My Cheating Mate (Emma and Jeremy) novel Chapter 17

Chapter 17

My Cheating Mate

Jeremy pov

I finished bandaging the worst of my wounds with the supplies Emma had left behind, my hands shaking slightly from blood loss and exhaustion. Every movement pulled at the gashes across my ribs, sending sharp spikes of pain through my body.

My phone buzzed. Then again. And again.

I pulled it out, already knowing who it would be.

Vanessa: “Where are you?”

Vanessa: “Jeremy, answer me right now.”

Vanessa: “I know you went after her. You’re making a huge mistake.”

Vanessa: “She’s NOTHING. I’m your real mate. I’m the one who’s been there for you.”

Vanessa: “Answer your fucking phone!”

I stared at the messages, my wolf snarling with disgust. How had I ever thought I wanted this? Wanted her?

Another message came through, this one with a photo attached. I opened it and immediately wished I hadn’t.

It was Vanessa, naked in my bed–our bed, the one I’d shared with Emma–posing suggestively with a caption: “This is what you’re missing. This is what you’re throwing away for that pathetic little mouse.”

My stomach turned. She was in my house. In the bed where Emma should be sleeping.

The phone rang. Vanessa’s name flashed across the screen.

I answered. “What the hell are you doing in my house?”

“Our house,” she corrected, her voice honey–sweet. “Or at least, it will be once you get rid of her. I’m just getting comfortable, baby. Getting ready for when you come home and we can finally be together properly.”

“Get out. Now.”

Silence. Then, carefully: “Excuse me?”

“I said get out of my house. You have no right to be there.”

“I have every right!” Her voice sharpened. “I’m going to be your mate, Jeremy. Your Luna That makes it my house too.”

“You’re not going to be anything to me.” The words came out cold, final. “We’re done, Vanessa. Completely done.”

“Done?” She laughed, but there was an edge of hysteria to it. “You can’t be done with me. We’re meant to be together. We’ve been planning this for years!”

“No, you’ve been planning this. I was just too stupid and selfish to see what I was throwing away.”

“Throwing away? That little nobody?” Vanessa’s voice turned vicious. “She’s weak, Jeremy. Boring. She has nothing to offer you except her father’s position. I can give you everything–passion, power, a real partnership.”

“Real partnership?” I laughed bitterly. “Is that what you call hiring rogues to attack my mate?”

The silence on the other end was damning.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Vanessa finally said, but her voice was too careful, too controlled

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“Don’t lie to me. Those rogues didn’t just happen to find Emma. Softreone sent them. Someone who knew exactly where she

was.”

“Well, maybe if she’d stayed where she belonged instead of running away like a coward —”

“You tried to have her killed!” The words exploded out of me. “You hired rogues to attack the future Luna of our pack. Do you have any idea what that means? What the consequences are for that?”

“There’s no proof,” Vanessa said quickly. “And besides, who’s going to believe her? She’s the one who abandoned her pack, abandoned her mate. If anything happened to her out there, it’s her own fault for leaving pack protection.”

The calculated cruelty of it made me see red. “Get out of my house. Now. And if you ever come near Emma again, if you ever even think about hurting her, I will make sure everyone knows exactly what you’ve done.“”

“You wouldn’t dare. Your precious reputation-”

“I don’t give a fuck about my reputation anymore!” I was shouting now, not caring who heard. “I’ve already destroyed it by cheating on my mate with you. The least I can do is make sure you don’t hurt her any more than I already have ”

“Jeremy, baby, please. You’re not thinking clearly.” Vanessa’s voice shifted, turning pleading. “You’re confused because of the mate bond. It’s just biology, making you think you want her. But you don’t. You want me. You’ve always wanted me.”

“I thought I did,” I admitted. “But I was wrong. About you, about Emma, about everything.”

“So what, you’re just going to crawl back to her? Beg for forgiveness?” Vanessa laughed cruelly. “She’ll never take you back, Jeremy. You heard what she said she has evidence. She’s going to destroy you. Destroy us both.”

“There is no us!”

“There’s always been us! Since we were teenagers, since before that pathetic mate bond-

“That ‘pathetic mate bond‘ is the only real thing I had,” I interrupted. “And I threw it away for what? For someone who’d hire rogues to kill my mate because she didn’t get her way fast enough?”

Chapter 12

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Chapter 18