Chapter 3 The wedding that wasn't

Elena I stood in the small side room next to the big ceremony hall. My white dress felt too tight. The lace on the sleeves itched my skin. I looked in the mirror one last time and touched the spot on my neck where Zane had bitten me. The mating mark was gone. Completely gone. My skin was smooth like nothing had happened. No red mark. No sign of the bond. My hands started shaking. "What is this?" I whispered to myself. "Selene, what happened?" He is still our mate, Selene said inside my head. She sounded confused and scared. The bond is still there. But something is hiding it. I did not have time to think about it. The bonding ceremony was about to start. I had to tell Cole the truth before everyone sat down. The door opened hard. Cole walked in fast. His golden hair was perfect, but his face looked dark and angry. His amber eyes burned with something I had never seen before. "Cole," I said quickly. "We need to talk. Something happened last night-" "Where the hell were you?" he cut me off. His voice was low and sharp. He stepped closer. "My father's guards saw you coming back across the east border this morning. Alone. Before dawn. You smell like another man, Elena. Don't lie to me." My heart beat so fast it hurt. "I was going to tell you everything. Please listen. I was drugged at the club. A rogue attacked me. Then this man saved me and-" "And you slept with him?" Cole's voice got louder. "On the night before our bonding ceremony?" "No!" I cried. "We didn't go all the way. The mate bond woke up with him. His name is Zane. It was so strong, Cole. I felt it in my whole body. But I stopped. I ran back because I wanted to be honest with you first." Cole laughed, but it was a cold, mean sound. "The mate bond? With a stranger? You expect me to believe that?" He grabbed my arm tight. His fingers dug into my skin as he pulled me out of the room with so much force. "Come with me.", he said with anger in his voice. He pulled me out of the small room and into the big ceremony hall. Two hundred people turned to look at us. The music stopped. Everyone went quiet. Cole stopped in the middle of the hall. He still held my wrist tight. "I will not bind myself to a woman who spent her birthday in a rogue's bed!" he shouted. His voice carried across the whole room. Gasps and whispers filled the hall. I felt like the floor was disappearing under my feet. "Cole, please," I begged. "Let me explain to everyone." Reyna stepped forward from the front row. She looked sad, but I saw something mean in her eyes. "I didn't want it to come to this," she said in a sweet voice. "But Cole deserves the truth. Elena told me last night that she never really loved him. She said she only stayed with him for the Luna title. I saw her leave with the rogue." My mouth fell open. "Reyna! That's a lie! You drugged me! You know that's not true!" She wiped fake tears from her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Elena. I tried to stop you." Reyna stepped forward and wiped her eyes delicately. I watched her hands. They were perfectly still. Not a single tremor. People who are genuinely devastated - their hands shake. Their shoulders curl inward. Reyna's posture was open and so rehearsed. She had practiced this moment. I looked at my father next. He was already moving toward Reyna's side before Cole even finished his sentence. Like he already knew where to stand. They all knew, Selene said quietly. Every single one of them had known before I walked into that hall. Then Darian stepped out from the side. He looked messy on purpose, like a real rogue. "She came with me willingly," he said loudly. "We've been seeing each other for months. She wanted one last night of fun before she got stuck with the Alpha heir." Darian finished speaking and the hall erupted. I stared at him through the noise. He wasn't looking at Cole for approval the way a man who had just done someone a favor would. He wasn't looking at Reyna. He was staring at a fixed point on the far wall, jaw tight, like he was somewhere else entirely. This performance bored him. Or cost him something he hadn't expected to pay. I filed that away without knowing why. My father stood up. His face looked broken. "Father, please," I said. "This is all lies. They set me up." My father looked at me for a long time. Then he walked over to Reyna and put his arm around her shoulders. "Reyna has always been like a real daughter to me," he said in a loud voice. "From today, she is my daughter. Elena... you are no longer part of this family." My mother turned her face away. She would not even look at me. I felt like someone stabbed me in the chest. Cole let go of my wrist. "The betrothal is dissolved. As of today, I will bond with my true fated mate, Reyna Vasquez." Reyna smiled and took Cole's hand. She looked so happy. I stood there in my white dress, shaking. Selene was crying inside me. Two guards came and grabbed my arms. "You are banished from the Silver Crest Pack," Cole said coldly. "Leave now. Don't ever come back." They started pulling me toward the doors. I looked back one last time. Everyone I loved was turning away from me. As the guards took me down the corridor, we passed an older woman standing in the shadows. Cassandra. Cole's mother. Luna of Silver Crest. She looked at me and smiled. Small. Satisfied. Like she had been waiting a long time for exactly this moment. Why was she smiling? I didn't have an answer. But I didn't forget it either.