FAKE MATE, REAL BOND

Chapter One.

Gina.

He wasn't home yet. And it was killing me.

I stared at the clock for the tenth time this evening. Two weeks. Fourteen days. Three hundred and thirty six hours since Brandon had walked out of our shared cabin without a word.

And now, here he was. Stumbling through the front door reeking of whiskey, smoke, and something bitterly unfamiliar, her perfume. Ashley's perfume.

Ofcourse he had been with Ashley, at first I had thought the rumors were just that, rumors. He was eventually going to announce me to the pack as his mate. I was still waiting.

He barely managed to shut the front door behind him, his boot catching on the frame as he cursed and kicked it shut. My heart thundered in my chest. My hands trembled around the cup of tea I hadn't touched. Every part of me ached, swollen and sore, but it was nothing compared to the pressure building in my chest.

"Where the hell have you been?" I asked, my voice hoarse, barely above a whisper.

Brandon froze. His eyes, bloodshot and rimmed in red, snapped to me like I was some nuisance. Some pest. Like I hadn't carried the shame of his secret for months. Like I wasn't carrying his child.

"You don't get to ask me questions Gina ," he growled, slurring slightly. "and definitely not in that tone, I don't owe you anything."

My lips parted, but nothing came out. I stood from the couch too fast, a sharp pain shooting through my lower back. I swallowed it down. "I'm pregnant, Brandon. With your baby."

His eyes flickered to my stomach. A flash of something maybe guilt, maybe rage crossed his face, then disappeared beneath that familiar sneer. "That wasn't part of the deal."

"What deal?" My voice cracked. "There was no deal! You chose me. You said I was your mate"

"I said keep it a secret," he snapped, stepping closer, towering over me. "Because it was never real. You were convenient, Gina. Someone to warm my bed until I made my real choice."

I staggered back as if he'd slapped me.

No. No, no, no.

"Brandon, you marked me, I am your mate and we both know this."

"It was a mistake," he spat. "A moment of weakness. I should've known better than to think an omega could handle being with an alpha."

My heart shattered with every word. I couldn't breathe. The walls were closing in. My pulse was a drumbeat in my ears, a frantic rhythm of pain and betrayal.

"But you... you took my virginity. You told me to wait. You said... "

"I lied, I told you what you wanted to hear."

I didn't realize I was crying until I tasted salt on my lips. My knees buckled and I grabbed the edge of the table to steady myself. My stomach twisted sharply, something inside me tightening. I winced, placing a hand over the small swell beneath my oversized sweater.

"You can't do this," I whispered. "You can't just... pretend I don't exist. That this baby doesn't exist."

He scoffed and reached for a bottle of scotch from the counter. "Watch me." He started walking away.

I couldn't just let him walk away, again, I slowly ran after him touching his shoulder, and that's when it happened. And for a moment I thought I was hallucinating but the heat on my cheeks was definitely real. He had slapped me so hard I was on the floor.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to claw his eyes out. But I couldn't even move. My legs felt like lead. My body wasn't my own. A dull ache pulsed low in my abdomen, steady and growing.

"You're a coward," I said, my voice stronger now, sharper, edged with something feral. "You used me. You chose me. And now you're pretending like I'm dirt under your boot because you're too afraid of what the pack will think."

Brandon rounded on me, his expression twisted with fury. "Don't you dare speak to me like that, omega. You think you're special because I fucked you a few times? Because you got knocked up? You're nothing." He said kicking me while at it.

The pain flared so suddenly I doubled over, clutching my stomach.

A wetness trickled down my thighs.

Blood. Warm. Thick. Red.

I gasped, my legs collapsing beneath me. The world spun as I hit the floor hard, my knees slamming into the wooden boards.

"Brandon" My voice was strangled. "Something's wrong with the baby."

He didn't move.

"Please," I begged, panic rising like a flood. "Help me."

He looked down at me, and for a second just a second I thought I saw fear in his eyes. But he turned away, tipping the bottle to his lips, draining it like he couldn't hear my cries.

My vision blurred. I tried to reach for the table, for the wall, for anything to hold on to but my hands slipped in the growing pool of blood beneath me.

"No," I whimpered. "No, no, no..."

This couldn't be happening.

Not my baby. This was the only thing that was keeping me sane, the little human growing inside me.

I had always had a crush on Alpha Brandon, ofcourse I never even once thought I had a chance with him. I was nothing but an omega, the lowest in the rank.

But on my eighteenth birthday, I went to the mating ceremony with all my peers hoping and praying to find my mate and Brandon chose me as his mate, I was his mate. My crush was finally mine, I never expected him to be my mate but he really was and it didn't matter to me that he asked me to keep it a secret, all that mattered to me was that he had chosen me.

I was an omega and he was the alpha, the pack was going to have a hard time accepting a low life omega like me as their Luna. So Brandon told me, he would introduce me to the pack as his Luna oncei was pregnant with his heir, it would make it much easier for them to accept me.

