Arabella called out to me, “He is your fiancé, are you going to make him suffer for something he did when he wasn’t in his senses?”
She looked at me with a smir. “Ashton did give me an invitation to your ‘dream’ wedding. I will be sure to come.”
Other friends hurriedly took Ashton outside settling in my car, whereas, I stood where I was looking at this woman who seemed to be sweet and innocent on the surface but had a mocking smile full of malice.
She continued to mock me, “Your marriage is nothing but a joke. His heart has always been mine, but I won’t blame you, you did a good job being my replacement and that’s all you can be.”
I kept seeing the image of Ashton protectively embracing Arabella as he proposed to her, so different from the times he had looked at me like he was seeing past my image at someone else and calling me ‘Bella.’
The way he proposed to me now came striking in my mind.
A year ago, a rogue spy had infiltrated the pack and befriended Ashton. At night when assailants entered our home knowing that Ashton was unconscious and wounded by a fight, I hid him in the secret cell and refused to tell them his location.
In return, the angry rogues stabbed me multiple times and left me to die.
If only Alpha Xavier from Blood Moon Pack hadn’t arrived with our Alpha at that time and saved my life, I would have been dead. Later, Ashton came with flowers and fruits to visit me at the pack healer’s cave.
“Bella,” he for the first time had looked at me with a kind smile and kissed my forehead.
“You have saved my life. In return, please let me repay you. Please be my chosen mate and marry me.”
I remembered being so full of emotion at that moment that I could not speak at all and just nodded as he embraced me. We laughed happily as I imagined our future together.
As I thought back on our five years together, a wave of nausea hit me. The memories that once felt warm and like a true bond now seemed like a sick joke.
I drove, resisting the urge to stop the car and let my ‘mate’ in the backseat lie on the pavement. Being with Ashton for three long years now seemed like a thing I regretted and marrying him was not possible any longer.
I looked at the phone lying beside me and picked it up checking the inbox for any messages.