Chapter 69: Anna Is Outed
The persistent buzzing of Adrian’s phone is what finally drags him out of sleep. The both of them. A side window in the suite has its curtain drawn, basking the room in an orange hue.
With a low groan, Adrian buries his face deeper into Nyra’s hair, tightening his arm around her waist instead of reaching for the phone.
"Ignore it," he mumbles sleepily.
Nyra lets out a quiet laugh, still drowsy herself. "I don’t think whoever’s calling plans on giving up. It’s been ringing for over ten minutes now."
The air between them is peaceful. They had spent the night exploring each other in more ways than one until they both fell asleep. Now, the only sound besides the relentless buzzing is their slow, synchronized breathing.
Adrian finally cracks one eye open, lips curling into an unmistakably smug smile as he looks down at her.
Nyra feels his gaze and hides her flushed face against his chest. Every shift reminds her that they’re still painfully naked under the hotel duvet, and the memory of last night hits her with full force.
It was a long night.
"Don’t look at me," she mumbles, putting a spare pillow on her face. "And wipe that smug smile off your face!"
He just chuckles, presses a kiss into her hair, and somehow her face grows even redder. "Adrian..."
"What?" he teases. "You’re adorable. And sexy. And sweet. And pretty. And-"
She lightly swats his shoulder. "Shut up."
His grin only widens. He leans down to whisper something--most likely obscene-- only for his phone to buzz again, cutting him off.
Several notifications and calls are coming in at once. The smile slowly slips from Adrian’s face.
"That’s... not normal." He reluctantly reaches across the bedside table and picks up his phone.
Twelve missed calls. Two are from his parents.
Fifty-seven unread messages.
His stomach sinks. Something is definitely wrong.
"What?" Nyra notices his expression immediately and sits up, wrapping the duvet around her chest. "What happened?"
Adrian doesn’t answer yet, already scrolling through a post that was made by an anonymous user. This time, it’s not just the academy page, the whole pack can see the posts.
Or rather... pictures.
Adrian’s heart is pounding as he loads the blurred photographs. Some were taken at night, some in the late evening from a distance.
The first one: a girl is standing outside an upscale hotel, leaning in too close to a man, his hand wrapped around her waist.
Adrian recognizes who it is instantly.
Anna.
He remembers the outfit, remembers how he’d asked Anna to come with him during the out-of-pack combat competition last year. Remembers how Anna had gone missing for over thirty minutes, and when he’d asked, she told him she got lost.
This outfit. The one he’d gotten for her to wear to the welcome party that night.
He can’t see the guy’s face, but the Silver Fangs symbol on the back of his hoodie makes his blood boil. His hands are shaking as he scrolls to the next one.
Still Anna. This one is more recent, taken in Moon-Crest.
One of the times she called him, saying she would be going out late with her friends. He didn’t question it, never did-- she’s even still wearing her health practical uniform.
His hand is around her waist, leading her into another popular, upscale hotel on the other side of Moon-Crest.
The guy in the photo is dressed casually, but the blue eyes, sharp jawline, and "better than thou" expression are unmistakable.
Ronan.
The same guy sitting in jail right now, the one who had apparently drugged his mate to get revenge on him.
Suddenly, Rylan’s words in that locker room don’t sound so absurd anymore. You’ve been taking care of another man’s child.
So they all knew? God, he must’ve looked so stupid to them this past month.
His face mirrors his thoughts as he keeps scrolling.
One is of them in some random restaurant a few streets away from the academy.
One is-- Adrian looks ready to commit murder-- of them kissing inside his car. The outfit, it’s the same one she wore when she walked in on him giving Nyra those contraceptives.
She told him she was at after-school practicals, that she couldn’t help him with his rut. She told him she couldn’t come, she said-
Adrian’s head is a mess.
He had hurt Nyra badly that day because of how guilty he felt. Guilt becuase he thought he had betraying Anna. The nerve of her to accuse Nyra that day when she was with another man just a few hours before.
The last photo is even more heartbreaking. It’s them, at the pool party.
He is wearing the same hoodie from the CCTV, face completely covered. She is resting on his chest, laughing at something he said.