Ofcourse I had believed him, until rumors started going around that he was seeing Ashley, an ALPHA'S daughter. Someone who fit his rank.

Ashley was the it girl every man wanted to date, she was beautiful, charismatic and a total bitch too. But she also came from royalty, just like Brandon which is why they fit perfectly.

Chapter Two.

Gina.

It had been a few days since our altercation, I hadn't seen or heard from Brandon, not even to check in on me. Until today when I was summoned into his office, a part of was scared but I was also glad he had summoned me.

After losing my baby, and him making it clear he wanted nothing to do with me I had also made a decesion. I was leaving the pack.

I was marked by him so no one in this pack will ever be interested in me and I wanted to find love still and have a family of my own. And my only option if I wanted to find that was by leaving the pack

I sat stiffly in the wooden chair across from Brandon's desk, my hands clenched so tightly in my lap that my nails bit into my palms. He hadn't looked at me once. Not since I'd been called in like some disobedient servant.

He flipped a page in the report he wasn't reading, pretending I wasn't even there. Pretending I hadn't just lost our child. Pretending I didn't bleed on his floor while he drank himself into oblivion.

I hated him.

The thought came with startling clarity. I hate him.

"You should start preparing for the mating ball," he said finally, voice low, casual, like he was talking about the weather.

I blinked, my body jerking like he'd slapped me. "What?"

He finally looked up. His eyes were cold, distant. "Two weeks. All unmated pack members are required to attend."

I felt like I couldn't breathe. "You think I'm going to parade around like some desperate omega while I'm still bleeding from the baby I just lost?"

Brandon leaned back in his chair, smiling faintly. "You're an unmated omega again, Gina. It's time you remember your place."

My fists trembled. "I'm not going."

He raised a brow, amused. "You are."

"I want to leave the pack." I finally said.

The smile in his face immediately dropped.

"I don't belong here anymore," I said, standing. "I'll be gone before the moon turns. I'll go quietly. I won't tell anyone what you did. I'll disappear."

"No." The word cracked across the air like a whip.

I stared at him, my chest heaving. "You can't keep me here."

"Oh, but I can." Brandon stood now too, circling the desk like a predator. "You think you can run? After everything you know? After what we've done?"

"What you've done," I snapped. "You lied to me. You used me. You killed everything we had."

He chuckled darkly. "We had nothing, Gina. You were a distraction. A pretty little thing to break in. And you were so eager for it. Don't act like a victim now."

I wanted to rip his face off. My nails dug deeper. "You will never touch me again."

He stepped closer. I didn't back down.

"You think you're strong now, huh? Because you finally grew a spine? Let me remind you..." He paused, smiling coldly. "You're still just an omega. And I still hold all the power here."

"I don't care," I spat. "I'll find a way out."

"Oh? And what about your mother?"

I froze.

"Leave her out of this," I said, voice shaking.

He grinned, teeth flashing like a wolf about to tear into flesh. "You forget, she works in the kitchens. Cleaning up after the alphas. You leave, Gina, and she pays the price."

My knees buckled slightly, but I stayed standing.

"You wouldn't."

His gaze sharpened. "Wouldn't I? You know what I'm capable of. You've seen it."

Tears welled in my eyes before I could stop them. "Please. Don't hurt her."

"Then don't give me a reason to."

I swallowed, my throat burning. My mother. The only person in this world who had ever loved me without condition. Who'd stayed when everyone else turned their backs. I couldn't let him touch her. I couldn't.

"Stay in the pack," he said smoothly. "Attend the ball. Be good. And maybe maybe your mother keeps her job. Keeps her health."

I felt like I was falling. The room tilted. The pain I thought I'd buried surged up like a tidal wave. He had me cornered. Again.

"No," I whispered. "I won't be your toy."

"Oh, sweetheart." Brandon leaned in close, breath hot against my face. "You've always been mine."

Something inside me cracked then snapped. How could he be so inconsiderate and cruel to me when all I ever did was love him.

He wanted to attend the mating ball where he was going to publicly humiliate me by announcing Ashley as his true mate, and he wanted me there to watch.

"I will stay, for my mother but I will not come to that mating ball and I will not be your anything. You rejected me and chose Ashley, so go be with her." i yelled at him, tears threatening my eyes. I was feeling like my heart was literally being ripped apart.

And then he hit me, I didn't even expect it until his palms connected with my face and I let out a cry of pain mixed with surprise.

He then went ahead to punch me I landed on the floor, my whole body in pain as he kicked me again.

"Don't ever disrespect me again Gina, I am your Alpha and it seems like you have forgotten that." he said angrily,

"I am sorry, it won't happen again." I said in tears.

"Good. Now get up and get out of here and prepare for the mating ceremony. And you better be on time." he said before he sat back down.

I was on my way out in tears when I saw my mom coming in to serve him his morning coffee. Our eyes Locked and I tried to look as straight faced as I could.

