Mated To The Crippled Alpha-Chapter 198: Delusional Lovers

I had planned to tell Mom about Monica and her lover.

The words were already sitting on my tongue.

But just as I opened my mouth, Grant walked in.

I swallowed everything.

Now wasn’t the right time.

Grant was not like other men. He could abandon a woman if he felt betrayed. But Lincy... he had raised her for years. Fed her. Protected her. Watched her grow.

That kind of bond doesn’t break easily.

If I told him now, he would question me. Defend her. Doubt the truth.

No.

I needed him to see it with his own eyes.

I needed the illusion to shatter on its own.

"Darling, are you alright?" Grant rushed toward Mom.

I squeezed her hand gently. "Don’t go out for a while. Stay inside. Stay safe."

She looked at me carefully. She sensed something deeper. "I understand."

Ever since she learned about what happened to me before about the pain, the betrayal she had grown more protective of the twins in her womb. Sometimes I caught her touching her belly with a strange look in her eyes.

As if she feared fate might repeat itself.

As if she wondered whether one of the children might carry a soul that once suffered.

I turned to Grant.

"If you truly care about Mom," I said evenly, "stop hesitating. She won’t wait forever."

I didn’t wait for his answer.

The Hudson pack had just been dragged through humiliation and blood. That storm wasn’t finished yet.

When I reached the hospital, I saw Lincy and Yenick standing in the hallway.

Too close.

Too comfortable.

"Yenick, you see her true colors now, right?" Lincy said sweetly. "I told you she wasn’t innocent."

Yenick nodded, his voice low. "I know. I was fooled. But no one will separate us again."

"Yenick..."

She leaned up and kissed him.

I almost laughed.

If she weren’t so blinded by her emotions, she would have investigated the nights Yenick spent in clubs, the scent of other women clinging to him long after dawn.

"You two seem very harmonious," I said, folding my arms.

Lincy instantly stepped in front of Yenick like she was guarding prey.

"What are you looking at?" she snapped. "Just because you helped me this time doesn’t mean you have a chance with Yenick. He’s mine now. Stay in your place, Mrs. Hale."

I stared at her.

Was that really what she thought?

That I joined forces with her because I still wanted Yenick?

The logic stunned me.

I stepped closer. She took half a step back.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Just wondering if your brain makes any sound when shaken," I said calmly, tapping my own temple. "Is there anything inside?"

"Riley!" she hissed.

"Our goals aligned," she said sharply. "Now we’re enemies."

"Fine by me."

She lifted her chin. "Don’t act superior. If I hadn’t stepped forward, could you have forced Camilla into a corner? Your peaceful life is ending soon. Dad will come back to me."

She pulled out a black card and waved it in my face.

"Do you recognize this?"

It had Grant’s name on it.

Anyone could see that.

"This is Dad’s black card," she said proudly. "And now it’s mine. Do you have one?"

I didn’t answer immediately.

Grant had given Mom shares, assets, protection. He had promised to keep lines clear between households. Between loyalties.

He broke that promise.

I leaned slightly closer to her and spoke softly.

"Keep it," I said. "You’ll need it."

"For what?" she snapped.

"For when the day comes that you realize you were never chosen. You were just useful."

Her face tightened.

Lincy laughed, her voice sharp and cruel.

"So what if you’re the first wife’s daughter? He doesn’t care about you. He watched me grow up. I’m his favorite. If I say I don’t want to marry, he’ll push you forward instead. Riley, you’re pathetic."

Her eyes dropped to my chest, full of mock pity.

"With a mother like yours, always acting proud and distant, no wonder your life turned out like this. A father who doesn’t love you. And now you’ve bonded yourself to a crippled Alpha. How tragic."

She leaned closer and whispered, "If I were you, I’d find a rope."

It was the same method she always used. Slow poison. Word by word. She had used this kind of pressure for years until the old Riley couldn’t breathe anymore.

Did she really think I was still that girl?

That her voice could push me toward death?

I smiled instead.

"A black card?" I said lightly. "Grant is generous with you."

I tilted my head. "But I’m curious. How many shares did he give you?"

Her smug expression faltered.

Grant spoiled her with clothes, cars, and expensive dinners. But when it came to real power the kind that ties you to the pack’s future he had always been careful.

"You don’t have any, do you?" I continued calmly. "Not even one percent."

Her face stiffened.

"He gave Mom and me five percent each. Combined with Mom’s original shares, that’s fifteen percent of Ashbourne Group."

The hallway went quiet.

Yenick turned to look at me sharply.

He hadn’t expected that.

For all the times Grant publicly favored Lincy, the real inheritance the bloodline strength of the pack’s wealth had gone to us.

Lincy shook her head violently. "You’re lying. Dad would never give you that much."

"Ask him," I said softly. "You said he adores you. Let’s see how deep that affection really runs."

She lifted her chin. "If I ask, he’ll give me anything."

"Good luck."

She stormed off, heels striking the floor.

Watching her leave, I felt nothing but cold clarity.

If she didn’t keep making noise, how would Grant and Mom ever break cleanly?

Sometimes destruction helps truth surface faster.

And after today, I was more certain than ever.

Grant might desire Mom, but his instincts were divided between profit, reputation, and pride.

Nicholas, on the other hand, had spent twenty years standing at the edge of her territory without crossing a line.

Some bonds aren’t loud.

They just endure.

As Lincy disappeared, Yenick stepped closer.

He smelled faintly of anger and cheap cologne.

"Riley," he said, lowering his voice, "I knew Lincy wasn’t capable of all that strategy on her own. You helped her, didn’t you? You couldn’t let go of me. You didn’t want me marrying Camilla."

I stared at him.

The confidence. The arrogance.

It almost made me laugh.

"Do you not own a mirror?" I asked calmly. "Take a good look at yourself. What makes you think I care?"

His jaw tightened.

"You’re a failure in your own pack," I continued evenly. "The only thing you’re good at is raising your hand against women. Is that your strength?"

His face darkened.

"And yet," he snapped, "you once wanted to die for me. You even tried to slit your wrists. Wasn’t that pathetic?"

That was how he saw Riley.

A desperate girl clinging to scraps of attention.

He wasn’t worth the breath.

I turned and walked into the hospital room.

Camilla lay on the bed, face swollen, lips split. The proud social queen reduced to something fragile and silent.

The Morrigans. The Hudson elders. Everyone stood in tight circles, tension thick in the air.

Yenick entered behind me.

And then

The temperature in the room shifted.

Lewis was seated near the window.

Even without standing, he carried the weight of command. The air around him felt controlled, steady. Like territory that knew exactly who ruled it.

His eyes flicked to Yenick.

Just once.

Yenick instinctively stiffened.

That was the difference between men.

One needed to shout and strike to prove dominance.

The other didn’t need to move at all.

Then Lewis looked at me.

The sharpness in his gaze softened immediately.

He extended his hand slightly.

"Riley," he said quietly. "Come here."