My Alpha Husband Wants An Open Marriage

　　Lyra's POV

　　What do you do when your soul-bound mate craves another heart…but refuses to let yours go?

　　***********

　　I could barely concentrate on what the pack elder and advisor were saying. It's been twenty-four hours since I last saw my mate. The tightness and unease in my chest made it almost impossible to focus on anything. I couldn't even get through his mind link.

　　Could something have happened at the border? Surely Cassian would have called for backup. "Luna?"

　　I snapped my attention back to them and forced a smile. "Sorry, you were saying?"

　　"I suggested we could open a training facility for the healers to develop their abilities. It would be a great help to the pack—this way we won't have to rely entirely on human hospitals."

　　I nodded. The idea was sound. Over the last month, rogue attacks had increased to a level none of us had anticipated. Cassian had gone to the border to investigate their possible entry points… and he still hadn't returned. I tried hard to mask my worry; the last thing I wanted was the pack sensing my panic. Once we finished here, I would go out to look for him myself.

　　We already had so many injured warriors. Even the human hospitals we built were overflowing.

　　"Although that's a very good idea, but…" Crystal, my beta, cut in, placing a file in front of me. "This is the total number of healers we have. They aren't even enough for one thousand soldiers. If care isn't taken, they'll die from exhaustion."

　　She paused, letting the weight of her words settle.

　　"I suggest—"

　　Her voice trailed off when something sharp and loud tore through my head.

　　Cassian's mind link.

　　"Lyra!"

　　My heart dropped. "Cassian? Is everything alright?" I shot back immediately.

　　"Get the pack doctor ready!"

　　He didn't give me the chance to ask anything else. The link snapped shut before I could respond.

　　I stood so quickly my chair screeched. Crystal's eyes widened, but I was already moving. A sickening dread twisted in my gut. If he cut the link that abruptly, something was terribly wrong.

　　I rushed out of the meeting hall and sprinted toward the hospital.

　　"Cassian!" I yelled the moment I saw him—but I stopped dead halfway.

　　He wasn't alone.

　　A woman lay unconscious in his arms, limp like a discarded doll. His face—my husband's face—was a storm of fear, desperation, and something else I couldn't quite breathe through.

　　"Get a stretcher!" he screamed. The sound tore out of him, raw and frantic.

　　Three years of marriage, three years of living, fighting, running a pack together… and I had never seen Cassian like this. Not once. Not even when his own warriors were dying on the battlefield.

　　I stood frozen, watching as he barreled past me, not even sparing me a glance.

　　"Check her!" he snapped at the doctor the moment they laid the woman down. "If anything happens to her, I swear I'll kill you myself!"

　　"Cassian, you need to calm down," I managed, though my voice felt like someone else's.

　　He didn't hear me. Or maybe he just didn't care to.

　　Looking closer at the woman, her injuries weren't life-threatening. A broken leg, some bruises. Nothing justified the kind of panic Cassian was drowning in.

　　But he stood there, trembling, eyes glued to her like she was the most important thing in the world.

　　The doctors performed only simple treatment, and the rest was left to the werewolf's natural recovery. I stood there silently, numb, watching them wrap her leg and check her vitals. Nothing complicated. Nothing even remotely life-threatening. Yet Cassian looked as if she'd been ripped open in front of him.

　　I wanted to talk to him—ask what happened, why he had vanished for twenty-four hours, why he was acting like this—but he sat dazed beside the woman's bed, staring at her as if she were the only person in the room.

　　His fingers hovered close to her hand but didn't touch, like even that tiny distance was unbearable for him.

　　My throat burned.

　　It felt like I was watching some scripted scene from a dramatic TV show—the male lead kneeling beside the unconscious heroine, eyes full of desperate devotion. Only the absurd part was that this wasn't fiction. This wasn't some actor pretending to be in love.

　　This was my husband.

　　My mate.

　　And he was heartbroken over another woman's injuries.

　　I crossed my arms tightly, pressing my nails into my skin just to feel something other than the growing ache in my chest. The doctors eventually stepped back, giving us space, but Cassian barely acknowledged them. His entire world had shrunk to the unconscious woman breathing softly in that bed.

　　My husband and I stood in total silence for thirty minutes, my eyes were on him while his were on the fragile woman lying on the bed.

　　She looked delicate on the bed, her lashes trembling as she slowly stirred. Cassian sat in a chair beside her and leaned forward, his expression softening in a way I had never seen directed at me.

　　Her eyes fluttered open.

　　"Cass…" she whispered, weak and breathy.

　　Cass.

　　Not Alpha. Not Cassian. Cass.

　　He exhaled shakily, relief pouring off him in waves. He cupped the side of her face. "I've got you. You're safe."

　　My heartbeat stopped. Right in front of me, Cassian grabbed her hands, kissing them with so much love and adoration in his eyes.

　　They didn't even notice me. I didn't exist in that moment, not to either of them. What the hell is going on? Who is this woman?

　　I swallowed hard. "Cassian."

　　He blinked, almost annoyed to be reminded I was still in the room. Then he stood and turned to face me, his expression neutral, but his eyes held guilt. Or maybe irritation.

　　"She?" I asked, not breaking eye contact with him. His eyes darted between us before he took her hands in his again.

　　"Lyra…" he whispered.

　　My heart was in my throat. I could feel it pounding so fast it almost made me dizzy. "This is Liora, my fated mate". I had to grip the bed frame to hold myself up.

　　"Fated mate?" The words felt foreign to me. We were mates. I am his mate, his Luna.

　　"Liora has a rare healing ability; she would be very much useful to the pack". He paused.

　　My voice shook. "What's that supposed to mean, Cass?"

　　He straightened, the Alpha mask sliding onto his face. "I wish to take Liora as my Luna."

　　"I'm your Luna!" I snapped, the words ripping out of me before I could stop them. The woman, my husband's fated mate, flinched as I had hit her.

　　"But you're not my fated mate".

　　The world blurred. I stumbled back, my legs giving out for a second, breath leaving my lungs so sharply it hurt. I stared at my husband—my chosen mate, my Alpha—like I didn't recognize the man in front of me.

　　"That's why I have decided…" he continued, tone steady, emotionless. "We will have an open marriage. Not only will I be able to take her as my mate, but she will have the same position as you. My Luna."