I didn't want her to see me crying on my bruised face.

Chapter Three.

Gina.

It's the day of the mating ball, and true to his word, I am sitting right next to him.

"Gina," he murmurs so that only I can hear, leaning in close. I taste champagne on his breath. "Sit here."

He waves toward the seats of honor, wedged between him and Ashley. The pack's elite cluster around: betrothed couples glowing in moonlit blues and silvers, matriarchs trading knowing glances. I drop onto the carved oak bench, my mother moving behind us to pour Brandon more wine. Her face is ashen; I catch her gaze for a heartbeat and she bows her head, shame and sorrow tangled in her eyes.

Brandon's fingers graze my arm as he settles in. The contact sends a shot of revulsion through my veins yet I shiver anyway. Ashley, shimmering beside him like a new moon, smiles at me with false sweetness. He leans close to her ear, and I hear every hushed promise:

"...can't wait until tonight, love." I know he is doing everything on purpose, whispering the very same things he had whispered in my ears a few months back.

A hot knot of humiliation coils in my gut. I want to stand, scream, tear him out of this throne room but I'm pinned by the weight of everyone's gaze, by the flicker of hope in my mother's posture, by the knowledge that one false move could doom us both.

From this seat, I watch her my mother, forced to serve the very people who shattered her daughter's heart and killed her grandchild. She moves like a ghost, silent footfalls across the polished floor, as though the music of the violins in the corner might shatter her. She's pouring wine for the council lords now, their wolfish eyes assessing every drop. I clench my fists until my knuckles whiten.

I want to go take my mother's hand and get her out of there, but I couldn't. That was like signing both our death sentences. So instead I just watched in silence, my heart breaking at each insult she got.

Soon Brandon took Ashley's hand leading her to the dance floor,

"You can go now, you are no longer needed." Brandon said smugly as he led Ashley to the dance floor.

I got up and started walking away, when the air suddenly changed with murmurs across the hall.

I turned around to see what the fuss was all about and that's when I saw them two men walking forward, and the couples and people making a way for them to pass through.

I knew one of the men, not personally ofcourse but his face was often in the headlines, though he looked much more handsome if I was being honest.

The way he carried himself, the way he walked simplified grace and power.

Alpha Ryan, he was the alpha of an all alpha pack. The most feared and dangerous pack across the west. His reputation for no mercy and ruthlessness precided him.

My face went to Alpha Brandon, clearly alpha ryan was walking towards him. Brandon immediately let go of Ashley and bowed in respect to Alpha Ryan as he approached.

"I am so sorry I had no idea you were coming I would have had my men come get you." Brandon said, even him, he shattered in the face of Alpha Ryan and to be honest I liked watching him squirm powerless.

But Ryan doesn't glance at him. His eyes are locked on me or someone in my direction, he does not even acknowledge Brandon he just keeps walking towards me.

My heart starts beating so fast, I am full of confusion. What the hell is going on. The room goes completely silent especially after he ignored our alpha and all eyes are now one me as he approaches.

I rise on unsteady feet, gaze locked on his boots moving across the marble. My heart clenches headline stories I'd glimpsed, tales of his pack's ruthless strength, his own reputation as a conqueror. But he carries no triumph in his eyes. Instead, there's a strange softness, a hunger like none I've ever known.

He stops a few inches away from me, his eyes locked on mine. But his face completely expressionless.

I swallow, my mouth suddenly dry. My pulse drums against my throat. All of me quakes, and I can't tell whether it's dread or desire or something deeper, something destined.

"mate," he says, his voice low enough that only I can hear and somehow, the walls absorb it and bounce it back, so every head turns and every breath catches. My name on his lips feels like a benediction and a curse.

I barely nod. My tongue fails me. What does he mean mate.

He steps forward. His palm brushes my waist, firm and warm through the silk of my gown. A breath of heat travels up my spine. "Mate."

The single word trembles between us as he repeats it. It humbles me. I see Ashley's mouth fall open. I see Brandon's jaw clench as though he'd bite his own tongue rather than speak another word. The council elders lean forward, interest lit in their aging eyes.

I want to speak object, deny, run but my throat locks and my legs are too heavy I can barely move.

Ryan's other hand settles on my hip, a careful claim, a promise of protection. All eyes shift to us. Even the guards at the door pause with gasps all over the room

A perfumed hush envelops the hall. My mother's tray tilts; a ruby drop of wine trembles on the rim. I bite my lip to stop the tremor in my voice.

His gaze deepens. He leans in so that the heat of his breath fans my cheek. I smell pine and earth, secrets hidden beneath layers of forest. His voice is a rumble against my skin.

"Kiss me."

The single demand sends a ripple through the hall. Silence follows, absolute and breathless. Faces swim around me: shocked, intrigued, eager. A hush so thick I can taste it on my tongue.

"Kiss me." His words echo again, this time soft but urgent, and final.