Chapter 4 Chapter Four : Confronting cheater Mate

TESSA - POV

I am close to reaching the back side of campus meeting Theo. I want to turn back to my dorm instead and let Theo keep waiting for me.

"No, please don't be so cruel to our mate."

"I am being cruel to him? Really, Selene, you're taking his side? Theo cheated on us." I snapped at her for being so unreasonable.

"Who is to blame for driving him to another woman?" I came to a halt at her words. I took a deep breath. "You know, mate, heat is hard to endure."

"I endured the mate heat too," I told her.

“It’s your insecurities that we end up suffering in the mate heat. " I didn't answer her back. Maybe she was right. I shouldn't have pushed Theo so hard to wait. No mates wait this long; they consummate as soon as they feel the mate bond pull.

Most of the time the haze clears, and sometimes your mate doesn't love you at all; they reject you for someone else. I'd watched it happen to a classmate. She hadn't survived the rejection.

I walked on, insecurities creeping back in. A dark silhouette took shape ahead, and as it drew closer, I recognized Theo's face: guilt, anger, and something questioning all tangled in his expression. He closed the distance between us, his hands coming down on my shoulders, grip firm, pulling me back before I could step away.

"You're really dating Jaxen."

"That's the first thing you want to ask me?" I stared at him, stunned by the audacity.

"What do you expect me to say? I'm sorry for what happened," Theo snapped back. I scoffed. Somehow that landed harder than walking in on him and Marcy in his bathroom. Coming here was a mistake. I pulled against his hold, but he wouldn't let go, his hands tightening, dragging me back into place.

"I shouldn't have come here," I said.

"You came because you care about me. Because I'm your mate." He said it like a reminder, like something I owed him.

"Right. My mate, who was busy fucking the cheer captain. And now has the audacity to stand here acting like a jealous mate, asking if I'm seeing someone."

"This is your fault, Tessa. You never trusted me. You never let me consummate the bond. Mate heat is worse for an Alpha than it is for an Omega."

"So that's your excuse for cheating on me." It wasn't a question. "Marcy. The woman who made my life hell. You slept with my bully."

"So you're upset because it was Marcy specifically? You'd be fine if it were someone else?" He said it like it was almost funny.

"Maybe I should sleep with your captain. The one you hate most. How does that sound?"

"You know I hate that bastard." His voice is dangerously lower with threat. "And you are not sleeping with anyone. You are mine. You are my mate," I scoffed. "None of this would have happened. I wouldn't have cheated if you knew how to handle your man's needs."

My wolf's accusations. My own insecurities. His words. All of it pressed down at once, a weight settling so heavily in my chest that breathing became harder. Tears spilled before I could stop them.

Theo exhaled, his grip on my shoulders loosening.

"I told you," I said, my voice steadier than I felt, "if you weren't okay, you could have come to me. We could have talked about it."

"I didn't want to pressure you."

"So instead you found something that would hurt me far worse than the truth ever could." He looked away. I took that as answer enough.

"It's not that I didn't think about telling you. I wanted your trust—” 

"You broke my trust anyway, Theo." I wiped my face, hating that I was crying in front of him again. “Why Marcy? Is this some kind of revenge?"

"Marcy was there when my wolf went into heat. The mate haze took over." He said it with such certainty, such practiced steadiness, that part of me wanted to believe him. But certainty wasn't the same as innocence. "I did everything I could to fight it. You have to believe me."

"I always asked you to be honest with me. You told me your mate's heat was under control. You told me to take my time." I held his gaze. "I trusted that."

He frowned.

"Six months, Tessa. Six months of me waiting while you took your sweet time. I blame you for this more than I blame myself."

"Go be with Marcy. Handle your mate's heat however you need to. I'll handle mine. I have Jaxen to take good care of me."

His hand snapped around my wrist. I pulled my wrist free from his grip. "You are not letting Jaxen touch you."

"Don't tell me what I can or can't do."

"You are my mate."

I looked at him, really looked at him, and said the thing I hadn't let myself say out loud until now.

"Theo. Maybe we should just reject each other."

His eyes shifted. Something cracked behind them. His grip on my wrist went slack, and he exhaled long and slow, like he was trying to find solid ground.

"Listen. I didn't mean to be an asshole."

"You said exactly what you meant, Theo. You just didn't mean to say it out loud."

He was quiet for a moment.

"I don't want to reject you. I want to start over."

I looked down at my wrist where his hand had been. Then back up at him.

