0004

~Kevin~

 She'll get over it.

 Kevin repeated to himself over and over again during the seven-minute drive to the pack house. Every muscle in his body buckled nervously, and his stomach felt taunt, yet …he chose to be confident.

 She wouldn't abandon their marriage, or more accurately, she couldn't. He'd made sure of that when he married her for financial aid and gave her parents something that money couldn't buy so simply put, she was his piece of property.

 His wolf was moaning and groaning that he'd cheated so shamelessly, but Kevin ignored it.

   He entered the pack house for the first time in days, recalling the events of the family gathering with a grimace.

His half sister, Becca, had made a softly passive-aggressive statement that maybe the fault of having a child might be his. Of course, he was enraged and had to defend himself! He was an alpha for goddess' sake! 

 How could he stand being publicly called impotent and brush it off with a laugh? It was Rosa’s fault for giving him false hope. And what was wrong with him trying to recover unconventionally with another woman? It's not like he slept with her all the time! Just occasionally.

 After armoring himself with justification after justification, he went off to their bedroom, where he predicted she was probably pretending to pack her things. 

 But when he stood at their bedroom door, there was no inkling of pretense in her desperate movements. She picked up only the essentials: a couple of clothes, some lesser feminine fabrics, and then a few hygiene products.

 He watched her like he was seeing a horror movie unfold before his eyes. 

It was only when she started zipping up her bag that he snapped back to reality and shot over to her, encircling her wrist in a domineering grip. 

“And just what do you think you are doing?!” his voice cracked before he realized it, “Stop overreacting and let's talk!” 

 The usual Rosa would have folded like a paper clip, apologized, and humbly rearranged her things without a single mumble against him. 

  But instead of rolling over like he expected, she bared her teeth and said.

“Either you let go right now or I make you, your choice…” 

An odd feeling trickled down his back, who was this woman in front of him? Eyes blazing like lasers, her words piercing him like sharpened icicles. 

 This couldn't be the simple Rosa that he had known for the past 5 years, the same Rosa that was always at his beck and call. All he ever had to do was tell her jump, and her response would be ‘how high?’ 

 How on Earth did his infidelity give her a backbone? She shouldn't be capable of owning one at all! 

 No, Rosa still loved him. At least, she had no choice but to. Her parents had practically sold her off, and she had no one else in the world. What could a mateless She Wolf possibly achieve by herself? 

 Especially someone as clueless and naive as Rosa, indeed she was just throwing a petty little tantrum. When she realizes just how much she needs him, she'll come crawling back and maybe, just maybe, he'll take her back if he's generous enough.

 Sandra might have started off as simple fun but he couldn't deny that he liked the way she made him feel.

 While intimacy with Rosa was predictable and basically routine sometimes for him, Sandra was easily excitable and the type that liked to explore, each encounter with his secretary was a tantalizing experience he couldn't shake off completely.

  

 So he wanted to keep her around as his lover. Rosa will just have to deal with that. He was kind enough to give her time to come to terms with it. 

 He released her and she aggressively finished closing up her bag, launched it up to her waist in a tight grip, and marched out of the pack house without stopping once.

 Kevin watched with morbid shock, but was able to convince himself once again that he wouldn't need it to worry about her coming back–she would…with time.

 He looked around their bedroom. She had only taken a few things with her, but why did it feel so achingly empty? 

 He couldn't stay here. Just before he could think about where to go next, his phone vibrated inside his pocket, and he fished it out quickly, already guessing who was calling him.

 “Sandra…” he said cooly, “...get ready in that new lingerie I just bought and tell the hotel room service to bring up some wine…you know the kind I like,” He ended the call car without a word from her and sauntered downstairs already fantasizing about how he was going to behave coldly towards Rosa when she’d come back.

 Her smile quickly evaporated when he saw one of his least favorite people standing at the bottom of the stairs with her hands crossed and a disapproving look on her face.

 “Becca.” The sound of his half-sister's name left a bitter taste in his mouth. 

“Why didn't you tell me you were coming to visit?” he said with forced cordiality. Becca and her mates were high-ranking wolves, even if he disliked her down to his bones, he knew that she was essential for his end goal–the throne.

 “I wanted to check up on your mate,” she said frankly. “I also wanted to repay her for the party,”

 His lips twisted distressfully, “Did you guys get close just because she threw you a party? You know it's only because mother forced her to do so,” 

“It doesn't change the fact that she did it anyway,” She shot back, looking at him with disdain.

 “Why are you glaring at me like that?” He asked defensively holding the railing of the staircase.

 “You tell me,” She said, stepping closer, “I saw how your mate was crying. Spill it. Who's the other woman?” 

 Kevin's walls grew, just because she was supporting him did not mean that she needed to know every personal detail in his life. 

 “Rosa is lying, she's just embarrassed because of what happened a few days ago. There's no other woman,” Kevin said firmly.

His sister released a snake-like grin.

“I never said Rosa told me there was another woman,”