Chapter 30 – Not Your Mistress. Alpha.

Jessica, who had waited for me.

Jessica, who wanted me.

Jessica, who believed in me.

I let out a laugh.

A broken, unhinged, ugly laugh tore out of me. That was how stupid I had been before. Maybe I deserved every bit of this mess.

Suzette recoiled. “Johan, what’s wrong with you? Come inside. You need to rest.” She reached for me.

“Don’t touch me!”

I shoved her away, harder than before. She stumbled across the pavement.

Just then, Beta Kain approached, holding a phone.

“Alpha. As you ordered, I recovered all her data. Her messages, photos, videos. Everything is here.”

Suzette’s face drained of color.

“Johan, Jessica’s dead! Why do you need her phone? Give it to me!”

She tried to grab the phone, stretching up on her toes.

I narrowed my eyes. My wolf snarled inside me. Why was she overreacting?

“Don’t touch Jessica’s things.”

I shoved her aside. She crashed to the ground with a cry.

She stared up at me in disbelief.

This wasn’t what she expected.

She thought that with Jessica gone, I would finally love her. Finally spoil her. Finally give her everything.

Instead, she was watching me throw her away.

“Johan,” she cried, voice shaking. “I’m your mate. Your destined mate. Jessica is gone, yet you still choose her over me? Did you forget? My soul bone is inside you. Without me, you wouldn’t even be alive, let alone this strong!”

My jaw clenched as I realized something.

She didn’t save me.

She chained me.

And now every part of me wanted to break free.

Johan’s POV

Watching Suzette’s wolf snarled under her skin, her claws half-shifted, her eyes glowing red, made one thing sickeningly clear.

I had been a fool. A blind, arrogant fool.

Jessica and Suzette were both raised in the elite Halloway Pack, both daughters of privilege. But the similarities ended there. Jessica was composed, soft-spoken, steady. Suzette was loud, impulsive, craving attention.

And I, the future Alpha of Vale Pack, had run straight toward the shewolf standing out.

Growing up, I had been groomed for leadership. My wolf taught to control, not react. But Suzette was everything I was not, reckless, untamed, dangerous.

I mistook that chaos for freedom.

And that stupidity almost got me killed.

She dragged me into a rogue ambush. I should have cut ties that same night. Any wolf with sense would have.

But then she gave me her wolf soul bone to keep me alive.

Her shifting ability vanished. And sickness took root in her body.

I was alive because of her.

From that moment, guilt sank its claws into me.

Meanwhile, Jessica had been the quiet anchor I ignored. She was the calm that kept my wolf level. The one person who offered me warmth without asking for anything in return.

And I repaid her by turning to Suzette again and again.

I lied to myself for years. I told myself I only mated with Suzette out of obligation. To grant her last wish. To repay my debt.

But the truth was uglier.

I chased excitement.

I chased trouble.

And I believed Jessica loved me too much to ever walk away.

I believed she would stay no matter how badly I treated her.

She tried to warn me at the product launch. Tried to show me what Suzette was doing. I brushed her off like she was being unreasonable.

When her hands were shattered, and when her future as an alchemist was ripped from her, my wolf felt her pain, but I still stood beside Suzette. I still convinced myself I was doing the honorable thing.

And now, Suzette was shrieking about that “life-saving debt.

I was only a noise in my ear, an empty sound.

“Whatever I owed you ended the moment I marked you,” I said, pointing an accusing finger at her.

Her lips trembled. “J-Johan? You cannot mean that. You owe me your life. You are alive because of me. My soul bone is inside you. You cannot throw me away like trash. I am the only one who ever truly loved you. Jessica never loved you the way I did. I stayed when everyone else turned their backs. I saved you. I gave up everything for you.”

Her voice cracked, desperation twisting every word. “You would be dead if not for me. Dead, Johan. And now you want to cast me aside? After everything I sacrificed? After everything I lost? How can you pretend I mean nothing?”

I stared at her, but the guilt no longer drowned me. Only disgust remained.

“Keep the title if you want, but do not expect anything more. From today on, you are forbidden from stepping into Vale Grand Manor again. Do not touch anything that belongs to Jessica. And if I find anything in this phone that should not be here, I will not be able to hold myself back.”

I snatched the phone from Kain and walked away before my wolf reacted violently.

Back in my car, I didn’t start the engine. I stared out the window.

Outside the gate, Suzette’s wolf aura was flaring wildly, sparks of red leaking from her eyes as she argued with Kain. Her voice cracked the air.

“Luna, the Alpha has given his command,” Kain said, tone steady as stone.

Suzette shoved him with all her strength. My Beta didn’t even shift his stance.

“How dare you block me? I am the Luna! Move, Kain! I will have Johan strip you of your rank!”

Three warriors hurried to Kain’s side, their wolves bristling.

“Beta, she is disrupting the boundary spells,” one murmured.

“She struck us multiple times when we tried to escort her,” another said, rubbing a swollen cheek.

“Weak mutts!” Suzette snarled. Her claws shot out. “Obey me!”

The warriors looked to Kain. He nodded once.

“Remove her from the gate. By Alpha’s order.”

They grabbed her arms.

She fought like a feral wolf, biting, kicking, dragging her claws across armor. The boundary spell pulsed every time her unstable aura hit it, pushing her back violently. She screamed until her throat broke.

This was who I threw my life away for.

I exhaled and finally unlocked Jessica’s phone.

Her chat with me sat at the top.

I scrolled.

Every message she sent the past ten days… gentle, soft, hopeful.

Every reply from me… short, cold, dismissive.

Working.

Busy.

Late.

But I hadn’t been working.

I had been in Suzette’s bed.

I swallowed hard.

Then I saw Suzette’s name in Jessica’s recent contacts.

My heart stilled.

My wolf’s hackles rose.

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