003 | The Truth and Confrontation

Aurora’s POV

I stared at the girl Ethan had been kissing. Everything faded into the background as I recognised my own features on her face.

We had the same long, blonde hair, the same green eyes, the same full lips, the same freckles over our small, straight noses. We even had the same beauty mark! 

What was going on? Who was this girl? 

Violet whined. ‘I don’t like this.’

I stood, frozen to the spot, unable to do anything but watch as my lookalike steadied herself on Ethan’s muscular arm. 

Was Ethan seriously cheating on me? With a girl that looked so much like me?

Zoe stormed up onto the stage, dragging me with her. With all the fury of a lioness, she shoved the DJ out of her way and snatched his microphone. “To the bitch that kissed someone else’s mate over there – The Midnight Club doesn’t welcome cheaters!”

The music stopped. There was a beat of total silence – and then the whole club erupted with chatter. I felt numb to it all.

Then I heard what they were saying.

“Why is Zoe here?”

“Who’s the girl next to her? She looks so much like Selene!”

Did nobody know who I was? Had Ethan not mentioned me once? Did they even know he was married? 

“This is Ethan Savage’s Luna!” Zoe shouted into the microphone. “This is Aurora, his mate and his wife!”

Oh, god. I wanted the ground to swallow me whole. I tugged on her sleeve. “Zoe,” I protested, but she was determined to embarrass the two cheaters.

I didn’t care about that. I just wanted the truth.

Silence swelled. I looked between Ethan and my lookalike. He cleared his throat, then gestured at the DJ to keep playing. The music came back on, quieter than it had been before.

Outside, the first roll of thunder shook the sky.

The crowd forced a few awkward laughs and went back to dancing, although I didn’t miss the glances thrown my way. My cheeks burned. I tried to ignore the whispers about me, but it was impossible to ignore my lookalike when she strode over to me and held out a slim, long-nailed hand.

I didn’t shake it. I just stared at it. Rings that looked like they cost more than my entire college tuition glittered on every one of her perfectly manicured fingers. 

She cleared her throat. “Excuse me?”

I forced myself to meet her eyes. My gaze snagged on the beauty mark beneath her left eye again. 

She flexed her hand. “My name is Selene. Selene Snowfield.” She put extra emphasis on her surname, as if it meant a lot. 

I frowned. That name sounded familiar…

Zoe was mouthing, “Famous heiress,” at me. That had to be it, then.

I managed to pull myself together enough to say, “Hello.” I’d never normally be so rude, but what was I supposed to say to the woman who’d just kissed my husband? Hi there, Selene, it’s a pleasure to meet you? Yeah, right.

Slowly, Selene withdrew her hand. “You’re Ethan’s mate, then?”

“Yes.” I swallowed hard. “And his wife.”

She smiled at me like we were old friends. “Oh, dear! That must’ve been quite the shock for you, seeing the two of us just then.” 

“You could say that,” I said dryly, narrowing my eyes at her.

“Ethan and I are old friends,” she went on, either missing my tone or choosing to ignore it. “Best friends, in fact. What you saw was just a silly game. I hope you aren’t angry, Aurora.”

My spine prickled when she said my name. 

Zoe stepped in front of me and put her hands on her hips. “He’s still her mate, Selene. His behaviour – and yours – was unacceptable. Just because you’re besties,” she sneered the word, “it doesn’t mean you can kiss.”

Gently, I caught her shoulder and pulled her back a step. “Thank you,” I whispered, “for looking out for me.”

“Always,” she replied, shooting Selene and Ethan a glare. I couldn’t bear to look at either of them.

“Excuse me, Miss Zoe?” A waited hovered at the edge of our group. “We were going to call your father, but seeing as you’re here…”

She sighed. “What is it?”

“An urgent matter. One that requires the utmost discretion.” His voice got quieter as he spoke. 

“I’m in the middle of something.”

“It’s okay, Zo. I…” I mustered up the courage to look at Ethan. “I want to talk to him privately anyway.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded.

“Really sure?”

“Zoe, go. It’s fine. I’m fine.”

She sneered at Ethan. “I don’t want to leave you alone with him.”

“I’ll be fine.”

If I said fine enough times, would I eventually be it?

Eventually Zoe conceded and left with the waiter, although she kept shooting anxious glances back at me.

I suddenly felt very alone without her.

“As I was saying,” said Selene, her voice purposefully loud as she guided me over to a booth, “Ethan and I are childhood friends.” 

I sat down on the very edge of the seat and picked at my cuticles beneath the table. I could feel two sets of eyes burning into me.

“I couldn’t believe it when Ethan told me he’d married an Omega.” She laughed, the sound like wind chimes. “Now I’ve seen your face, I can understand why.”

My gut twisted. How dare she? And what was she implying – that he only liked me because I looked like her? Under the table, my hands curled into fists.

I thought about the tender way my husband kissed my beauty mark. Had that been for Selene? Had he pictured her in my place all along?

