My Cheating Mate (Emma and Jeremy) novel Chapter 21

My Cheating Mate

Jeremy pov

I sat in my car down the street from Beta Marcus’s house, watching the door Emma had just closed. The finality of it felt like a physical blow–like watching the last chance I’d ever have with her disappear behind wood and paint.

My wolf howled in my head, a sound of pure anguish that made my chest tighten until I could barely breathe.

We’d lost her. Really, truly lost her.

And it was entirely our fault.

I pulled out my phone and stared at the screen, not really seeing it. My hands were shaking. From blood loss, exhaustion, or fear -probably all three.

What had I done? What the fuck had I done?

For the first time since this whole nightmare started, I let myself really think about it. Really consider the magnitude of my betrayal.

I’d cheated on my mate. Not a girlfriend, not a casual relationship–my fated mate, the one person the Moon Goddess had chosen for me. The bond was supposed to be sacred, unbreakable, the foundation of pack society and wolf culture. 1

And I’d treated it like it was nothing. Like Emma was nothing.

I thought about all the times she’d tried to talk to me about Vanessa. The careful, hesitant way she’d bring up her discomfort. The hurt in her eyes when I’d dismissed her concerns, told her she was being paranoid, made her feel crazy for trusting her

instincts.

*“She’s just teasing, Em. Don’t be so sensitive.“*

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*“Why can’t you be more understanding?”

*“I can’t cut her out of my life because you’re insecure.“*

I’d gaslit her. Systematically made her doubt her own perceptions, her own reality, because acknowledging the truth would have meant admitting what I was doing.

And the plan. God, the plan to use her as a broodmare and then discard her.

My stomach turned. Had I really been that callous? That cruel?

Yes. The answer was yes, and there was no justifying it, no excuse that made it acceptable.

Emma had baked me cookies. Had been coming to surprise me at work with homemade treats because she loved me, wanted to make me happy.

And she’d walked in on me fucking another woman.

The image made me want to vomit. I tried to picture it from her perspective–the shock, the devastation, the complete shattering of everything she’d believed about us.

And then she’d heard us talking. Heard me say I never loved her. Heard our plans to use her.

How had she even made it out of that building? How had she kept it together long enough to pack, to run, to survive alone for a week?

*“She’s not weak–that’s strength I was too blind to see.”

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Chapter 2

+25 BONUS

The words I’d said to Vanessa were true. Emma was strong. Stronger than I’d ever given her credit for. Stronger than I deserved.

Movement at Marcus’s front douf caught my attention. The Beta emerged, his face like thunder, and started walking toward my car with purposeful strides

This was it. The reckoning I’d been dreading.

I got out of the car, standing in the street like a condemned man facing execution. Maybe that’s what I was.

Marcus stopped three feet away from me. For a long moment, he just stared, his eyes flickering between brown and wolf–gold as he fought for control.

“Give me one reason,” he said finally, his voice deadly quiet. “One reason why I shouldn’t rip your throat out right now.”

“I don’t have one, sir.” The words came out steady, resigned. “I deserve whatever you want to do to me.”

“You’re damn right you do.” Marcus stepped closer, and I could feel the dominance rolling off him in waves. Beta might be second to Alpha, but Marcus was old, powerful, and currently furious enough to take on an entire pack. “My daughter just showed me a video, Jeremy. Do you know what was in that video?”

My blood ran cold. “Yes, sir.”

“She watched you fuck another woman. Heard you planning to use her and throw her away.” His voice cracked slightly. “She came to bring you cookies, and you broke her heart.”

The pain in his voice–a father’s anguish for his daughter’s suffering–made something crack inside me. “I know. I’m so sorry. I

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“Sorry?” Marcus laughed, but there was no humor in it. “You’re sorry? My daughter has been hiding in a motel three states away, crying herself to sleep every night, because her mate betrayed her in the worst possible way. And you’re sorry?”

“I know sorry isn’t enough. I know nothing I say can fix what I did. But Marcus,

“Beta Marcus,” he corrected coldly. “You lost the right to use my first name when you decided to cheat on my daughter.”

“Beta Marcus,” I amended, bowing my head in submission. “You’re right. About all of it. I was selfish and cruel and I threw away the best thing that ever happened to me because I was too stupid to see what I had.”

“And now? Now that you’ve lost her, now you realize what you had?” He shook his head in disgust. “That’s not regret, boy. That’s just fear of consequences.”

Chapter 22