Chapter 3

I pulled the claw-pierced severance agreement from the cabinet and slipped it back into the folder.

As long as my signature remained intact, the agreement was still valid.

I turned toward the door.

"Drop the wounded martyr act."

Lucas's voice followed me.

"This bond between us has always been an exchange. Frostmoon gives Blackstone stronger pups and medical resources. Blackstone gives you status and protection. What made you think bonding with you meant I had to love you?"

I'd almost reached the door when Lucas spoke again.

"An arranged bond doesn't mean I have to love you. And it certainly doesn't mean I have to be faithful."

I gripped the folder until its edge dug into my palm.

I'd heard those words in one form or another countless times over the past ten years.

But never had he said them so plainly.

"Why are you acting like you've been wronged?" he continued. "I told you before we bonded that I didn't want a mate who spent all her time following me around.

"When I had Council meetings, you'd wait outside until dawn. When I inspected the border, you'd follow me from one outpost to the next. Even after I banned you from the training grounds, you'd still show up under the pretense of bringing medicine to the wounded."

During the first year of our bond, Lucas disappeared for three days without coming home.

Terrified that he'd been injured at the border, I searched one outpost after another for him in the rain all night. All I got in the end was one line. "Who told you to come?"

In our third year together, his wolf became dangerously restless during a full moon, and Lucas locked himself inside the training grounds.

The pack doctor had said the scent of a familiar Omega might calm an agitated Alpha, so I sat outside the door until sunrise.

When Lucas finally came out and found me there, he ordered the guards never to let me near the training grounds again.

Back then, I convinced myself he simply wasn't used to anyone caring about him.

I thought I was taking care of him, but to him, I was simply a nuisance who repeatedly defied his orders.

"And then there's your scent."

Lucas no longer bothered hiding his irritation.

"Every time you come near me, my wolf reacts to you. It stirs like something inside it is being awakened. You know how uncomfortable that makes me, yet you keep showing up wherever I am.

"You even convinced yourself it meant I was starting to accept you."

Frostmoon had only ever revealed one part of the truth about our bloodline: bonding with a Frostmoon Omega could stabilize an Alpha's power and produce exceptionally strong pups.

Few outsiders knew the true extent of our bloodline's power. Even without a formal bond, a Frostmoon Omega's scent and blood could awaken an Alpha's wolf and strengthen it.

Lucas had felt that effect himself, but instead of understanding it, he believed I was deliberately using my scent to manipulate him.

"I never made your wolf react to me on purpose," I said.

"But you enjoyed knowing what your scent did to me."

Lucas didn't believe me.

"You gave up your pack status, quit your position, threw your whole life away, and made me the center of your entire existence.

"And you call that love?

"Evelyn, this is exactly what I can't stand about you. You chose to give everything up, yet you act as if I owe you for your sacrifices. Like I'm obligated to love you exactly the way you want me to."

I couldn't say he was entirely wrong.

For ten years, I really had made Lucas the center of my life.

If he came home for dinner, I convinced myself things between us were finally changing for the better.

If his wolf calmed for even a moment because of my scent, I clung to that tiny scrap of hope for another year.

I'd reduced my entire life to loving him and kept believing that one day, my devotion would finally move him.

"Vivian is pregnant now. At least she's fulfilled the most basic duty of an Omega."

Lucas looked at me, his voice so calm that his words sounded even crueler.

"And you've held the position of my mate for ten years without leaving Blackstone so much as one heir."

My fingers brushed against the pregnancy report inside my pocket.

All I had to do was pull it out. One piece of paper was enough to prove that I was carrying his pup too.

But suddenly, I didn't want to prove anything to him.

My pup wasn't something I would use to bargain for Lucas's love.

And I certainly wouldn't use it as another excuse to stay and endure his humiliation.

"You don't have to love me." I turned back to face him. "But don't pretend your betrayal is a punishment I deserve."