Chapter 34

Third person POV

"Oh my God," a male voice said in shock.

"That's certainly a surprise," someone replied sarcastically.

"Wait a minute," a woman called out. "Isn't that the groom?"

"What?" several people said in shock.

"It can't be David," another said.

"But it is," someone replied.

"Stop trying to hide your face, coward!" a male voice demanded.

"How could he?" someone asked in horror. "On their wedding night?"

"So disrespectful!"

"Are we in the right room?" someone asked. "Is that Amanda?"

"It is!" several people shouted.

"I knew it," someone said.

Ella stood unmoving in the doorway for several long moments before she collapsed, the doorframe the only thing holding her upright.

Elizabeth rushed forward and put her arms around Ella to keep her from falling to the floor. There was a murmur through the assembled group as a few other people moved forward, trying to help.

"Look what you’ve done!" someone shouted at David.

"You bastard," a woman said angrily.

David scrambled to cover himself and moved away from the bed, leaving Amanda wrapped in the blanket and desperately trying to cover her face.

"What are all of you people doing here?" Amanda demanded. "Get out of my room! Get out!"

No one moved to listen to her; everyone was staring in shock.

Amanda knew they had been caught. There was no way she could explain why David was on top of her with no clothes on, or why her legs had been wrapped around him the way they were.

There was no innocent explanation.

And truthfully, she didn’t want to hide it anyway. She had never wanted to hide what there was between them.

Anger burned through her. If it weren’t for Ella, none of this would be happening. She would be able to be with David without hiding, without feeling any shame.

She looked at Ella, who was leaning heavily against the alpha king’s daughter. Her eyes were still fixed on Amanda. She expected to see grief on her best friend’s face, but instead, Ella was staring at her with a look of resignation, as though this was what she expected to find when she opened the door.

That only made Amanda angrier. What had happened to Ella recently that nothing seemed to touch her, nothing seemed to hurt or embarrass her anymore?

All the hatred that Amanda felt for Ella was only amplified by Ella’s newfound confident attitude. It was one thing for Ella to be the spoiled, rotten princess of an alpha’s daughter who always got whatever she wanted and never had to work for anything.

Amanda could handle that because she knew that deep down, Ella was a frightened child who needed others to protect and guide her, and so it was easy to take advantage of her position.

But this new version of Ella that had emerged in the past few weeks seemed to feel no fear. She seemed to think that no one and nothing could touch her. But that wasn’t true, and Amanda was going to make sure that she knew it.

"This isn’t what it looks like!" David said frantically, trying desperately to think of any explanation for the situation he found himself in.

He needed to keep Ella by his side for a little longer. He was so close to getting everything that he needed from her.

The marking ceremony was soon, and once it was done, Ella would be stuck with him. He would get her land, her pack, and her money with it.

Everything was slipping through his fingers, and he didn’t know how to hold on to it.

"Are you serious?" someone asked.

"We caught you red-handed. We’ve seen you with our own eyes!"

"Are you really going to try to lie your way out of this?"

Ella sobbed, drawing the attention of the group again. Her hands were covering her face, and Elizabeth and one of the other young alpha daughters were holding her upright, trying to comfort her.

David wanted to run, but the doorway was blocked, and they were on the second story. This was his worst nightmare—everything he had been working so hard for was ruined.

"What the hell are you even doing bursting in here?" David shouted.

"What does it look like we’re doing?" One of the girls yelled, then something was thrown, barely missing David.

He looked down at his feet to find a brightly colored gift bag. Then more objects rained down on him. He managed to dodge them all and, with horror, began to piece together what was happening.

Gift bags. Someone was holding balloons.

It was a surprise birthday party for Amanda. Ella must have planned it without telling him. Why would she do that?

Ella POV

It was all I could do not to laugh hysterically at the look on David’s face. I had known that I would catch them in a compromising position, but I didn’t think it would be so obvious what they were up to.

There was no way he could deny it, no way he could lie his way out of it. I had finally caught him; I had finally exposed him.

I didn’t have to pretend to love him anymore. After tonight, I didn’t have to let him touch me or kiss me ever again.

The relief made my knees buckle, and I collapsed against the doorframe.

I felt someone behind me wrap me in their strong grip and keep me from hitting the ground. They must have thought I was hysterical with grief.

I leaned against the person, looking up and realizing that it was Elizabeth. Then a few other people put their arms around me to help keep me up.

I put my hands over my face to hide my expression, and suddenly I didn’t have to fake my grief anymore. A wave of sadness unexpectedly washed over me, and tears sprang to my eyes.

I had given David every opportunity to stop this affair. Despite everything, despite his secret being exposed to everyone, he still insisted on moving forward with the wedding. He still insisted that he loved me.

And he did this anyway. On our wedding night, he left me seemingly passed out drunk so that he could go to another woman’s room and sleep with her.

Real anger and sadness filled me, and I sobbed as I leaned heavily against Elizabeth.

"How could you?" I cried out. "How could you do this to me?"

"I’m telling you, it isn’t what it looks like!" David insisted.

"Stop lying to me!" I screamed.

I could hear footsteps in the hallway. We must have caused enough commotion to begin waking the other guests. More people were coming, and they would find out for themselves exactly what had happened.

They would know the truth about David.

That was what I wanted—for everyone to know what a terrible person David truly was.

"Ella, please," David said, walking toward me with his hands clasped together as he begged.

He knew as well as I did that the wedding wasn’t official. The marking ceremony was scheduled to happen in just a few hours. Without it, none of what happened tonight was binding.

"How could you possibly have a good explanation for this?" Elizabeth demanded.

David looked at the bed where Amanda was cowering and covering herself, and he pointed.

"She seduced me!"

Shouts of disbelief and anger rang out from the crowd. Amanda looked at David, brokenhearted, but didn’t argue with him.

"You coward!" Elizabeth spat angrily.

I pulled myself from Elizabeth’s grip and stood up shakily. A hush fell over the people around me as I glared openly at David, letting all of the hatred that I felt for him show plainly on my face.

"There will be no marking ceremony," I said loudly. "You and I are not married."

David started to argue, but I spoke over him.

"I would never bind myself to a lying cheat like you!"