The Alpha's Other Woman by Vielle Nye (read a book .txt) 📗

"Carrie? Are you okay in there? You don't have to come out if you don't feel like it."

"I'm fine," I lied.

There was a pause, and then her voice came through the door. "Good. Then you've got no reason not to come and drink an absurd amount of alcohol with me and Anna at her house."

I chuckled bitterly. The idea of getting out of the pack house and farther from Dane for a while sounded wonderful, and drinking sounded even better. "Okay," I agreed, walking over to the door to allow her to come in.

A look of worry crossed her face when she saw me, although she hid it quickly. I wondered if I looked as bad as she clearly thought I did.

Probably. I made my way to the small bathroom and splashed water on my face before digging around in my unpacked box of toiletries for my shower stuff.

"I'm going to clean up first," I said. There was no reason for me to look as pitiful as I felt.

"I'll be waiting," Samantha said. I heard her sit down on my bed and I was relieved. I didn't mind if it smelled like her, because she smelled like familiarity and childhood. It would be far better than it smelling like being alone.

I jumped in the shower and quickly cleaned myself, and then I made my way into the room wrapped in a towel. I still had a constant ache in my chest, but there was no reason that I had to look as broken as I felt, even if I was only going over to Anna's. I pulled on jeans and a tank top and made my way back into the bathroom to apply makeup.

"I'm ready," I announced.

"Great," she said. "Anna kicked James and the kids out to his parents and stocked up so we're good for the night, at least," Samantha told me.

"Sobriety is overrated," I agreed, trying to sound more lighthearted than I felt.

—————

A few hours later, I was sitting in the middle of Anna's living room, a nearly empty bottle in my hand and no less pain in my heart. I kept wavering between sadness, anger, and who-the-hell-cares-about-that-asshole-alpha-anyway.

I was currently in transition between all three emotions, trying to forget him while angrily crying. Anna and Samantha were both very supportive, and I appreciated that they were there for me. At least I wasn't entirely alone.

I sniffed, as sadness won the battle. I was going to be the pathetic mateless she-wolf who had been rejected by my chosen mate for the rest of my miserable life.

"I don't even know what to do," I wailed to my friends, or to the sky, or maybe to that repugnant fate who screwed me over so big time by giving me some hope and then snatching it away.

Anna patted my back. "You're amazing, something good will come to you."

"You don't know that," I whimpered and chugged the end of my bottle. I was still too sober, darn wolf metabolism. They should have gotten the good magically augmented stuff instead.

Samantha handed me another one. "She does. He just wasn't good enough for you."

"But our relationship was so good," I sniffed. "We had everything going for us, you know?" I looked at my naked finger mournfully. I had tossed the ring into one of the boxes I’d packed. I knew I probably had to give the stupid thing back, but surely the perfect time to throw it into his stupid perfect face would come. "Except that idiot took so long to seal the deal. If we'd been marked, that little bitch couldn't have come between us."

My friends flinched a bit at my disrespect towards their alpha and maybe even their future luna, but they understood I was just ranting and didn't criticize me. The jerk was getting his precious little destined mate and was going to live freakin' happily ever after, so he could deal with a tiny bit of disrespect.

They didn't have much to say so I kept going. "The worst part is, I still love him, but it's like all his feelings just turned into regret in one moment. And then, I'm going to have to face everyone. My parents are going to be all 'I told you so'.”

Anna patted me again. "Your parents won't say that, Carrie. They'll worry about you."

I took another swig. "Do you think that's better? All I'm going to get is pity. Pitiful, that's the new theme of my life. I can't do this anymore."

They both looked concerned. I rolled my teary eyes. "I meant let's do something else. Let’s watch something. I'm tired of thinking about that jerk alpha."

Samantha searched for the remote and found it under an empty tub of ice cream. "What do you want to watch?"

"Is there a show about a chosen luna being thrown away and coming back for revenge?" I asked.

She smiled. "No, but I think I can find something where a bunch of girls who were cheated on team up for revenge."

"That sounds perfect," I agreed with a bitter smile.