I froze. My ears began to ring as blood rushed up to them. With a shaky breath, I picked up one of the fallen photos. I was stark naked on the bed.

There was a man beside me who was looking into the camera with a smug smile. And I was fast asleep beside him.

The birthmark under my left breast was visible. But that wasn’t me. She looked so much like me that for a while I searched my memory for a day like that. There was basically no difference between the both of us.

I looked up at Jack whose back was to me now. His shoulders were tense. How could I begin to even explain this? I was almost fooled by the image.

And I knew he too was fooled. I had the urge to look at Freda and give her applause for going to such lengths to bring me down.

Instead, I opened my mouth and spoke to Jack, “This is not me. You have to believe me,” I flailed my arms. Trying to explain was like holding on to an invisible straw.

The evidence was hard, raw, and irrefutable. But I won’t give in without a fight. Jack could cheat on me and I would understand and walk away because he hurt me.

But I won’t let him believe I had cheated on him while I stayed faithful during the times we were together.

“Then why does she have your birthmark?” Jack asked in a strained voice. I could hear the hurt in them, “And your lips, your hair, your legs, and that tattoo on your thigh?”

I swallowed again feeling myself losing the fight. I couldn’t answer those questions. Jack and I had gotten matching tattoos in the first year of our relationship. No one except us knows about it.

Freda walked to Jack and lay a sympathetic hand on his shoulders. The mate bond made it harder to watch and breathe properly. But I held on to my last bit of strength.

“I know this hurts. But I care about you and won’t stand and watch your supposed wife shame you behind your back,” she bit her lips, faking hesitation before continuing, “That’s why you need to know the truth.”

“Freda, you can’t do this to me,” I spoke.

She sneered at me, “Jack deserves to know how evil you are. He gave you everything and this is how you repay him by committing adultery,” she shook her head in pity, “You don’t deserve him. And I’m telling Jack everything!”

I opened my mouth but Freda beat me to it by facing Jack with her mouth set, “Not only had Claire been cheating on you with a low-life warrior, she has had multiple abortions for him which damaged her womb. That’s why she can’t bear a child for you.”

I shifted back on my feet, alarmed by the atrocities spilled against me. My heart couldn’t take in the shock anymore and I felt my breath seize. Holding my chest while I backed up against the wall, I gasped in and out until blackness overcame me.

I was woken up by the sound of beeping machines hours later. As I opened my eyes and looked around me, I realized I was in a hospital given the white walls and antiseptic smell around me.

There was no one in the room. With great difficulty, I sat up but realized my hand was tied to the hospital bed by a long white bandage.

The sound of the door opening made me look up and a nurse walked in. Immediately she saw me, she backed away quickly with wide eyes. Soon after, Jack walked into the room with a man wearing a white lab coat.

Wordlessly while avoiding my gaze, Jack sat on an empty chair. He was on his phone. But when I looked closely at him, I realized his shoulders were slumped.

The ache came again in my chest when the memories of the previous day came rushing down. The mate bond tore at my feelings, making it hard to breathe.

I half expected Freda to walk into the room with more stories to tarnish my image. But all I got was the doctor walking towards me with a stethoscope.

He checked my vitals, wrote down something on a small note he bought from his pocket, and walked out.

I was left with just Jack. He finally looked up at me. His eyes were red. And I assumed he had been crying. I had the urge to scoff.

After cheating on me with no one else but my sister. And in his words, he didn’t want to hurt me. But he did. If there was a bigger word for what he did, I wouldn’t choose hurt.

“Put on your clothes,” Jack said, staring directly at me. There was no emotion on his face like he had resigned his fate to whatever lies Freda had told him.

I stayed silent, looked around the room, and found my clothes strewn on the bed rail. I realized I was in a hospital gown. I untied the bandage on my hand and walked to the bathroom to change my clothes.

Even though I tried to ignore the ache in me by thinking about happy memories, it didn’t work. That was because most happy memories I had were of Jack and I. How could he do this to me and appear to be the one who's hurt? I asked myself for the millionth time.

Getting into the room, I found Jack standing by the door. We briefly held eye contact as he gestured with his hand for me to follow.

“You didn’t believe Freda, did you?” I asked when the silence between us was killing me.

He shrugged in front of me, “We’ll see.”

From the route we were taking, I knew we weren’t going to the house. Instead, it was taking us directly to the packhouse.

Even though Jack is the Alpha of the pack, we stay out of the pack house because Jack wants us to have a little privacy of our own.

We walked a little distance and I realized we were headed in the direction of the courthouse where important matters of the pack were being discussed.

My throat closed up, “so you won’t even listen to what I have to say?”

Jack stopped his shoulders tensed and fingers clenching, “You have no idea how much restraint I am in right now. I fear I might do something we might regret if I hear one more denial from you.”

“I committed no crime here. You’re the one who slept with Freda on our matrimonial bed!” I snapped. The emotions I held at bay came rushing out.

The anger I hadn’t felt since the incident came like a torrent. Blood rushed to my head. Jack turned around with blazing eyes.

He chuckled mirthlessly, “You know what? You’re the most selfish and wicked person I’ve ever met,” he walked closer to me, keeping just a few feet between us.

“I thank the moon goddess for bringing Freda into my life. For revealing what you are - a demon!”

With that, he turned around and walked away. I was frozen on my feet, his words echoing over again in me. A demon. That’s what he called me. How quickly can someone change towards another person? Once upon a time, those same lips called me an angel.

My trance was broken when I felt the hands of guards on me. They dragged me without respect to the courtroom. When I was pushed into the room, my legs gave up under me, making me fall pitifully on the floor.

My eyes took in the people in the room. All eight court members were present. They each looked at me with scorn and hate. The last person I expected to see was the man in the photo with me. He was sitting on a chair opposite the court members and Jack.

Immediately our eyes met, and his expression saddened, “You can’t keep lying about us, Claire. Especially since our love has come to light.”