3. Hated Prisoner

AURELIA

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It was her. 

I knew her. 

Although I was yet to see her face as she was cooped up in my mate's arms and her back was to me while her face was getting loved on by the man that was supposed to be mine– by the man who didn’t give me as little as a peck on the cheek despite being married and mated to him for the past three years. 

First time in my mate’s office and this was what I saw? Huh? 

The familiar shiny long blond hair was enough to let my crashing self know that the woman in my mate’s arms was no other than Princess Larisa Wellington, his ex-girlfriend. 

My lips trembled, my entire body shook as every part of my already shattered heart broke into tiny pieces and my puffy eyes were filled with hot tears once again. I wasn’t usually a crybaby even though everyone around thought so but how do I stop crying when I was witnessing the end of my life? 

Heck! He had never kissed me. 

I had never gotten the opportunity to be kissed by him… by anyone at that. 

Yet, he was kissing her so passionately. 

Alpha Raiden was so lost in the kiss and in Larisa. Lost to the point where he didn’t notice that I had been standing there in his office for an eternity. I was frozen on the spot but couldn’t he sense me? 

I watched as my mate groaned into the kiss, getting off his seat to pin Larisa against a wall and to kiss her even deeper. He only broke the kiss to say to her, “God, I have missed you so much, Isa.” 

He said her name so fondly and all I could do was cry silently. My heart died when Larisa giggled like the fulfilled woman she was, responding with love, “I missed you even more, Raid.” 

Raid? 

Alpha Raiden smiled, his eyes twinkling with pure love as his name rolled off his lover’s tongue… He wouldn't even let me, his wife, mate, and Luna call him Raiden not to think of a pet name. 

But clearly, his lover could do that and more. 

It killed me to call her his lover but that was the truth. I could see the love Alpha Raiden and I lacked flowing between him and Larisa. Larisa was his childhood lover. She was the beautiful daughter of the previous Beta who served Ronald, Raiden’s dad, during his time as Alpha. and she was loved by all. They all wanted her to and believed that she would be their Luna but that didn’t happen because on the day Larisa turned eighteen, I also did and I turned out to be Raiden’s destined mate much to their disappointment. 

Princess Larisa, as they always call her, was broken and she disappeared, leaving the pack with no trace while Raiden was left with no choice but to mate and marry me if he wanted to become the next Alpha. So he did. He mated with me, became the Alpha after Ronald, and spent every day of the past three years hating me… 

He hated me. 

I have accepted that now. I mean, if he didn't hate me, he wouldn’t have been shoving his tongue down another woman’s throat. 

“Oh, Aurelia. You’re here.” Princess– no! She was no princess to me; Larisa gasped, beaming at me like she didn’t just kiss my man. Like she wasn’t being held by my man like she was some delicate flower. 

Raiden had never held me like he was holding her.

He usually handles me like he has the desire to break me even in the sex room.

Gosh, how was I so blind to the fact that he didn’t want me and he never would? 

My mate’s gaze fell on me momentarily before he shifted his dilated eyes back to the woman he had always wanted and loved. “You asked to see me?” Alpha Raiden asked that question like he couldn't stand the sight of me. 

He wasn’t bothered by my tears nor did he feel sorry for all he had done to me today… for the past three years, in fact. 

He wasn’t sorry and he would never be. 

“Why won’t you sign the papers? Do you need me to sign on your behalf?” Alpha Raiden seethed, his anger brewing rapidly. 

I was certain that he would have lashed out at me if Larisa wasn’t in his arms. He would have lost his cool if she wasn’t touching him in places no one else but I should have access to. 

He was a cheater! Yet I couldn’t bring myself to hate him or be as angry as I was supposed to be.

Goddess, why did you have to give him to me when he wasn’t even mine? Why? I cried again but at this point, I knew what I had to do. 

“You don’t have to cheat on me to be with her,” I uttered softly. 

I heard my mate scoffing, “Then why won’t you sign the papers? You are even making demands now, huh?” 

How could he not feel my pain? How could he not tell that he was killing me with his words, his look, and the fact that he was still holding Larisa despite my presence? 

He must really love her… 

I couldn’t believe this was happening but I knew my greatest wish was to see Raiden happy even if I couldn’t be his source of happiness and he was happy with Larisa. 

I stepped closer to the desk, taking my eyes off the duo that were causing me pain and I placed the divorce papers which I had brought with me on the flat surface. I muttered, “If signing these papers will free you and make you happy, then I’ll gladly sign them.” 

With a million reasons to hesitate in mind, I signed the papers. With tears in my eyes, I legally let my consolation gift go.

Alpha Raiden eventually took his hands off Larisa just to take the papers from me and check if I had truly signed them. My gaze lingered on his face as I bottled my emotions in. I thought I should take a good look at him because this was the end of us… and the end of my life. 

However, when Raiden met my gaze, he raised his brows, asking with no remorse, “What are you waiting for? Are you expecting a thank you?”

“No. I’m freeing you completely.” I responded, unbearable emotional pain coursing through me. 

“Then take your leave. I have better things to do with my time than whatever this is.” Alpha Raiden etched, referring to my lingering gaze with obvious disgust. 

I nodded, “I won’t waste your time.” 

Alpha Raiden frowned. He was impatient. He wanted me gone so he could return to eating Larisa’s face and I would be gone as soon as I let our weak and useless bond go as well. 

Rejecting him was harder than signing the legal papers but I had to do it to clear the path to his happiness.

I inhaled deeply and let out the word as I exhaled slowly, “I, Aurelia, reject you, Alpha Raid–” 

“Stop!” Alpha Raiden yelled ferociously. I jumped backward, shocked by his reaction. “Stop right there!” 

W-what? 

Why was he angry? Did I say it wrong? Or was it because I didn’t include my family name? I never knew my family so how was I supposed to know what name to add? Why was he being so unreasonable–

Alpha Riaden stunned me even more by growling, “How dare you think of rejecting me!” He took threatening steps towards me, leaving Larisa behind. 

I had wanted his full attention and now that he was giving that to me, I wanted nothing more than to run the other way.

“How dare you try to sever the bond we share, woman!” He asked again.

With a shaky voice, I asked, “Isn’t t-that wh-what you want?” 

“Who are you to decide what I want or even question it!” Alpha Raiden barked in my face, causing my body to shiver like it was getting buried in ice.

My mind failed to comprehend him. I also couldn’t come up with a response since he was confusing me. 

Severing the bond was necessary if he wanted to be with Larisa and if he wanted me gone. So why was he–

“Warriors!” Alpha Raiden called for the men outside his office and two of them rushed into his office, dropping to their knees to avoid facing his rage. “Grab this insolent woman, return her to where she belongs, and let me warn you…” 

The warriors could feel his anger in their bones even though Alpha Raiden’s anger was directed at me. 

He voiced the warning, “If she escapes, you lose your heads.” 

“Yes, Alpha.” The warriors answered. 

My mate’s– was he still my mate? After all, we have severed the marital bond. What we have left was the mate bond he wouldn’t let me sever. Alpha Raiden looked at me one last time before his men dragged me out of his office and he said, “You are mine to keep.” 

Yet he went back to Larisa. 

I had never felt more confused.

But when I was tossed right back into the plain shabby room and locked up, I realized that I was no longer a married woman but I had become the Alpha’s hated prisoner.