Rejected by the Alpha, Claimed by his Brother
Chapter 161: _ The Betrayal

Chapter 161: _ The Betrayal

With my own eyes, I saw Axel professing his love for Rosa. I saw him.

The words echoed in my head, over and over again, as if my mind refused to process them properly. The scene replayed in flashes; Axel’s voice that was tender and full of warmth. The way his hands brushed against Rosa’s skin, the way he looked at her, the way he...

I sucked in a shaky breath, pressing a hand to my stomach.

I had been so sure.

So, so sure.

I had defended him. I had sworn up and down that Axel would never hurt me. That he was different. That he cared.

And yet.

I closed my eyes, but the memory was still there, burned into the back of my eyelids like.

Had Mateo been right all along?

No. No. I couldn’t...

I shot to my feet, barely noticing the way my legs trembled beneath me. My skin still felt too tight, like it didn’t belong to me anymore. My body still hummed with the jiggle of something awful, something I couldn’t name, something I couldn’t let myself name.

But none of that mattered now.

Because Axel... Axel was gone.

He was not gone in the physical sense. He was still around, still in Rosa’s room doing God knows what. But right now, he was gone in the way that mattered.

The Axel I had believed in, the one I had whispered my fears to, the one who had fought for me times without number, the one I had clung to when everything else crumbled—he wasn’t real.

Or maybe he was. Maybe I had simply never known him at all. Maybe I was the one who had drowned myself in a fantasy, thinking there was a connection between us.

My hands curled around the scarf... the one that was covering the profanity he’d left engraved in me.

Oh, how dare he? How dare he sneak into my room in the dead of the night, kiss me, mark me, and then refuse to take responsibility?

He hadn’t even acknowledged this burden he’d dropped me in yet. We haven’t even talked about it. Was his plan to ruin my life?

What the hell was I supposed to do with the mark? The pull, the itch, the longing? What in the world did he expect me to do with my life now?!

How could he do this to me?

A strangled sound crawled up my throat.

I had lost everything.

I backed up until my knees hit the edge of my bed, and then I sank onto it, my hands gripping the sheets as if they could keep me from slipping into nothingness. My head swam with too many thoughts, and too many emotions, each one fighting to be felt first.

Pain.

Rage.

Betrayal.

And underneath it all, something worse.

Something that made my chest ache and my throat burn.

I wanted to cry.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to rewind time, to go back to before I had seen what I saw before I had felt what I felt, before Mateo had...

A shudder ran down my spine.

No. I couldn’t think about that.

I wouldn’t.

I curled my fingers into the fabric of my dress, nails pressing hard into my palms. I didn’t know how long I sat there, staring at the floor, willing the world to make sense again.

But it didn’t.

It never would.

Was this how it ended? How my and Axel’s promising bond would crash without getting the chance to blossom?

My heart ached so badly, I almost dug it out if that’d reduce the pain. I didn’t know what to think or how to feel. The whole world felt too suffocating to contain my emotions.

I lost. Or...

No.

No, this wasn’t happening.

I refused to believe it.

Axel wasn’t like that. He wasn’t some heartless, lying bastard. He wasn’t the type to whisper sweet things one night and then run off to be with someone else the next. He wasn’t...

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head so hard I almost made myself dizzy. No. I wasn’t going to do this. I wasn’t going to sit here, drowning in pathetic tears like some useless fool who gave up at the first sign of trouble.

I had fought too hard.

I had lost too much.

I wasn’t about to let my life be completely ruined like this.

Axel and I had something. He cared about me. I knew he did. I had seen it in his eyes, felt it in the way he touched me—marked me. That had to mean something, right? He wasn’t cruel enough to do all that and then... and then turn his back on me like it was nothing.

Maybe I had misunderstood. Maybe there was an explanation. Maybe Rosa had tricked him into something. Maybe...

I dragged my sleeve across my face, wiping away the evidence of my breakdown. Enough was enough.

Crying wouldn’t fix this.

Sitting here, trembling like a useless coward, wouldn’t fix this.

I needed to see him. I needed to hear it from him, to see his face and make him explain.

My heart pounded against my ribs as I got to my feet. My legs were still shaky, but I forced myself forward, one step at a time.

I was not giving up on Axel this easily.

I was not giving up on us this easily.

I straightened my dress, ignored the way my throat ached, and walked out of my room with all the confidence I could scrape together.

The house was eerily quiet, except for the distant whispers of the maids, but I didn’t care about them. I had one goal in mind—Axel.

When I reached Rosa’s door, I paused. Yes, Axel was in there but what was I even planning to say?

Oh, hey, Axel, I saw you holding my sister like she was your whole world, but no big deal! Just wanted to know why you marked me and then ran off to someone else!

I swallowed the lump in my throat and clenched my fists. It doesn’t matter. I need to see him.

Just as I was about to knock, I heard the first sinful sound.

Thump.

I froze.

Then, I heard it again.

Thump.

And then, I heard a soft, breathy moan.

I blinked. Surely, I had imagined that.

Then, it came again and louder this time. More drawn out.

"Oh, Axel... YES! YES!"

After that came a giggle.

And then, another sound—lower, rougher. Axel’s voice. I couldn’t move.

My whole body turned to ice as the realization sank in most coldly and cruelly. Horrification creeping into my bones like a sickness.

No.

I must have heard wrong. There was no way Axel was mating with Rosa after just announcing his interest in her. I was about to call myself crazy when it happened again

Rosa moaned his name. Loudly.

"AXEL! FUCK ME HARDER!"

Everything inside me shattered.