Broken by the Beta, Loved by the AlphaChapter 1
Just a week before our wedding, Beta Ashton, my stern and naturally cold mate, got a name inscribed on his forearm.
'My Bella'
'Bella', a name given to me by him. My loving efforts had paid off and to know that I could have a place in my mate's heart whom I loved for so long made me tear up. I could see him opening his heart to me in the future and maybe loving me as much as I did.
But before I could live the false dream any longer, I got a call from the packhouse from our gamma who asked me to hurry up for my mate, and among all the chaos, I saw Ashton standing before a beautiful woman, holding onto her tightly with loving eyes as he chanted her name.
"Bella, please come back to me."
His words was filled with anticipation and I couldn’t take another step forward.
Since I was not the one he wants to spend his life with, I might as well let them have this wedding!
But after I ran away, he searching the world for me!
***
“For you... Even if I hate tattoos, I can do anything for you, Bella.”
I looked at the scene in front of me in horror as my mate gently took the woman's finger and placed it against his arm.
“Isabella, don’t mind Ashton. Ugh, well, he is a fool when he drinks a lot. He cannot recognize one face from another." Even his friend that tried to ease the atmosphere shut his mouth when he saw the kind of gaze Ashton directed at the woman beside him.
“Hey, Ashton. Your fiancée is here.”
Ashton did not even seem to notice my presence at all and just looked around with hazy disinterested irises. A low growl vibrated across the packhouse as he warned others who came to separate him from the woman.
How ironic it was that the times when he was sober were all lies, and this time, when he was so drunk, only then he spoke the truth.
The girl he called Bella so affectionately had golden locks flowing down to her waist with an oval face that glowed like moon. She was wearing an exquisite blue dress and had her own unique charm. I recognized her face from Ashton’s yearbook that he had preserved till now.
My lips trembled as I barely held in the sobs.
That tattoo wasn’t for me, that ‘Bella’ was never me and Ashton never once loved me.
I was a substitute bride.
Seeing me frozen on spot, Arabella came forward and slowly took off a golden pendant dangling from her neck, making me widen my eyes.