Adrian doesn’t have any idea how they’d missed this while checking the CCTV footage after the drugging. Maybe because they were all too focused on finding the culprits.
But it’s unmistakable. Anna has been cheating on him with Ronan for almost a year now.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
His eyes are starting to water, but he blinks it away. She doesn’t deserve a single tear-- but God, it hurts so much.
He had spent weeks treating his mate badly, convincing himself Anna was the one for him. While she was busy parading herself around town and sleeping with his enemy.
Nyra sits upright beside him when she notices his expression. "Adrian..? What’s wrong? What happened?"
He silently hands her the phone, jaw tight enough to crack. His pheromones have spiked in the room, thick with the smell of hurt and rage.
Nyra exhales loudly as her eyes scan the photographs. Her eyes widen, replaying how devastated she looked when Adrian asked her about the baby’s father last night.
She had even almost scolded him for treating her sister like that. Almost.
Nyra is in total shock. Frozen. Her sister has done a lot of things. Things she doesn’t even want to think of-- but this?
She wouldn’t. She refuses to believe it.
Her voice barely comes out. "These can’t be real. Right...?"
Adrian doesn’t respond, his body still shaking with rage. He tells himself he shouldn’t be affected by this anymore. Not after what Rylan threw at him yesterday.
But somehow, it still hurts.
Maybe even more because a small part of him had believed Anna would never stoop so low.
The comments underneath are even worse, like salt to injury.
"Isn’t the last photo close to when Anna announced the pregnancy?"
"Somebody do the math."
"It is definitely not his child. She tried to baby trap him."
There are also messages from his friends. John, David, and all the other guys checking in on him, asking him to take it easy.
He scoffs. Take it easy?
No wonder his pheromones weren’t working. No wonder-
Fuck!
Nyra slowly reaches for his rage-clenched hand. His skin is lava hot to touch, but she doesn’t pull away.
And for the first time since they became mates, she has no idea how to comfort him.
Talking about the devil, Adrian’s phone starts to ring on Nyra’s lap. Anna.
Nyra’s first instinct is to decline the call, but Adrian is faster. His hand shoots out, grabbing the phone from her lap before she can touch it. For a moment, he just stares at the name glowing on the screen, then he answers.
"Adrian, please..." Anna sounds like she’s been crying, it’s getting on his nerves. "Babe, please, I can explain. It’s not what you think. Those pictures..."
"Don’t fucking call me that." Adrian cuts her off in anger.
Nyra watches as his jaw tightens, his silver eyes becoming colder with every word."Do you have any idea how stupid you make me feel right now?"
"Adrian, listen to me--"
"No." He snaps angrily, and the temperature around them drops. Literally.
His pheromones surge around them, but ll slightly different from before. Darker and thicker, until it’s almost impossible to breathe.
Anyone else would have been choked by his pheromones, but since Nyra is his mate, it doesn’t affect her as much-- still is scares her. She grabs his hand, tighter, trying to calm him down.
"I spent months feeling guilty because I was starting to fall for my own mate. I hurt someone who did nothing wrong because I was trying to be loyal to you."
Nyra’s head drops. It was such a bad place to be in. At least that story is over now.
"Yet all you did was lie to my fucking face!" He spits, startling Nyra when he stands abruptly from the bed, gripping the phone so tightly his knuckles turn white.
"If I come back to that condo and I see you, or any of your things still there..." His voice drops lower. "I swear to God, Anna, I’ll really show you what I’m capable of."
He hangs up before she can even say anything else, chest rising and falling. A few seconds later, his phone rings once more, this time, his father again.
Adrian exhales loudly before answering. "Yes, Dad?"
His father’s voice is serious. "Come home, Adrian. Both of you. Anna has also been called over."
Adrian’s jaw ticks at the mention of her name. "I don’t want to be anywhere around her right now, Dad."
His father’s voice doesn’t change. "This isn’t about what you want, Adrian. The situation concerns the entire pack now."
Adrian looks at Nyra, then back at the phone. "I fucking hope the main purpose of this meeting is a DNA test. Because I’m not discussing anything else until I know the truth."
His father frowns at his tone, but neither of them has the energy to address it right now.
"Yes." He responds, sounding frustrated. "We’ve already called in the royal doctor. The DNA will be done today."