The night was over and I was on the way home, and I hesitated for a long time before finally sending a message to Alpha Elias, the man I had been bound to for years but had never truly reached.
[Alpha... Can we pretend last night never happened? I was drunk and confused.]
Silence. The message sat there, unanswered.
I frowned and sent another one.
A red exclamation mark appeared in front of it.
[Felicia, we had a deal. Don't forget that.]
My chest tightened. Oh no, I almost forgot—I made a deal with my husband's stepbrother. This can't be happening. I was so drunk last night that I couldn't think straight. Damn, this is a mess.
By the time I reached my small home at the outskirts of the pack territory, the sun was already creeping over the horizon.
The moment I stepped inside, I froze. Benedict was sitting in the shadows, his golden eyes burning into mine.
He had not slept. His body was tense, jaw locked, fingers curled into fists against his knees.
"Felicia." His voice was low, strained. "Where were you last night? I called you over a dozen times!"
I moved past him, barely sparing him a glance.
"You can disappear all night, but I can’t?" My voice was cold, void of the warmth I had once offered him so freely.
Benedict flinched. I had never spoken to him like this before. We had been together for years, and in all that time, I had never once raised my voice at him. But now? I wanted to rip him apart.
I saw the shift in his expression, the flicker of guilt.
"You know, don’t you?"
His voice was too calm, too resigned. As if he had expected this moment to come.
Something inside me snapped. I swung my bag at him, my hands trembling with fury.
"How could you?!" My voice cracked as the words tore from my throat. "If you didn’t love me anymore, you could have let me go! But instead, you betrayed me!"
The image of him with her with another she-wolf tangled in his arms; their scents intertwined—flashed before my eyes. It shattered everything I thought I knew. Everything I thought we had.
Benedict caught my wrist, pulling me toward him. "Felicia, I’m sorry."
I wrenched away, tears burning down my cheeks. "Don’t touch me with your filthy hands!"
He clenched his jaw. "It was a mistake."
"A mistake?" I laughed bitterly. "Then tell me, Benedict—if I did the same thing, if I let another man touch me and called it an accident, would you forgive me?"
His eyes darkened. A dangerous glint replaced the guilt.
"If you did, I’d kill him."
A chill ran down my spine.
He knew. He knew betrayal was unforgivable, yet he still betrayed me.
I took a deep breath and steadied myself. "Do you remember what I told you when you first claimed me?"
Benedict’s expression faltered. "Felicia—"
"I told you if you ever betrayed me, I wouldn’t fight for you. I would walk away."
Panic flashed in his eyes. "I won’t let you go."
I wiped my tears away and met his gaze with nothing but loathing. "It doesn’t matter what you want. I’ve already made my decision. We’re done."
I turned and walked away, ignoring the sound of his sharp intake of breath.
Upstairs, I locked the door behind me and collapsed onto the bed, exhaustion sinking deep into my bones.
The scent of last night still clung to my skin. My stomach churned.
Stripping out of my clothes, I stepped into the shower and scrubbed until my skin burned, until I could no longer feel the remnants of that night clinging to me.
But even then, I couldn’t erase the memories. The touch of a man who was not my mate. The ghost of his breath on my skin. The whispered words I wasn’t supposed to hear.
By the time I emerged from the bathroom, my hair still damp, Benedict was waiting for me. His eyes dragged over me, dark with something unreadable.
"Felicia..."
I ignored him and reached for my clothes. Before I could react, his arms wrapped around me from behind, his grip unyielding.
"Let me go." My voice was sharp, warning him.
"Don’t push me away," he whispered into my ear. "We can fix this. We can start over. We can have a child—"
Rage flooded my veins. I shoved him back with all the strength I had. "Are you insane?"
His face twisted with frustration. "You always wanted a pup, didn’t you? We can still—"
"Not with you."
The words struck him like a blade. His body went rigid.
Then, something in him snapped.
He lunged. I barely had time to react before he pinned me down, his weight crushing against me.
"Say that again," he growled, his breath hot against my skin.
I met his gaze without fear. "I would rather die than carry your child."
His expression darkened. And then his lips crashed onto mine in a desperate, punishing kiss.
I fought. Clawed. Bit. I was no weak she-wolf, and I would never let him take what wasn’t his.
Even if it meant tearing him apart.
