ログインSummer's POVI sit at the breakfast table alone, staring at scrambled eggs I have no intention of eating.The grandfather clock in the hallway chimes eight times. Eight in the morning, and still no Luxian.The coffee has gone cold in my cup. I made it at six, thinking I heard his car in the driveway. False alarm. Just the groundskeeper arriving for work.The mansion feels different when he's not in it. Bigger. Emptier. Like all the warmth gets sucked out the moment he leaves.I should eat. Should pretend this is normal, that my husband staying out all night after our fight is something wives just handle with grace and understanding.But the eggs taste like cardboard, and my stomach feels like it's full of broken glass.Where did he go?The question has been circling my mind since three AM, when I finally accepted he wasn't coming home. Did he drive to some hotel to cool off? Visit pack territory to think?Or did he drive straight to Room 666 at the Moonridge Hotel?The thought makes m
Luxian's POVI wake up like I've been shot. Fuck. No gradual awareness. No gentle return to consciousness. Just instant, brutal clarity that something is fundamentally fucked.The scent hits me first, not Summer's clean vanilla warmth, but something darker. Expensive perfume mixed with sex and victory.Then the weight against my back. Warm skin that shouldn't be there.My eyes snap open to black silk and raven hair spilled across the pillow. Pale flesh that seems to glow in the dim hotel light filtering through heavy curtains.Remiora. Naked. Draped across me like she owns me.We're both bare under these black sheets.Fuck.Memory slams back in fragments. The bar. Too much whiskey laced with whatever magical poison she fed me. Her hands, her mouth, the systematic destruction of every wall I'd built against this exact scenario.The spell that's been eating away at my connection to Summer for days.I move fast, too fast. Roll off the bed so hard I crash into the wall, naked and disorien
Luxian's POVI drive like I'm running from death itself.The Porsche tears through mountain curves at speeds that would kill a lesser driver. But I don't give a fuck about death right now. Death would be simpler than the mess waiting for me at home.Summer's words chase me through every mile, every turn. The kind of accusation that cuts because it hits bone.Three hours and two hundred miles later, I slam the brakes outside some shithole roadside bar. The kind of place where alphas come to forget they have territories to run and mates who expect them to be better than they are.Perfect.I order whiskey. The good stuff. None of that watered-down bullshit they serve humans.The bartender knows better than to ask questions. Takes one look at me and keeps the bottle close.By the fourth shot, the edge comes off my rage. By the seventh, I start thinking maybe Summer was right. Maybe I am preparing to trade her in.Maybe I should stop fighting it."Drinking alone is such a waste of good whi
Summer's POVI wake up to cold sheets.The space beside me where Luxian should be is empty, the pillow still perfectly fluffed like no one slept there at all. I run my hand across the cotton, searching for any lingering warmth.Nothing.The clock on the nightstand reads 6:15 AM. Even for an early riser, this is unusual.I pad downstairs in my nightgown, expecting to find him in the kitchen with his morning coffee and that small smile he always gives me when I appear looking sleep-rumpled and ridiculous.Instead, I find him in his study, fully dressed and buried in paperwork like he's been up for hours."Morning," I say softly, hovering in the doorway.He glances up briefly. "Morning." Then his eyes return to the documents spread across his desk.No smile. No warmth in his voice. No invitation to come closer.I wait, uncertain. Usually he'd pull me into his lap by now, steal a few minutes of quiet intimacy before the day begins. But he just keeps reading, his pen scratching across pape
Luxian's POV Something was in my hall. My wolf knew it before my brain processed the wrongness in the air. Not just another alpha. Not even a threat I recognized. This was *other*—dark and ancient and fucking unwelcome. "Alpha." Kian's tone was clipped. "We have an intruder." "I know." The pressure against my mind was deliberate. A challenge. Someone wanted me to know they were here, sitting in my territory like they owned it. Summer's fingers wrapped around mine. Cold. She was afraid. Good. Fear kept you sharp. "Behind me," I ordered. Not a request. I shoved the oak doors open hard enough to crack them against the walls. The temperature inside was arctic. Our breath misted. The chandeliers swung, crystals rattling. And sitting in *my* chair like she had every right to be there was a woman who looked like walking death wrapped in expensive fabric. Remiora. Black dress. Dark hair. Red lips. The usual aesthetic these ancient bitches went for—trying to look seductive when re
Luxian's POV "That's exactly the problem," she whispers, clutching her bag tighter. "You risked everything. And I'm going to destroy it all.""Summer—""Don't leave, I... I don't know what I'd do without you." Finally something honest escapes my lips. It comes out without warning, without being able to hold it back anymore."Alright, I'll stay," she looks at me with gentle eyes.The relief that floods through me when she says she'll stay is so intense it nearly brings me to my knees."I'll stay for you and for us," she whispers, stepping closer. "And because maybe, just maybe, that's worth fighting for."When she moves into my arms, her mouth finding mine, it's desperate and hungry and everything I thought I'd lost when I saw that bag in her hand. I pour everything into the kiss - all the terror of almost losing her, all the need to show her that she's not just my cure but my anchor in every way that matters.Her hands fist in my shirt, pulling me closer as if proximity alone can era
Luxian's POVThe scent of Summer lingers on my pillow when I roll over at dawn, but the bed beside me is cold.She's already up, probably trying to process what happened between us in the forest. The memory of her wolf—silver and graceful under moonlight—makes something primal stir in my chest.Sh
Virginia's POVI adjust the stunning sapphire necklace around my throat, catching the afternoon light perfectly as my dear mother-in-law Lady Jocelyn pours tea for our distinguished guests."Of course, when the Southern Queen personally selected these pieces for me," I say, touching the necklace wi
Luxian's POVI watch Summer walk away from me in that café like she owns the fucking world.Cool. Collected. In control.Like letting her pathetic ex-husband grovel at her feet was just another Tuesday. Like his desperate hands on her body meant nothing.But I saw her face. I saw the way she went s
Summer's POV"Answer me, Summer."I let the silence stretch. Let him sweat. Let both of them wonder what I'm going to say."Where exactly are you?" Luxian's voice is controlled. Too controlled.I glance around the café. At Rhys's pathetic, hopeful face. At the other patrons pretending not to eavesd







