My Cheating Mate (Emma and Jeremy) novel Chapter 5

My Cheating Mate

Jeremy pov

Three days. Emma had been gone for three days, and I still had no idea where she was.

I sat in my father’s office, trying to maintain some semblance of composure while Beta Marcus paced in front of the desk like a caged animal. Alpha Richard Trent watched us both with the calculating gaze that had kept him in power for thirty years.

“Let me make sure I understand this correctly,” Marcus said, his voice deadly calm in a way that made my wolf flatten his ears. “My daughter has been missing for seventy-two hours, her phone is off, she’s not responding to anyone, and you—her mate—have no idea where she is or why she left?”

“I’ve told you everything I know,” I said, fighting to keep my own voice steady. “I came home from work and she was gone. Some of her things were missing. That’s it.”

“That’s it?” Marcus’s eyes flashed gold as his wolf surged forward. “My daughter doesn’t just vanish without a reason, Jeremy. What happened? Did you fight? Did you do something to her?”

The accusation in his tone made my hackles rise. “I didn’t do anything. We were fine. Everything was fine.”

“Was it?” My father’s quiet question cut through the tension. He was studying me with an intensity that made me want to squirm like a pup caught stealing from the kitchens. “Because Marcus is right. Emma isn’t the type to run without cause. She’s responsible, loyal, committed to this pack.”

Committed. The word twisted something in my gut.

She had been committed. To me, to us, to the future I’d promised her while planning to throw her away. And somehow, she’d figured it out.

She had to have figured it out. There was no other explanation for why she’d leave so cleanly, so completely, taking only what was hers and disappearing like smoke.

But how? I’d been careful. Vanessa and I had always been discreet, or so I thought. We used my office, never anywhere public, never anywhere Emma would—

The cookies.

The memory hit me like a physical blow. I’d been with Vanessa in my office three days ago, and when I’d left, there had been cookies scattered in the hallway outside my door. Chocolate chip cookies.

Emma’s chocolate chip cookies.

“Oh, fuck,” I breathed.

“What?” Marcus demanded, stepping closer. “What did you just remember?”

I couldn’t tell him. Couldn’t admit that I’d been screwing Vanessa in my office while his daughter stood outside the door. He’d kill me. Actually kill me, Alpha’s son or not.

“Nothing. I just—I remembered that Emma mentioned wanting to visit some old college friends. Maybe she went there?”

The lie sounded weak even to my own ears, and Marcus’s expression said he wasn’t buying it for a second.

“Her college friends live in Silverbrook Pack territory,” Marcus said slowly. “I already called Alpha Morrison. She’s not there, and none of her friends have heard from her.”

Of course he’d already checked. Marcus wasn’t just a Beta—he was a father terrified for his missing daughter.

Guilt twisted in my stomach. I shoved it down. I couldn’t afford guilt right now. I needed to find Emma, needed to fix this before it spiraled completely out of control.

“The mate bond,” my father said suddenly. “Jeremy, can you feel her through the bond? Get a sense of her location, her emotional state?”

I’d been avoiding reaching for the bond, afraid of what I might find. But with both of them staring at me expectantly, I had no choice.

I closed my eyes and searched for that invisible thread connecting me to Emma. It was there, faint but present, which meant she was alive at least. But she’d blocked me almost completely, keeping me out with a strength I didn’t know she possessed.

When had she learned to do that?

I pushed harder, trying to sense something, anything. All I got was a wall of ice and a flash of emotion so cold it made me flinch.

Rage. Emma was absolutely furious.

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