"I was ready, you know. I was finally ready to consummate our bond. To show you, I trusted you enough. That was where I was six months ago, moving toward you." I felt the words settle in my chest, heavy with everything they cost me. "But this changes all of it, Theo. I can't trust you. I can't stand beside you as your mate. I can't be your Luna—"

"Give me a second chance. Please. We can start again—" Theo pulled me into his arms, wrapping himself around me like I might disappear if he let go.

"Please give our mate a chance. Forgive him," Selene said.

"I won't make this mistake again." His voice broke on it. His body shook against mine, certainty and remorse written across his face in equal measure. "I don't want to lose you."

But Marcy's face was still there. His words from minutes ago still sat in my chest like stones, too heavy to set down.

"Why are you throwing this away, Tessa?" Selene's voice came out small with grief. "No one has ever cared for us the way Theo has. Do you remember what it was like before him? Marcy made us her errand girl. Fetch her coffee, and if it wasn't right, she'd pour it over you right in front of her whole group while they took pictures and blasted them in every chat. She made us do her assignmentsShe was the one who carved those words into your locker, loser, weak omega, orphan, dirt bag—every ugly letter. All Marcy’s doing. Theo made it stop. He reached out his hand when no one else did. He is our hero." 

She wasn't wrong about that part. Only days after I turned eighteen, he had found me. And then I learned he was my mate as if the universe had finally decided something good was owed to me.

"I'm not sure about us, Theo." My voice came out smaller than I meant it to.

He pulled back just enough to look at me, hands still resting on my waist. The pain in his eyes was real. I didn't doubt that. My wolf stirred unhappily at my answer.

"Step away from my girlfriend."

The voice was so deep it moved through me like a warning. My body stiffened. Every instinct screamed threat. I turned. 

Jaxen stood a few feet away not in his soccer jersey but in dark denim jeans, a white tee, and a denim jacket, hands easy at his sides. Like he'd simply arrived and had no intention of leaving.

Theo scoffed. "You shouldn't be here. And don't you dare call her yours."

Jaxen's eyes moved past Theo and found mine.

"Remember no backing out of the deal. Or it becomes a problem."His voice pushed through the mind-link. The warning was impossible to miss. Cold goosebumps crawled across my skin before I could stop them. 

I stepped back from Theo's. He caught the movement, jaw tightening, face twisting with something between anger and disbelief.

He held my hand, Theo glaring at Jaxen. "Like hell I'm letting you go." I could feel Alpha Jaxen's eyes darken, the aura around him beginning to thicken. Theo's wolf surfaced.

"Please no fighting." I snapped. In fear, Theo, as if sensing my body tremble, loosened his hold and let me go. 'You think I'm letting you go that easily? I will win you back.' His voice slid through the mind link.

I walked toward Jaxen whose aura relaxing as well.

"Theo." I stopped but didn't turn around. "I can't give you second chance." I said it through with so grief. Six months a dream of a future with Theo. Every memory surfaced like a wound. My wolf groaned, furious, cursing every step I took away from him. 

"You did well," Jaxen said, falling into step beside me, that unbothered tone already back in place. "I was this close to punching Theo."

"You heard everything."

"Wasn't trying to. But you two were standing in my spot."

"Your spot?"

"Where I smoke."

I stared at him. "You smoke? That's banned on campus. So is drinking."

"I'm aware."

"You're serious." It wasn't a question. His face said it calmly, completely unmoved by my disapproval. He was absolutely serious.

"So," he tilted his head slightly. "You're smart enough not to go back to Theo."

"Don't mock me." I kept my voice low and even. 

Not because I wasn't angry; I was but because I'd seen what happened to students on campus who raised their voices at Jaxen. They ended up in the hospital, and nothing ever came of it afterward. No disciplinary action taken agains him. Because Jaxen wasn't just some student with a short fuse. He was the Alpha of Crimson Pack, the strongest, most powerful pack in the country. What people called the King of Alphas. You didn't poke at someone like that and walk away clean.

We walked back to my dorm in silence. He stopped at the entrance, hands in his pockets, and looked at me with that cold, unreadable expression he wore like a second skin.

"Thank you for walking me back," I said.

He didn't acknowledge it.

"What's your plan with Theo?" he asked instead.

"What?"

"If you're thinking about going back to him—" his eyes held mine, steady and flat "there will be consequences."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Yes." No hesitation. Just the word, sitting there between us like he'd set down something heavy and had no interest in picking it back up.

"Stay my girlfriend. That's the arrangement." He turned to leave, the warning hanging in the air behind him, and I stood there watching him go, my whole body rigid.

I had just walked away from my mate.

And somehow, staring at Jaxen's retreating back, I wasn't sure which of them I should be more afraid of.