Maximillian Adonis

Selena, her adopted sister, was the soulmate of her husband, Maximillian Adonis?

How was that possible?

The Alpha heir...he had marked her on this night!

In front of the entire Setting Dawn Pack, he had officially and unquestionably accepted her as his wife and future Luna!

He had neither mentioned Selena nor brought up anything about their mate bond.

But if Selena was his mate in this life, then that only meant she was his mate in her previous life as well.

Because soulmates were one and only.

And considering the fact their marking ceremony had only begun after Selena's coming of age ceremony concluded...

It meant...she entered a chosen mate bond with her adopted sister's true mate!

Yusria's knees grew weak and she crumbled to the ground, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed uncontrollably with her hand covering her mouth.

"No wonder...no wonder Selena changed...ha...haha..."

The self-loathing and disgust she felt towards herself were enough to bury her alive. In both her previous and present life, Yusria had feared, hated, and felt betrayed by Selena because of what she had done to her.

She had felt she had loved and blindly trusted the wrong person, blaming herself for being selfless in her care and naive in her perception of the girl, for being foolish enough to love an adopted sister more than she loved herself.

But as the truth of the matter stands, it seems like it wasn't Selena that had betrayed her, but she who had betrayed Selena.

She had tormented and tortured her sister in the most unimaginable way...

Because from the look of things, Selena hadn't accepted Maximillian's rejection, otherwise, she would've either died or fallen into a coma. Since neither happened, it only meant Selena had endured the soul-splitting pain of her mate showering his love and affections on another woman.

No wonder she had changed so drastically. Yusria had stolen her one and only true mate.

"Heh...hehe..."

How ridiculous!

A true mate bond was no joking matter. This was a bond blessed by the Moon Goddess and formed between two souls to complete one another. In this bond, if a mate found a lover or wife that wasn't his true mate, then the other would suffer a torment that could rival rotting in a nest of poisonous snakes and venomous insects for eons.

Just imagining the excruciating pain and agony Selena must've felt when Maximillian Adonis marked her, the gut-wrenching anguish she must've experienced when the maggot kissed and made love to her made Yusria's soul shudder in revulsion.

After making the girl go through such agony, she had the gall to claim she wouldn't wish such torment on even her worst enemy?

Compared to the heart-rending pain she made Selena experience in stealing her true mate, the little torture the other exacted on her couldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence.

An image, long-buried and forgotten in the recess of her heart, flashed back in her mind.

"Yusria, drink it!"

"Wha...what is it?"

"Heh...you're really funny. What do you care what it is? Look at your condition! Look and see your appearance. Even if it's poison, do you think a pig like you is worthy of living!?" Her husband ruthlessly gripped her chin and bellowed in her face, hatred and disgust saturating his voice as his blue eyes exuded frost, an emotion completely different from the gentle tenderness he used to shower her with.

"You were already a useless trash without the ability to shift. And now that even your face is ruined, you have lost your value. There is no point in keeping you around, so why should I tarnish my reputation for a worthless trash? You should just die and spare me from the shame of having to parade you around as my wife!"

"M...Max...what are you...saying?" Yusria stuttered, beyond devastated by his demeaning words.

"Can't even speak coherently. Truly a useless trash!"

Without any warning, he forced her jaw open and poured the contents of the cup down her throat, and sealed her mouth with his large hand. Yusria's eyes stung and she coughed, wildly thrashing her tightly gripped chin as she choked on the liquid.

But the fu**ing ba****d didn't release her until he ascertained she had swallowed the bitter concoction.

"You marked me...we were supposed...to spend...a lifetime together..." As she laid powerlessly on the ground, her body convulsing and skin tearing, she caught sight of her adopted sister looking the other way.

At that time, she only thought the girl was revolted to see her wretched appearance. But now...

"I really can't stay here anymore."

A sigh, one of firm conviction passed through her bloodless lips. Yusria wiped her tears and staggered to her feet. She looked at the beautiful girl she had loved and adored, protected like a fragile rose for one last time before decisively turning her back.

As pathetic as she was, Yusria still felt glad that even at her last moment, her sister couldn't bear to watch her die.

