Page 68 of The Alpha's Broken Oath

I should also mention that the woman in question was my best friend. The woman barely acknowledged my presence as she explained to my children that she was Deacon’s Luna, and I was the…other woman.

“My boys…Adrian and Ash wanted him to become their new daddy, you know? I couldn't even… I couldn’t even look at them in the face when they asked me if Deacon’s Luna has kids, too. They were so disappointed, Julie. They…I made my boys like Deacon, and now they are paying for it.”

“No,” Julie’s hand joins Luka’s, and together, my friends console me, “This is not on you. This is on him, you hear me? You moved on from him, and you can do it again, Winter.”

Last time, I didn’t have his mark on me. I wasn’t chained to him last time!

Pulling my hands away from them and wiping my tears, I whisper in exhaustion, “I need time…to think and regroup. I left Addie and Ash with Isabel, and they weren’t too happy because they knew something was wrong with me. So, I have to…I have to be with my boys. Thank you for this. I needed this.”

“You don’t have to thank us, Win. We’ll always be here for you. If I had known that the bastard had some other woman waiting for him on the other side of the world while he fooled around with you, I would have punched him in the face without caring if he fired me or not.”

I’d love to punch Deacon in the face, too.

“No. You are not punching your boss, and you are not losing your job because of me. I’ll be fine, okay?”

I’ll recover like I always do, but this heartbreak? It feels so much worse than last time.

Luka and Julie bid me goodbye, and I sat in my car and tried to find the urge to drive to my kids and be okay.

My mark throbs and I recall the feel of Deacon licking it last night while I reveled in his scent and touch.

How good it felt last night, and how very stupid I was for thinking he was mine.

How long has he been with Crystal? Since I left?

Did he make her Luna as soon as I left?

Do they have children?

Did he…did he mark her? I didn’t check her neck. I should have checked her neck.

So many questions haunt and rack my mind that by the time I drive and reach home, I don’t stop to ask myself why I can’t hear my babies laughing and screaming like they always do. I swear, most times, you can almost hear them just from the driveway. Today, there’s more silence than I can stomach, and that makes panic and dread intermingle in my blood as I open the door and step into the foyer.

“Ash? Addie?”

My voice is an echo in my own ears.

“Adrian? Baby?”

Each step I take past my foyer to my living room steals the little oxygen nestled in my lungs.

I know what my wolf is thinking. I can practically hear her fears.

What if Deacon took Ash and Addie? What if he finally realized that they were his kids and came after them?

I nearly choke on nothing but saliva in my throat when I enter the living room.

“Winter!” Isabel’s almost relieved voice beckons to me.

“Mommy!” Ash screams for me.

Adrian looks terrified to death.

I narrow my eyes into slits at the sight in front of me.

Isabel protectively hides my boys behind her, and they are all nestled in the corner of my living room, without a doubt, spooked by the figure of a man standing in the middle of the room.

I have no clue who this guy is.

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