Chapter 4

Kelly 

There were times I often found myself wondering where men got the audacity to perform foolishness with such brazen confidence.

Right now was one of those times.

He really had the guts to ask me where my ring was when he was just sleeping with another woman. A sharp response bubbled up my throat but I swallowed it down because I couldn't afford to make a mistake now.

I just had to tolerate his bullshit for a couple more hours and I would be free.

Just endure till the Alpha King comes. I kept telling myself over and over again.

Bryan's fingers were still curled possessively around my wrist when I pulled my hand away and forced on a sad expression, voice trembling slightly. “I don't know. It must have fallen off somewhere.”

His eyes darkened on me in a way that made the room cold. He stepped back as if I’d committed sacrilege.

“It what?! How can you sound so relaxed about it after losing something as precious as your ring?”

There was a metallic edge to his voice, the kind that slices cleanly through whatever pretense is left. 

“Chill, it was a mistake. It must be around here somewhere.” I kept my tone light, like this wasn’t another insult to my face.

“You've had it for 4 whole years and never taken it off. You were never this careless before. It's not just jewelry, it's a symbol of our love.”

If I were still the gullible fool I’d once been—the stupid girl who drank his words like sweet wine—my heart would have fluttered. I would have wrapped myself around the idea that that little gold band meant something sacred. I would have dissolved into tears, begging for forgiveness.

The ring was nothing but a symbol of ownership, something to feed Bryan’s ego. It meant absolutely nothing to him otherwise. Only goddess knew how many similar rings he had given to Tetra.

All of this was just a show and it was annoying the heck out of me. I let myself take one slow breath, measured and controlled. “I'll have the maids search for it.”

“That aside, where have you been?” He pressed, the way a dog worries a bone.

“I went to the clinic for a new fertility treatment.” The lie came so easily and smoothly that it surprised me.

He seemed pleased at that, like I was finally saying something that made sense. “We won't have to try much longer because you have more than atoned for that child's death.”

Disgust curled up in my throat. He was praising me for atoning for a crime I didn't commit while the real murderer walked free in my home. I wanted to throw up. I managed not to make a face; there was no advantage in exposing myself now.

“Don't worry,” he continued, voice saturated in false intimacy. “I'm confident we'll have a child soon.”

I wanted to laugh in his face because I knew he was talking about the child he planned to have with Tetra. I wanted to tell him the truth—that he could never father a child because he was sterile—but the thought tasted too sweet and too dangerous. Men like Bryan did not take that kind of news well. The trouble it would invite was not worth the fleeting satisfaction. He'd crush me for it, not the world. He'd take a life to save his pride.

Perhaps it was out of hurt or sheer curiosity but unbidden, the question slipped past my lips. “Did you ever really love me?”

He was silent for the count of three heartbeats, and in those beats I watched him measure the lie he’d been living. He tilted his head, trying to read me. Then, with the habitual defensiveness of someone who needed to pry the world back into order, he answered with another question.

“Where is this coming from?”

He always did that—turned a direct cut into a jabbing counter, as if my hurt were a symptom of my own instability rather than his betrayal.

I didn’t mince it. “Answer me,” I demanded, softer than I felt but harder than usual. My voice didn’t shake.

He looked at me, and for a breath there was something like fatigue in his features, as if the effort of pretending was finally showing. “We've spent 5 years together despite the fact that you haven't given me an heir. The Pack may respect me as their Alpha but my subordinates are mocking me behind my back for not having secured my line already. Do you know how many women throw themselves at me daily, offering to do what you couldn't do? Do you know the embarrassment I endure being married to you? Despite it all, I never complained once or even thought of divorce. You should be grateful!”

The words were like knives. He turned the script so cleverly; made himself the martyr who’d sacrificed for me, who’d stood by despite my “failure.” I could see his mouth shape gratitude like poison. How dare he claim magnanimity?

“You speak as if I'm a burden but you are the one who declared love for me in front of the entire Pack and asked me to marry you. You're not doing me any favors.” I retorted sharply.

His face flickered with surprise, then something like wounded disbelief. In the past, I'd never spoken to him that way. I had adored him in the naive, aching manner of a woman who mistook control for tenderness. I had tamped down every offense, polished his ego until it shone. But those days were gone; something mean and necessary had taken root.

“If that's how you really feel about me, we should get a divorce. At least then you can be with someone who can give you an heir,” I added, hoping he would take the bait.

He took several steps backwards as if I had pronounced death on his entire family. “A divorce?! Are you insane? We might not have been fated by the moon goddess but we are mates. We have taken vows and marked each other, only death can break us apart.”

Previously, those words would have filled me with so much joy because I might have believed it meant he loved me as much as I loved him—but now, they sent dread through me.

Jessica was right, this piece of shit would never divorce me so easily. He was ready to put up with me all his life, even though he probably didn't even like me at all, just because he wanted to remain Alpha. He wouldn't even wait all his life because according to what I’d heard earlier, he was already plotting to kill me. He was such a despicable man. How the hell did I even fall for him?

“What if I can't have a baby? What then?” I tried once more, wanting to be sure there was really no chance for a peaceful divorce.

“You will. There are always other options. If I didn't love you, would I have stood by you after you were accused as a murderer and disgraced? You lost your wolf and almost even lost your life but I never left your side. You need to have more faith in me,” he asserted in a tone that I assumed was supposed to reassure me.

I felt the irony, a bitter tang that wanted to make me sob. He stood there, folding all my worst losses into another performance of devotion. He gave love a bad name and if it really was like this, I never wanted to feel it again for the rest of my life. I clenched my hands so tight my knuckles went white, forcing my emotions to retreat.

“I was wrong to question your devotion. Thank you for staying with me,” I forced the words out, thankfully I managed to keep the sarcasm out.

He reached up and ran a hand through my hair, a gesture meant to soothe, to remind me that I belonged to him. He kissed my forehead. For a second I allowed myself to be small and held. Then he murmured, his voice low and intimate.

“That's a good girl. You're mine, Kelly and that's how it's always going to be.”

He leaned in, breath hot at my ear, and the whisper that followed was the thing I had feared most of all. Words to keep me caged.

“I'll kill you if you ever try to leave me because you're not allowed to exist outside of me. You belong to me, Kelly, every piece of you.”