Betrayed By My Mate Saved By His Rival

---- Chapter 13 Ethan's POV "Turn it off! Turn it off now!" Lilith screamed, all her elegance gone. She scrambled to the projector, clawing at the control panel. "Guards!" she shrieked at the crowd. "Get control of the situation! Delete all the footage!" But no one moved. The guards just stared at the screen, jaws on the floor, unable to process the truth. And the reporters? They weren't stopping for anything. They had the scent of the century's biggest scandal. "This is an exclusive!" "Get the shot! Get every angle!" "Send it to headquarters!

Now!" The camera flashes were a frenzy, aimed at the stage from every direction. ---- Seeing this, Lilith completely broke down. "No! This can't be happening!" she wailed like a madwoman. "It's all fake! It's fake!" The projection continued. This time, more evidence appeared. Bank records, showing Lilith had bribed the guards at the Moon Altar. Security footage, showing her secretly putting something in Leo's food. There was even a recording of a call with one of her men: "Make sure that little bitch falls from the stage..." "How's the bloodline report coming?

It has to show she's not the Alpha's pup..." "Killing Seraphina is too easy. I want her to live with the pain of losing her pup..." Every new slide was another nail in my coffin. My world was spinning. Seraphina... My Luna... ---- I tormented her. I humiliated her. I left her to rot ina silver cell. I even forced her to sever our mate bond. All because of my baseless suspicion and a faked report. "Ethan!" Lilith suddenly grabbed my arm. "Listen to me! This is all a setup!" Her nails dug into my skin, the sharp pain jolting me back to my senses.

I looked at her face, the face that once entranced me. Now, all I saw was a monster. Ugly. Vile. "Let go of me." My voice was ice. "No!" She clung to me. "You can't believe this! We still have Leo! You can't abandon us!" "Leo?" I laughed, a dead, hollow sound. "Tell me, Lilith. Was Leo ever even mine?" Her face went chalk-white. "Of course he is..." "The photo from four years ago, Lilith," I pointed at the screen. "Leo was already born four years ago. The first time we slept together was three years ago, the night Seraphina was in a coma." ---- "That... that was..." She was sputtering. "I...

I... "He's not my son, is he?" I asked, each word a shard of glass. "You passed off another man's pup as mine?" "Ethan, no..." She cried even harder. "I love you! I really love you!" "Love me?" I looked down at her, my eyes filled with disgust. "You only love the power and the title of Alpha's mate." The chaos in the hall raged on. The delegates from the other packs were whispering, their eyes filled with contempt. The media was in a feeding frenzy. This scandal would feed them for a year. And I, the mighty Alpha of the Blackwood pack, was nothing but a fool. A puppet dancing on her strings.

The laughingstock of the entire shifter world. "Ethan, let's go!" Lilith pulled at me desperately. "Let's get out of here! We can start over!" Start over? I looked at her crazed expression and felt nothing but revulsion. ---- This woman had destroyed everything. My family. My pup. My love for Seraphina. And I, the great Alpha, had been her puppet all along. "Get off me!" I shoved her hand away. She stumbled and fell to the floor. "Ethan!" she cried out in despair. "You can't leave me!" I didn't listen. I turned my back on the ruin she had made of my life. And I walked away.

"Alpha!" My Beta ran after me. "Where are you going?" "Away from this nightmare," I said, my voice hollow. "But Alpha, the pack... the fallout..."" he stammered. "Burn it down," I said without looking back. "I don't give adamn." "Ethan! Come back!" Lilith screamed hysterically behind me. "I'm the only one who truly loves you!" I paused for a second. I looked back at the woman who had once captivated me. ---- Now her hair was a mess, her face streaked with tears. She looked like a lunatic. Just like Seraphina had looked in the silver cell, screaming her hatred for me.

But I still chose to leave.