The Betrayal

The London rain lashed against my skin as I stepped out of the car, but nothing could dampen the fire in my veins from the Zurich deal. Little did I know, the storm inside my home would soon rival the one outside. 

My mind was a whirlwind of numbers and deals, still reeling from the high-stakes negotiations I'd just closed in Zurich. I hurried through the iron gates of my Kensington estate, acutely aware that tonight was a full moon, its silvery light occasionally breaking through the storm clouds. the house was still and quite as expected for this hour. "I pushed the exhaustion aside, still riding the high from closing the zurich deal."

I fumbled with my key, the familiar weight suddenly foreign in my hand. The moment I stepped inside, the large entrance hall echoed with a heavy silence that crawled along my skin. A single floorboard creaked from above, followed by what sounded almost like a low growl.

James wasn't expecting me back for two more days.

My heels sank into the plush carpet as I moved down the hallway, every sense on high alert. That's when I heard it— A low, breathy moan cut through the silence, freezing me in place. It was too raw, too intimate to belong to an empty house. My heart stuttered. Then it came again—louder this time, laced with something animalistic."

No. It couldn't be. My eyebrows furrowed— maybe the TV left on?

But as I approached our bedroom door, the sounds grew clearer —raw, unmistakable. Another moan, this one achingly familiar. My best friend's voice, thick with pleasure.... But that doesn't make sense until it did.

My heart stopped.

With trembling hands, I pushed the door open. The scene before me hit like a punch to the gut. My brain struggled to process what I'm seeing. In the dim light, tangled sheets barely covered their sweat-slicked bodies. James My husband of three years, James, was hovering above my best friend, Sarah. His muscles strained as he thrusts into her, oblivious to my presence. In the moonlight streaming through the window, I could have sworn I saw his eyes flash an unnatural amber. Sarah's head had been thrown back, eyes closed, her lips parted as she moaned his name with a hunger I'd never heard from her before.

"James..."

The world tilted on its axis. Every fibre of my being screamed at me to move, to yell, to do something. But I stood, frozen in space, as the man I'd vowed to love and the woman I'd trusted above all others twisted into the most intimate betrayal possible.

Sarah's nails dug into James's back, leaving marks that healed almost instantly in the strange play of moonlight and shadow due to his lupine genes woken. as she arched beneath him, crying out louder. James buried his face in her neck, lost in intense pleasure, a growl rumbling deep in his chest that seemed more beast than man.

It wasn't until my hand gripped the doorframe so tightly my knuckles turned white that they finally noticed me. James froze mid-thrust, his eyes snapping open, wild with panic. He stilled, his breath heavy, chest rising and falling as he pulled away from Sarah.

It was as if the air had been sucked out of that room, broken only by the sound of their ragged breath and the incessant pounding of rain outside.

"Olivia." His voice trembled, barely above a whisper.

Memories flashed before my eyes as I stood there, paralyzed. The endless nights I'd spent clawing my way to the top of London's ruthless financial world. The boardrooms where, surrounded by men twice my age, I proved my worth time and time again. The sacrifices I'd made, the deals I'd closed, the empire I'd built from nothing.

I'd thought my personal life was the one thing I didn't need to fight for. That in James I'd found something solid. Something safe.

But as I stared at the tangle of limbs before me, I realized my perfect world had been nothing but a fragile illusion.

James scrambled for the sheets, fumbling for words. "Liv, I can explain-

"Don't." My voice was low, dangerous. I hardly recognized it as mine. "Don't you dare try to explain this away."

Sarah sat up slowly, a cruel smirk twisting her lips as she lazily slung the covers over herself. "Oh, Liv," she purred, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "Don't act so surprised. You've been too busy playing queen of the financial world to notice your kingdom's been crumbling."

Something inside of me just snapped. The shock gave way to a white hot fury that threatened to burn everything in its path. I swung my gaze on Sarah, my voice razor-sharp, "And you, I trusted you," I whispered, my voice trembling with barely contained rage.

That's when I noticed it - a strange metallic scent in the air, like copper and wilderness. James's eyes met mine, and in the moonlight, they flickered an impossible amber. His muscles tensed, rippling in ways that defied human anatomy. Sarah's smirk faltered as she noticed it too, her satisfied expression morphing into something closer to fear.

A low, inhuman growl rumbled from deep within James's chest.

I stumbled backward, my hand finding the doorframe. The man I had married - the man currently untangling himself from my best friend - wasn't human at all.

And judging by Sarah's widening eyes, she was just realizing it too.

James tried to speak, stammering out his excuses, but I silenced him with one look. "You're pathetic," I hissed, every word laced with venom. "Both of you."

But before I could walk away, the air shifted— thick with something primal. James growled again, low and dangerous, and for the first time i realized the man i married might not let me leave in one piece.