My Mate Faked His Death

Last lifetime, my mate Kael faked his death to become his twin brother—all so he could openly be with his sister-in-law.

I screamed the truth until my throat bled.

For telling the truth, Kael dragged me to the sacred altar and burned my mark off my skin, while our four-year-old son was thrown into a pitch-black cell for crying out for his father.

We were banished, torn apart by rogues.

But the Moon Goddess is fair. She woke me up on the exact day of the funeral.

As the pack howls in mourning for their "dead" Alpha, I look at the man hiding in his brother's skin.

I won't expose him this time.

If Kael wants to play a dead man just to play house with his whore, I'll make sure he stays dead forever.

......

The corpse of the fallen Alpha is hauled back to the territory after the bloody border skirmish. The entire pack bows to the ground, their mournful cries echoing through the square.

Once the heavy stone casket is brought into the plaza, I don't look at the Alpha. Instead, I throw myself directly onto the blood-soaked corpse of my Beta brother-in-law, Elias, sobbing until my ribs violently shake.

The towering man standing beside me watches from the shadows for a long moment. He heavily suppresses his natural Alpha aura. "Luna," he says, his voice deliberately raspy. "My condolences."

I dig my nails so hard into my palms they almost bleed. I know the truth. My fated mate, Kael, has coveted his brother's mate, Seraphina, for a very long time.

"Luna... please stay strong. I didn't expect my brother to fall like this."

Kael steps closer, wearing Elias's identity, his eyes red and brimming with fake tears.

I stare at the real Elias's corpse, burying my face into his cold chest.

I let out a gut-wrenching wail exactly as a grieving widow should, crying out Kael's name. "My Alpha. My mate."

Elias's body is mangled, his skull shattered by a fatal blow.

He and Kael are identical twins. Since Kael is purposely choking back his suffocating Alpha pheromones right now, not a single one of the hundreds of wolves in the square suspects a thing.

Finally, I straighten up, forcing my voice to stay hoarse as I issue the command. "Send the Alpha's body to the Holy Fire Array immediately. Let his soul return to the Sacred Tree."

Kael immediately nods in agreement. A flash of desperate, frantic relief crosses his dark eyes. As long as the holy fire reduces that body to ash, no one will ever be able to prove who actually died.

I watch with cold detachment as he eagerly rushes forward to help move the heavy casket. As he strains his shoulders, his collar slips down, exposing the tiny, dark birthmark behind his left ear.

In my past life, that exact mark was how I knew it was him.

This time, I pretend I am completely blind.

The memory hits me like a physical blow. The last time I lived this day, Elias died at the border. Kael, the apex Alpha of our pack, willingly threw away his absolute power and faked his own death to steal his brother's identity. All so he could safely pull Seraphina into his arms.

Back then, I instantly recognized the fake Beta standing in front of me. Completely broken, I grabbed him by the collar, screaming and demanding to know why he was abandoning the pack, me, and our son.

Kael just stared at me with dead eyes. He shoved me away so hard I hit the stone floor.

"Luna, I know the Alpha's death has broken your mind, but you cannot be so deranged as to publicly seduce your mate's brother!"

He shielded a teary-eyed Seraphina behind his broad back like a brick wall. Then, he ordered the guards to pin me against the Sacred Tree's altar. He activated the punishment branding iron himself, searing the runes straight into my flesh.

Our four-year-old son ran out bawling, grabbing Kael's pant leg. "Daddy, why don't you want me?" he begged.

Kael looked down at his own flesh and blood with sheer disgust. Brushing the boy aside under the excuse of "pup hysteria," he threw him directly into the pitch-black isolation cells.

Five full days of sensory deprivation permanently shattered my little boy's mind. After that, even the slight rustle of the wind would send him into violent, whimpering panic attacks.

My mother-in-law, Catherine, stood before the entire pack and spat in my face, calling me a cursed whore. She brutally stripped me of my titles and banished my son and me from the territory with absolutely nothing.

The very people who once bowed to me swallowed their lies and spat at my feet. In the end, my son and I were hunted down by rogue wolves in the freezing wastelands, our throats torn open in the snow.

Now, my eyes snap open. The Moon Goddess has dropped me right back to the exact moment Kael faked his death to steal his brother's life.

The wails of the Howling Ceremony vibrate through the cobblestones. Thick, suffocating murderous intent boils in my chest, but I bite down hard on my tongue, forcing myself to swallow the metallic taste of blood.

The funeral procession slowly lurches forward. The agonizing howls of the pack drown out the frantic thudding of my heart. I watch Kael deliberately slow his pace so he can walk right beside Seraphina, using Elias's name to legitimately wrap a protective arm around her waist.

This time, I'm not going to expose him.

If Kael thinks he can just throw away his Alpha identity and play dead so he can openly sleep with that bitch... then I will give him exactly what he wants. In this life, he will never sit on the Alpha throne again. He can rot in Elias's shell for the rest of his miserable life.