward my face. "You only took care of me so you could play the saint! You wanted to constantly flaunt your happy, perfect relationship in my face while I suffered in agony. You sneaked out to be with your husband just to remind me of what I lost."

I shook my head, unable to process the psychopathic twist in her logic.

"Now," she sneered, standing tall and smoothing out her pristine dress. "Go crawl back to your servant quarters. After four months, you are going to give me your baby, and then you will be permanently expelled from this pack."

She brushed off my look of sheer horror with a careless shrug. A soft, sinister chuckle escaped her lips as she spun on her heel. The sharp click-clack of her shoes echoed victoriously across the foyer as she walked away.

The sheer shock and gravity of her psychopathic betrayal hit me like a physical blow. The sensation was so overwhelmingly paralyzing that my muscles simply refused to work. I lay there on the freezing cold floor, unable to muster even a fraction of the physical strength needed to push myself up. My mind spun into darkness, trying to grasp the reality of my ruined life. She had walked away victorious, holding all the power, purely because Kaelen had willingly given his mother the ultimate permission to make Cleo his new Luna Queen.