Chapter 3

Valeria:

By the time the ceremonies ended, I had been dressed, pinned, painted, and paraded through enough rooms to forget what my own reflection looked like.

Five maids arrived not long after I left the council chamber. None asked if I wanted help, I doubted they cared anyway.

They carried a white dress, boxes of jewelry, and the kind of practiced expression that said Alpha Romanov had already decided how the rest of my day would go.

I let them, because fighting five maids over a dress felt like wasting the little energy I had left.

The wedding itself had been worse. There were too many eyes, too many vows spoken beneath the weight of a rejection neither of us would name, a lie that we both knew all too well.

Nikolai stood beside me with the same unreadable face he’d worn when he told me I was not wanted as his mate. Then he slid a ring onto my finger making my stomach tighten.

Mate rejected. Wife accepted. Apparently Alpha Romanov saw no contradiction.

Now I stood outside his bedroom, my hand wrapped around the door handle while one maid hovered behind me like a shadow.

“You may enter, Luna,” she whispered.

I turned. “Do not call me that.”

Her eyes widened and I regretted the sharpness immediately. She had not made this mess. Still, the title tasted like salt in my mouth after today.

“I apologize,” she murmured. “I did not mean to anger you.”

I exhaled. “It’s fine. You needn’t worry.”

She lowered her gaze. “Alpha Romanov is waiting.”

I simply nodded in response before she opened the door for me, silently letting me in.

The room closed around me: dark wood, black furniture, heavy curtains, a low fire.

Nikolai stood by a table, pouring something into a glass. He’d removed his jacket; sleeves rolled to his forearms, collar open, tie gone. For one traitorous second my body noticed. Then I remembered why I was here…

He didn’t speak. He watched me the way a hunter watches a prey that has not yet decided whether to run.

“Well?” I said.

His brows drew together. “Well what?”

I laughed, too sharp. “You cannot be serious.”

He set the glass down. “I usually am, and I don’t think that you’ve said anything that would require an answer from me.”

“I was informed by your maids that you expect this marriage to be consummated tonight. The fact that they called it a consummation told me that you live in a fucked up era where your mind is filled with a blankness that has refused to evolved into what this century has gotten to.” I said, raising an eyebrow at him. “And given the fact that you rejected me a few hours before getting married has me wondering if you really were serious.”

“The marriage has responsibilities,” he said. “And I think that you signed a contract dictating that.”

“You cannot reject me and then expect me in your bed, Nikolai.” I said angrily.

His eyes flashed. “Alpha Romanov.”

I laughed again. “No… your name is Nikolai and if I am to lay on your fucking bed, then I am calling you by your name. Especially given the fact that I am your wife.”

His jaw tightened. “You seem determined to test my patience.”

“And you seem determined to test whether I have any.”

I pulled the ring from my finger. His attention dropped like a stone. I held it between us. “This does not erase what you did.”

“I never said it did.”

“Then what exactly do you expect from me tonight?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He answered without hesitation. “What the contract requires.” He moved toward me and I stayed where I was. “You agreed to provide an heir.”

“I agreed before I knew you were my mate.” I said coldly.

“The terms have not changed.”

“They changed for me.” I snapped.

“They did not change for the council.”

My anger sharpened. “I am not sleeping with the council.” His eyes dropped to my mouth for a second before he looked me in the eye.

“You are sleeping with me.” He said, his eyes remaining fixed on mine.

“So this is what I am to you.” I tightened my fingers around the ring until the metal bit my skin. “A contract that you are going to sleep with in hopes of pumping out an heir?”

“I did not say that.”

“You just did.” I turned away and stared at the fire because it was easier than letting him see my face. Wolfless. Disposable. Convenient. Now duty. How many ways could one woman be described as unwanted before the words stopped hurting?

“Valeria.” He said my name and the sound pulled me back.

I looked down at the ring in my hand, then back at him. “You rejected me because you wanted nothing to do with the bond,” I said. “But you still expect me to fulfill every part of this marriage that benefits you.”

“The agreement benefits you as well,” he said. “As far as I am concerned, you’re not doing this for free.”

“My mother gets money.” I watched his face for any sign of softness. There was none. “My family gets its name back. And you get the child that you opted for. How romantic.” I said, hating how the bitterness of the situation tasted a lot like iron.

“This was never intended to be romantic,” he said.

“Then we understand each other.” I let the words hang between us, then stepped closer until I could smell the smoke on his shirt and the faint sweetness of whatever he’d been drinking. “You called this a duty,” I said. “So we are going to treat it like one.”

His brows lowered. “You are making assumptions.”

“No. I am setting terms.” I met his eyes. “You do not get tenderness from me. You do not get affection. You do not get to touch me afterward and pretend there is anything between us that you did not reject this morning.”

A muscle moved in his jaw. “You are in no position to rewrite the contract.”

“I am not rewriting anything.” I held his gaze. “I am reminding you what you chose, and I am reminding you of how you chose to play this… and how you are going to go by my terms here.”

His eyes darkened and the air between us tightened, heavy and dangerous. I had already lost enough dignity in one day. I would not lose the rest by shrinking now.

“You wanted a duty,” I said quietly. “Then that is what you will get.”

He was quiet for a few seconds before he said the two words that I wanted him to say…

“Get out…”