Chapter 3 The Hypocrite

Maya

The whispers started immediately.

"Did you see that?"

"The Luna pushed her!"

"I always knew there was something off about her..."

"Poor Miss Seraphina, and with a baby too..."

I stood at the top of the stairs, frozen like a statue while the crowd below buzzed with gossip. Their voices merged into one awful accusation: jealous Luna attacks Alpha's ex-lover.

My brain couldn't process what had just happened.

One second, Seraphina was talking about testing the mate bond. The next, she was throwing herself backward down the stairs like some kind of stunt performer. And then Mason appeared out of nowhere, holding a baby that looked exactly like him, and Seraphina was crying about being a new mother and I was the villain in a story I didn't even know I was part of.

None of it made sense.

Mason's eyes met mine across the chaos. The disappointment in them felt like a physical blow, knocking the air from my lungs.

But that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was watching him hand the baby to a maid and rush to Seraphina's side. Watching her throw her arms around his neck like some damsel in a cheap romance novel. Watching him hold her like she was made of glass.

"Why, Maya?" Mason's voice cut through the noise. "Why would you do something so cruel?"

Seraphina's lips curved into the tiniest smile over his shoulder. A smile meant only for me.

"I... I..." My mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. What could I possibly say that would make any difference?

"Collins!" Mason barked at his beta. "Get a doctor here now. Set up a guest room for Seraphina and assign two maids to help with the baby."

The crowd scattered without being told. Nobody wanted to stick around and watch their Alpha lose his temper.

Seraphina caught my eye one last time before the maids helped her away. That mischievous glint was still there, barely hidden under her performance of pain and injury.

She planned this. All of it.

"As for you, Maya." Mason's hand clamped around my arm. "My room. Now."

I tried to pull away. "Mason, I can explain-"

"Now!" He practically dragged me down the hallway.

The second we were inside his room, he slammed the door and whirled on me.

"What the hell was that?" His voice shook with barely controlled rage. "Why would you push Seraphina down the stairs? Have you always been this cruel and I just never noticed? Because I never thought you were capable of something like this, Maya. Not in a million years!"

He ran his hands through his hair, pacing like a caged animal.

"Do you understand what you've done? This will spread through the entire pack in less than an hour. Everyone's going to think their Luna is some kind of monster."

Something inside me snapped.

"Now what?" I shot back. "Now I'll be the villain because someone showed up and put on a good show?" My voice rose with each word. "You took her side immediately. You didn't even ask me what happened!"

The unfairness of it all crashed over me like a wave. Seraphina was right. He'd chosen her. Just like she said he would.

That's when I saw it. A tiny smudge of red lipstick at the corner of Mason's mouth. So faint I almost missed it.

But it was there.

Proof that Seraphina had been telling the truth about him kissing her.

Fresh rage flooded through my veins.

"Are you seriously suggesting Seraphina made this up?" Mason's tone softened slightly, like he was considering the possibility that I might be innocent.

But I knew better. He wasn't really considering anything. He was just going through the motions.

"What's the point, Mason?" Exhaustion hit me like a truck. "Whether she fell, jumped, or I pushed her... what does it matter? You've already decided who to believe. So why pretend to care about my side of the story?"

"Are you kidding me right now?" Mason's eyes flashed. "Instead of taking responsibility, you're playing the victim?"

"Victim?" I laughed, sharp and bitter. "How about you being a hypocrite?"

Mason's head snapped back like I'd slapped him.

"You drag me in here to interrogate me, but you won't address the real issues! When are you going to explain Seraphina's sudden return? Or that lipstick smudge on your lips? What about the baby you were holding-obviously hers, obviously yours?"

My voice cracked but I pushed forward.

"You're so focused on blaming me that you won't acknowledge your own actions. Do you have any idea how small you've made me feel tonight? How humiliated? Or is that my fault too?"

Silence fell between us, thick and suffocating.

When Mason finally spoke, his words knocked the wind out of me.

"I don't care about any of that. You need to apologize to Seraphina. Right now. If you want to fix this, that's what needs to happen."

I stared at him, genuinely shocked.

"Apologize?" I scoffed. "To her? I'd rather swim in a swamp. Heck, I'd rather eat dirt. I will never apologize for something I didn't do."

Mason looked stunned. I'd never defied him like this before. Never raised my voice or refused a direct request.

But I wasn't done. "And you know what? I meant what I said earlier." My hands were shaking but my voice stayed steady. "I want a divorce, Mason. You have a son now, don't you?"

His guilty expression told me everything.

"I don't need to be a genius to figure that out," I continued. "So let's end this. I want a divorce, and I want it as soon as possible."

The silence that followed was deafening.

Then Mason's face went cold. Colder than I'd ever seen it.

"You're right," he said, his voice like ice. "It's time to end this. I've honored my father's wishes long enough. Now that he's gone and I'm Alpha, what's the point of pretending this marriage means anything?"

Each word felt like a knife between my ribs.

"Mates or not, this is exactly why I don't believe in that bond. We've been together a whole year, and instead of falling in love, look where we are."

He wasn't finished. He moved to his desk and grabbed some papers.

"You want to know what I really married you for? A pure-blood heir. That's what my father believed only mates could produce. And after an entire year, your womb is still empty. So what's the point?"

The papers hit my chest. I caught them reflexively.

"Here. The divorce papers. Sign them and we can both move on with our lives. I'm tired of this too."

Then he stormed out.

It was almost funny. An hour ago, he'd said we weren't getting divorced. Now he was shoving the papers at me himself.

The first tear slid down my cheek before I could stop it.

My hand moved to my stomach, pressing against the flat surface where our baby was growing. The baby he'd just said didn't exist.

The baby I would never, ever tell him about now.

"Heartless bastard," I whispered to the empty room. "Complete and total hypocrite."