“You know, I really should’ve met you sooner,” Selene continued. “You clearly need to learn more about being a Luna, Aurora.” Her voice was saccharine sweet. It didn’t sound nice; it sounded patronising. “If you’d come to more social events, I might have known you really existed.” She let out another tittering laugh. “I was starting to think he’d made you up.”

“I was never invited,” I spat, finally meeting her eyes with a glare. “How can it be my fault if I was never invited?”

“I didn’t mean to upset you!” she cried, loud enough that half the crowd turned towards us. Her lip wobbled. Turning to Ethan for help, she whimpered, “I didn’t mean to upset her, Eth.”

Hearing her call him that made anger burn in my belly. I gripped the edge of the table and felt it crumble beneath my fingers. My eyes flared. How had I…

“Don’t be cruel to Selene,” hissed Ethan, putting an arm around her. “She hasn’t done anything wrong.”

I gaped at him in disbelief. How could he sit so close to her and not hear the malice in her voice?

“Ethan, I–”

“Don’t bother. I’ve already informed you that I want a divorce. You have no right to interfere anymore. If you have any issues with the prenuptial agreement, you can discuss it with me. Are you asking for more money?”

“This isn’t about the money,” I rasped, reaching for him.

He yanked his hands away. “Don’t touch me,” he snapped.

Tears burned my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall. I couldn’t.

I’d already been publicly humiliated by my husband. If I cried now, they’d won. Maybe they already had…

As I tried to gather myself, the whispers of the crowd flooded my head.

“I can’t believe that’s his mate. She looks so much like Selene…”

“It makes sense, though, doesn’t it? Ethan and Selene grew up together, and he always wanted to be with her.”

“He did?”

“He did. But when she turned eighteen, she found her mate in another pack and left Ethan behind. He was in bits.”

It hurt to listen, but I had to. This sounded more like the truth than anything I’d heard from Ethan or Selene themselves.

“Well, Ethan eventually found his own mate. Her. Nobody knew who she was, just some Omega none of us had ever heard of. We were all dying to meet her. After all, what Omega could turn the head of a prestigious Alpha?”

Someone gasped. “One that looks exactly like Selene.” 

“Obviously.” A sigh. “Ethan never brought her here, or to any pack events. Whenever anyone asked about her, he was reluctant to even say her name. Now I guess we know why.”

“But why is Selene back now?”

“Gosh, you don’t hear anything, do you?” Another sigh. “Her mate died.”

Violet howled so loudly in my head that it drowned out the rest of the gossip. ‘Kill her!’ she cried, over and over and over again. ‘Let me shift out so I can kill her!’

I struggled to hold my wolf back. ‘You can’t kill her!’

But I was angry, too. I stood up abruptly, drawing more eyes to me. I no longer cared. 

“Why have you come back, Selene?” I asked.

“Because I wanted to see Eth,” she purred, shuffling over to sit closer to him. “He always makes me feel better.”

The vision of her kissing him filled my mind. One moment, I was stood in front of her – the next, I was grabbing her collar and dragging her up out of her seat. 

“Leave him alone,” I snarled.

“He doesn’t want you.” Her voice was flippant. “Maybe you should be the one to leave him alone.”

“I’m his mate!”

“Not anymore, you aren’t.” She smirked up at me.

I saw red. I tightened my grip on her neck.

And then Selene pretended to faint. She gasped, even lifted her hand to her forehead, winked at me – and then she fell gently backwards, right into Ethan’s arms.

He lifted her up and held her to his chest, glaring at me. “You are cruel, Aurora. How could you hurt her?”

My lips flapped uselessly. “No, I – she – I...”

Pain lanced through my stomach. Ethan had always been my protector, so I reached for him instinctively. If I’d ever needed help before, it had been him I’d gone to.

But now one of his friends shoved me away, his face a mask of contempt. I grabbed my belly, wanting to keep my baby safe.

Ethan pulled a face at me. “I know you’re a liar, but you don’t need to pretend you feel unwell, too. Don’t use your pregnancy as a ploy. You just want to be more like Selene, don’t you? She faints; you faint.” He shook his head in disgust. “I know you too well, Aurora. You aren’t sick. Selene has always been of poor health. You haven’t.”

I couldn’t believe how heartless he was being. It was like my doting husband had been replaced by a man as cold as ice and as cruel as death.

“No, it’s not that.” I lifted my chin, trying to be defiant, but another dizzying wave of pain crashed through me. I staggered a step back.

Ethan sneered at me. “You’re an Omega. You’ve lived a poor life. There’s no way you could be hurt that easily.”

I swallowed down a sob. “Why are you doing this? This isn’t you! What, have your feelings for me been fake all along?”

He hesitated for a moment.

Then he ripped out the remaining half of my heart and laughed at it. “Yes. I never loved you, Aurora. I don’t know how I could ever have thought of you as Selene’s substitute. You’re nowhere near as special as she is.” He levelled his gaze at me; his eyes were hard. “In fact, you aren’t special at all.”

“But our baby,” I whimpered, barely able to see around the grey light pulsating across my vision. “Your baby, Ethan…”

He laughed coldly. “I know your secrets. I know whose child it really is.”

Unable to cling to consciousness for even a second longer, I fainted.