Aria's POV
The gates of the Blackmoon Pack manor stood open, as if they'd been left that way just for me.
When I stepped into the Alpha's bedroom, Damon was on the sofa, nursing a glass of whiskey. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked like an enraged beast about to lash out.
The moment he saw me, the glass shattered in his grip. Shards bit into his palm, and blood dripped through his fingers onto the floor.
"You're back." His voice was low, dangerously calm, like the last second before a storm.
He came toward me, every step heavy with menace.
"Do you have any idea what you've done? How dare you reject me! You ripped my fucking heart out."
"You betrayed me." My voice was steady.
"That meant nothing!" Damon's hand clamped around my jaw, forcing my head up to meet his eyes, his fingers grinding into my jawbone. "Anissa was never the woman I wanted. She was nothing but a convenient release. And I promise you, no one will ever threaten your place as Luna."
God, how had I been so blind to his shamelessness? I'd truly believed he loved me.
"Damon, you know I never cared about being Luna. I only cared about you. And you destroyed all of it." I glared at him.
"I've already fixed my mistake." Damon's voice dropped. "I had Anissa removed from the pack."
"I don't care that she's gone. I want to end this! Why won't you sever our bond? Your parents despise me. You resent me for not being a virgin. No one in the pack accepts me." My voice was ice.
"Because I remember what we had. I remember pulling all-nighters together in the lab back in college. That's why I marked you even after I found out you weren't a virgin!" Damon roared. "Do you have any idea what a concession that is for an Alpha?"
A concession. I laughed bitterly inside. He treated it like charity, like a gift handed down from on high. And I had spent four years grateful for it.
He'd shut me out over a misunderstanding, and now he expected me to swallow his insane rules.
Never.
"It doesn't matter. The moment I saw you cheating, every memory we shared meant nothing to me." I turned to leave the bedroom.
But Damon seized me and shoved me down onto the bed.
His body crashed down on me instantly, his weight crushing the air from my lungs. His knee forced my legs apart. One hand pinned my shoulder while the other started working at my buttons.
"Get off me!" I shoved against his chest with everything I had, but he didn't budge.
Damon tore my shirt open, buttons scattering across the floor. His hand reached behind me and unclasped my bra. It fell away, and he caught my nipple between his teeth, his tongue dragging hard across it.
"Aria, I'm not letting you go. I'll get you pregnant. Once you bear my child, the entire pack will accept you. Even my mother will have to shut her mouth. It's the only way."
"Let go of me!" I braced both hands against his chest. "I'm an Omega. Aren't you afraid I'll give you a weak pup? Aren't you afraid my dirty blood will taint your precious Alpha bloodline?"
Damon's eyes went red. His voice dropped to barely a whisper. "I don't care. You're not going anywhere, Aria. You're my marked Luna. That's not changing."
"Do you remember the first time we met?" he said suddenly, his voice going soft, unrecognizable from the man seconds ago.
I closed my eyes. I didn't want to hear this. It would only remind me what a fool I'd been.
"You were in the woods at the edge of Blackmoon territory, beaten half to death, lying in a pool of your own blood. When I picked you up, the first words out of your mouth were, 'Leave me. You'll get hurt.' You were practically dead, and you were still worrying about me. Aria, from that day on, I knew what kind of woman you were. You don't deserve to be treated like this. You deserve the best."
"Fascinating. So shoving your dick inside another she-wolf is your idea of what's best for me." My voice dripped with venom.
"Aria! I was only venting my pain!" Damon roared. "Do you have any idea how much I suffered, not getting there in time? Letting those rogue wolves-"
The words died in his throat, his eyes raw with agony. I knew what he'd been about to say. They all believed the rogue wolves had assaulted me that day.
I wanted to tell him the truth about that night. But looking at Damon-maybe, if he knew about Eva's pain, he'd only use it to control me even more.
I took a slow breath. Looking at his face, a bone-deep weariness settled over me. But I needed to stay calm. I had to find a way to make Damon sign those divorce papers on my own terms.
If I kept fighting him, kept pushing, he really would lock me in the basement.
"I'm too tired tonight. I need to rest." My voice was steady again.
Damon looked up, his eyes boring into mine, trying to read whether I meant it.
"Aria-"
"I mean it." I pushed him off and straightened my clothes. "If you keep forcing yourself on me, I'll bite my own tongue off."
Just then, the door swung open.
Donna stood in the doorway, wrapped in an expensive silk robe. Her gaze swept between me and Damon, her lips curling into a cruel smirk.
"Well, well. Look who's back." Donna drew out every word, each one dripping with venom. "The sheer nerve. Running around till midnight, then marching back into this house like you own the place. Do you have any idea the whole pack is laughing at you?"
"Mother." Damon's voice went cold.
"Am I wrong?" Donna crossed her arms and stepped right up to me, looking me up and down like I was something she'd scraped off her shoe. "A packless Omega, marked by an Alpha, and still not satisfied. Running off and coming back past midnight. You think you're some kind of princess? You're worth less than a stray dog."
"Enough!" Damon growled, unleashing his Alpha presence.
Donna froze. She stared at Damon, and the shock in her eyes was impossible to hide.
"Aria is mine." Damon stepped in front of me, cutting off Donna's stare. "She will never scrub another floor. No one lays a hand on her. Whoever does answers to me."
"Damon, have you lost your mind?" Donna's voice went shrill, her face flushing red. "Do you know what she-"
"I said enough." Damon's words landed like a slap across Donna's face. "Go to your room. Now."
Donna's lips trembled with rage. She shot me one last venomous glare, then turned and stormed out, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the walls.
I stood there, stunned. This was the first time Damon had ever defended me in front of Donna. But it was too late. I wouldn't give him credit for it.
Damon turned back to me and reached for my face. I turned my face away. "I need to rest," I said flatly.
Damon's hand hung in the air. His shoulders sagged, a wounded look flickering in his eyes.
"Fine. Go to sleep. Tomorrow, you'd better get it straight who your mate is."
I went upstairs to the cold, dilapidated bedroom I'd lived in for four years and opened the old laptop on the desk. Just thinking about the words I was about to type made my fingers tremble. I had made up my mind. I was divorcing Damon.
Step one of my plan: I searched "divorce agreement template" and downloaded one.
I wasn't sure Ronan Thorne would come through for me in the end. I needed to try every other possibility.
I called the top twenty divorce lawyers on the West Coast, one after another. But the moment they heard Alpha Damon's name, every single one turned me down flat.
"Look, Aria, the entire West Coast knows who the Alpha of the Blackmoon Pack is. Taking your case means making an enemy of the whole pack. No lawyer will take that risk."
Over a dozen calls. Over a dozen rejections. Each one reminded me that in this world, I was nothing. An Omega with no pack, no family, no money, begging for the right to divorce.
I closed the call screen and stared at the last name on my list. Ronan Thorne.
The Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack. And the most renowned divorce lawyer on the West Coast.
I'd met him before.
He was Damon's closest friend. And he had never once spoken a kind word to me.
But I was out of options.
