The Alpha's Exchanged Mate
The Alpha’s Exchanged Mate – Chapter 22

Edwina’s POV…

After the big fight with Alexander, I have only found time to do basic stuff. I missed when I was still among the humans, and I could work, but now I have a Luna duty to do. As the Luna, you have to be in attendance in all the gatherings, and sometimes, I feel uncomfortable at the casting glares and the condescending glances. I once heard two women talking about me, again in the bathroom during a function. I don’t know what it is with women and gossiping in the bathroom.

“Poor Alpha Alexander, he had to settle for this woman because of his disabilities,” the brunette woman with ugly glasses said to the dark-haired woman. The other woman gave a pitiful look with an exaggerated gasp.

“I feel for him, he is not even the glimpse of the Alpha he used to be, I heard he is now a joke to the Alpha community.” The other lady replied.

“And this sorry thing for a Luna he had gotten for himself is only making things worse,”

They turn to face each other, ” I don’t know how Beta Benedict was able to manage her as a mate. It is absurd. No wonder he cheated,”

My eyes were turning red. I wanted to swear to myself this was the last time I would be going into the bathroom of public spaces because apparently, these people don’t really know what to do with their life other than gossip.

“Maybe that’s why he cheated with her sister so that he can have a version that looks like her to think about whenever he was f*****g her,”

At this point, I wanted to come out and scream and rain hell on these women. But what is the use, and I don’t think it will be worth it.

When they had left the bathroom, there was only one thing on my mind, and that was how I had not visited Benedict since he was convicted.

It was the most painful thing to do at this moment and one of the truths I was still avoiding. And so hard to confront.

***

Today I woke up, and the air had a familiar aroma of rain and wet sands. The birds were humming, and I could see Alex sleeping so peacefully.

I wonder why I can’t grow to love him. I had loved such a douchebag like Ben and didn’t know why it was so hard to love someone like him. He wasn’t bad at all, and regardless of contrary opinions, he was strong and handled the realm and night howlers with wisdom. He rolled to the other side, and as soon as he opened his eyes, I quickly looked away because I didn’t want him to catch me looking at him.

“Were you just watching me sleep?”

My cheeks turned pink, and it was obvious how ashamed I was to be caught looking at him while he slept.

“No, I wasn’t,” I denied. It was quite obvious I was, but I wasn’t going to admit it to Alex or anyone else. Not even for a second.

“There is no way you weren’t,” he paused and looked at me, “you are up early and dressed, is there any function happening today?” He asked inquisitively.

I walked towards the bed slowly as though I was counting each step I made before I reached the bed, and I sat on the edge of the bed, directly opposite him.

“So where are you going?” He asked again

I woke up this morning feeling different, and I had this unsettled feeling in my heart. I knew there was something I needed to do for a long time, and I had been prolonging it, but it was unavoidable, and I needed some sort of closure in my life. When I first found out about the affair he had with my sister, it was when I was called to the station as his wife to sign some documents. I remember looking so confused and stupid because I was the only one unaware of what was going on, I was even raining curses on the guards who had taken him forcefully from the house, and a nice female soldier came to me and took me aside.

She obviously saw how I was foolishly causing disgrace upon myself and then told me what had truly happened and the gravity of the crime Ben had committed. She advised me to go home, stating that she would keep me posted.

Hearing the news made me break down then and there in prison, and then I wasn’t able to walk home. The nice soldier had to take me home. I had never gone to see him, even though I followed the case actively and saw how all the evidence had surfaced, but I still tried not to believe it even when the truth was glaring to the eyes.

“I know this is going to be a hard one for you Alex, but I need you to say yes and trust that I have my reason for wanting to do so,”

I frowned at his masculine face as his edges became more rigid.

“You want to go visit Ben,” he whispered, and I was stunned by how he brought the words right out of my mind. Was he a mind reader? Does he have some telepathic abilities I did not know of?

“How did you know?” I asked curiously.

“You have never visited him since he was convicted and he was a man you married and I am sure also loved. That kind of thing doesn’t disappear in the glimpse of the eyes, for sure you would want some closure,”

I watched him as every word came out of his mouth and admired how he used them. When I was rejected by him the first time from being his Mate, I had a wrong perception of him, and I can now see that he was more than all I had thought.

“So you are not angry I want to go there?” I asked.

“It is not really the most comfortable thought but I understand the need for it.”

I wish I could reach out to him and hug him, but we aren’t there yet, and I understand that.

***

I hate what prison looks like, and it turns out men’s prisons look worse than those of women.

I saw men who were heavily bruised on their faces with marks of claws that they might have gotten from fighting in their wolf form. I was scared to see Ben at this point. What does he look like?

I sat down at the round table, I could see all eyes falling on me, and I felt a little bit uncomfortable.

The main entrance door that led to the prison opened, and I saw him walking out. Apart from him being in blue jumpers, he looks the same. His brown eyes are still breathtaking, and his brown wavy hair was still as they were when I saw him for the first time, and when his steps drew closer, my mind wandered off to the first time we met each other.

***FLASHBACK***

I sat down close to the riverside crying; I had just gotten to hear from my then-best friend Kathie about how she thought I was a loser and how sometimes she felt ashamed of being my friend. I had always thought she was the last person who didn’t see me or judge me the way everyone else did. I had thought she saw me as a friend and not some deficient, but I had noticed some character change in her and had confronted her about it, and she had given me the shock of my life.

It was the winter, and I sat there only with a vest and shorts. I was hoping to freeze to death, and it won’t be ruled as suicide because no one ever kills themselves that way, and then he walked towards me. I didn’t know he was observing me for quite a while, and he sat beside me.

“An easier way is to just jump into the freezing lake,” he said to me, and I cast a glare because I did not understand what he was saying, nor did I want to have a conversation with a stranger.

“Uh mm?” I asked him, still trying to figure out what he meant by that.

“Obviously, you are trying to kill yourself. Why else would you be in the freezing cold half naked,” he spoke with a smirk on his face and removed his thick coat and placed it over my shoulder. I didn’t utter a word but took comfort in the thick cloth.

“I am Benedict,” he said, and my eyes widened because that was when I turned to see the face. That was when I realized it was the Beta wolf.

***PRESENT DAY***

He sat down opposite me with his usual grin still on his face. There hasn’t been much that has changed about him.

“Hello Edwina or should I say, Luna Edwina,”

I don’t know what made me freak out at that moment upon hearing his voice, but then I realized I didn’t come prepared for this conversation at all.