For her, that alone was enough.

At least the love she showered on the other wasn't exactly for nothing.

With a light smile on her lips and bright eyes, she embraced the darkness with her back straight and her steps firm, displaying her resolve and unshakable determination.

"Whether you accept the rejection or not, I am going to mark Yusria as mine. Selena Dimitri, are you sure you don't want me to reject you?"

"I...if you reject me...there's a chance that I'll die. Even if I don't, I don't want to take the risk of possibly falling into a coma."

"The chances of that happening is very small. Only true mates that have marked each other have the possibility of falling into a coma when their mate-bond is broken."

"Yes, but...you can't ignore the possibility that there is a chance that I might fall into a coma. I don't want to take such a risk." Selena felt her heart shatter with every passing second.

Her mate was refusing to accept her. Right to her face, he confessed his intention to mark another as his mate. But as if that wasn't enough, he even proposed to reject her with a straight face!

How could she accept that!?

How, when she loved this same man for over 13 years!?

Before she had convinced herself that he wasn't hers and belonged to her adopted sister. Even though the other was only an adopted sister and didn't share any blood ties with her, Selena found the thought of coveting her adopted sister's man revolting.

Because of this disgusting thought of hers, for many years she had hated herself and avoided this young man.

However now...this man was her true mate, her fated mate.

More than Yusria, she had greater right over him. So how could she accept him rejecting her?

Their bond was blessed and formed by the Moon Goddess herself. This meant that only her soul would ever be able to complete Maximillian Adonis's soul, and only his soul would ever be able to complete hers.

The Moon Goddess made them for each other. By this thought alone, didn't that mean Yusria was the one coveting her man?

Wasn't she the one stealing what was rightfully hers?

"You are aware of what you'll have to endure, right?"

"Huh...? I..." Was he really planning on marking her adopted sister?

Even when she was his true mate? Why? Was she not good enough? She must be otherwise the Moon Goddess wouldn't have paired them together.

So why?

Pain stabbed through her heart and Selena found it difficult to breathe. As she felt the still throbbing bond between them, the bond that connected their soul and marked them as each others', her heart twisted and a dark emotion, one she had never felt before, overwhelmed her senses.

'If only she didn't exist...then me and Max..."

At this moment, she found the very existence of her adopted sister abhorrent.

Her silent and distracted appearance made Max narrow his eyes.

"If you can't accept me marking Yusria, then I'll have to reject you, Selena. I already married Yusria, and if it wasn't for my father's interference, I would've already marked her. Do you know why I was in a rush to mark her even when she wasn't my mate?" He coldly asked.

Selena raised her head and blankly stared at him.

She didn't know. In fact, she had secretly wondered to herself multiple times why the alpha heir was in a rush to marry Yusria. Didn't he want to meet his true mate?

Didn't he want to experience the wonders of a true mate bond?

Werewolves were a loyal and devoted species that devoutly worshipped the Moon Goddess and sought the other half of their soul the same goddess made for them. And even though times had changed and many rejected their true mate for chosen mates, the faith and belief ingrained in their souls, and the culture they were brought up in had never changed.

It was because of this ingrained belief and the environment that they were raised in that true mates were still favored over chosen mates, and if the situation didn't call for it, chosen mates were even frowned upon.

So why was Maximillian Adonis, the future alpha of the Setting Dawn Pack who needed a true mate by his side to stably lead his pack, bent on having a chosen mate?

This truly baffled her.

"The reason is very simple, really. I wanted to marry her in a hurry before I found my true mate. According to the laws of the Lykan Emperor, a werewolf that finds his mate can't choose a chosen mate. But if a werewolf marks a chosen mate before finding his true mate, then their bond cannot be forcefully broken unless the involved individuals mutually decide on separation."

Selena frowned.

Her fists unconsciously tightened on the coat as she felt an inkling of what he was going to say. But no matter how obvious the answer was to her, her heart refused to believe it. How could his heart give him the permission to do that?

For someone that wasn't even his true mate?

Unfortunately, his following words left her no room for delusions as her mate had no intention of sparing her the pain.

"I wanted to mark Yusria before I found my true mate because I love her."