11

Ruby’s POV

"Don't you dare walk out that door, Vickerry! Look at me when I'm speaking to you!"

I slammed my palm against the bedroom doorframe, my voice cracking humiliation. I was now clutching the ripped remnants of my dress against my chest, my hair a wild, tangled mess, and my breath coming in ragged gasps.

I was more furious that Vickerry didn't even pause to see what his insult was doing to me. He stood by the edge of the bed, aggressively yanking his jacket over his broad shoulders, his back completely turned to me.

"Shut your bloody mouth, Ruby," he spat as he zipped up his jacket with a snap. He finally whirled around. "I am not in the mood for your pathetic whining tonight."

"Whining?!" I took a step forward, my bare feet sinking into the plush carpet, my face burning with an intense heat. "You storm into my flat like a madman, demand I be waiting for you with no clothes on, violently rip a designer dress off my body, and then... and then you just stop?! You shove me across the bed like I'm a piece of trash and worse of it all, your dick couldn't even manage to function?!"

Vickerry’s jaw clenched so hard the split on his lip began to bleed afresh, I feared he would snap and lung at me in his usual fashion. He took a step toward me, his massive frame towering over me, trying to use his sheer size to crush my defiance.

"You want to know why it didn't work, Ruby? Look at yourself!" he sneered, his eyes dropping to survey me with disgust. He gestured vaguely at my body with a dismissive flick of his hand. "You've gotten too soft. You're getting fat, for fuck's sake. You expect me to get hard when you look like this? You aren't sweet enough anymore. Your energy is completely dead, and frankly, you're a boring, useless fuck."

For a fraction of a second, his insults made my vision blur with unshed tears.

Why was he being an asshole towards me.

 I had spent hours at the elite pack gym, hours coordinating my scents, hours ensuring I was the perfect plaything for him.

But as I stared at his battered, bruised face. It made sense.

He is lying.

"You're a disgusting pig, Vickerry," I whispered. "Don't you dare try to project your pathetic, embarrassing failure onto my body. I know exactly what I look like. And I know damn well that yesterday, you couldn't keep your bloody hands off me."

"I said get out of my way," Vickerry ground out through clenched teeth, his fists curling tightly at his sides.

"No!" I barked, a bitter, mocking laugh escaping my lips. "You didn't go limp because of me, Vick. You went limp because your head is completely fucked up. You think I haven't heard the whispers? The entire campus is talking about how the elite military guard dragged you across the quadrangle today. They said you got dogwalked by that new Omega lecturer. What's her name? Professor Samirah?"

The moment the name left my lips, Vickerry’s entire body visibly stiffened.

"Keep her name out of your mouth," he whispered, a thread of genuine, terrifying menace running through his voice.

"Oh, bloody hell," I gasped. I took a step back, my eyes widening as the puzzle pieces fell perfectly into place. "It is her. You were screaming her name when you shoved me off the bed! You're obsessed with her aren’t you!"

Vickerry didn't answer. He didn't deny it. He didn't even look at me. He simply shoved past me with enough brute force to send me stumbling against the wall, threw the front door open, and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

I stood in the center of my silent hallway for a long moment. Slowly, I walked out onto the private balcony, the cold night air biting against my exposed skin.

Down below, the roaring engine of Vickerry’s luxury SUV tore through the quiet driveway, his tyres screeching against the asphalt as he sped away into the dark, stormy night.

I clutched the cold metal railing of the balcony as a toxic, boiling hatred began to take root deep within my soul.

Vickerry Adams had never, ever treated me like an afterthought. For the past two terms, I was the only woman who held his attention. He was my man. And now, some nobody, Omega professor from the Avalux Pack had stepped onto our campus and completely snatched him from me, leaving him so psychologically castrated that he couldn't even touch me.

It was humiliating. It was utterly unacceptable.

"She thinks she can just walk into Silver Ridge University and ruin everything?" I muttered to myself, my voice shaking with malice as the cold wind whipped my hair across my face. "She thinks she can take my man?"

I closed my eyes, picturing Samirah’s calm face from the faculty directory. An Omega. How dare she look down on an elite Alpha?

I opened my eyes, the pupils dilating with unyielding focus.

"I will deal with you, Samirah," I promised. " I am going to make your life a living hell on this campus. I will strip you of your dignity, your job, and whatever little pride you have left until you're begging for mercy from the very gutters you came from."