CHAPTER 10

MIRA’S POV

I stood outside Declan’s chambers with my hand raised to knock on his door, but something made me pause.

The door was not fully closed, and through the small gap, I saw them.

Declan and Dorian.

They were in each other’s arms, kissing with so much passion. A feeling that I had never once received from my own husband. Dorian’s hands were pressed flat against Declan’s chest, and Declan’s fingers were entangled in Dorian’s hair, pulling him closer like he was afraid to let go.

I could not move and I could not breathe.

Then Declan pulled back just enough to look at Dorian, and I heard his voice, which sounded so low and raw in a way I had never heard him speak to me.

“I missed this,” he whispered. “I missed you.”

Dorian smiled, in a slow and intimate manner that made my stomach turn. “I missed you too,” he said softly. “Every night I lie awake thinking about you. About this.”

Declan lifted his hand to cup Dorian’s face, and his traced along his jawline with his thumb so tenderly that it shattered something inside me. “We should not have to hide,” he said. “I am tired of pretending.”

“One day,” Dorian murmured. “One day we will not have to.”

They kiss again, deeper this time, and I felt tears burning behind my eyes but I refused to let them fall. I had seen enough. I had heard enough.

I stepped back quickly with my heart pounding so hard that I felt it in my throat, and knocked on the door before either of them could see me.

And the kissing stopped immediately.

I heard shuffling and hurried footsteps, then Declan’s voice, which sounded very calm and collected as if nothing had happened. “Enter.”

I pushed the door open and walked in.

Declan was standing near the window with his hands behind his back, looking every bit the powerful Alpha he pretended to be. His face was composed and his clothes was perfectly arranged, and if I had not seen what I had just seen, I would have believed that nothing was wrong. But I knew better now. I knew everything.

Dorian was standing behind him in his usual guard position, with a straight look on his face and his eyes fixed ahead, as if he had not just been kissing the Alpha moments before. He did not look at me, neither did he acknowledge me. He just stood there like a piece of furniture, like he had always done.

And I pretended too.

I smiled at Declan as if I had not just watched him kiss another man, as if I was still the oblivious and loyal wife he believed me to be. “Declan,” I said sweetly. “Your mother insisted that I come and keep you company tonight.”

He looked at me with cold indifference, the same cold indifference he had shown me for three years. “I do not need your company,” he said flatly.

“Your mother insist,” I repeated, and stepped further into the room. “And besides, I am your mate. It is my duty to be here.”

The word ‘duty’ tasted bitter on my tongue, but I forced myself to say it anyway. I forced myself to walk towards the bed, to sit down on the edge of it and act as if I belonged there even though I had never felt more out of place in my entire life.

Declan watched me with so much irritation on his face. He did not want me here. That much was clear. But he could not say anything without raising suspicion, so he just turned away and said nothing.

The silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating.

Then Dorian finally moved. He stepped forward and bowed his head slightly and said in a low and professional voice. “Good night sir, I will take my leave now.”

Declan did not even turn to look at him. “Yes,” he said dismissively. “You may leave.”

But my sharp eyes did not miss the way Declan’s fingers twitched at his side, as if he wanted to reach out and stop Dorian from leaving, or the way Dorian’s eyes lingered on Declan for a fraction of a second too long before he turned and walked out of the room.

The door closed behind him, and then it was just me and my husband.

And he ignored me.

He walked to the other side of the room and sat down in a chair, then he picked up a book and opened it as if I did not exist. He did not speak to me and he did not look at me. Instead, he treated me like I was nothing more than a piece of furniture, just like Dorian had stood like a piece of furniture moments ago.

I lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

And I thought about Ronan.

I thought about the way his amber eyes had looked at me in that dark hallway, the way his voice was so low and smooth when he said “Beautiful stranger.” I thought about the way his body had felt so close to mine, the way I could still smell the cedar and rain on his skin. I thought about the memory of that night — his hands on my body, his breath on my neck, his voice in the dark.

I desperately wanted to be with him right now.

I wanted to be somewhere else.

Anywhere but here.

I closed my eyes and could see his face clearly. I could still hear his voice and feel the heat of his body even though he was not there. The attraction between us was still burning, and the more

I tried to push it away, the stronger it became.

And I knew, with a sinking feeling in my heart, that this was not going to go away.

This was only the beginning.

Then I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling again, with my heart aching and my mind racing. Beside me, Declan turned a page in his book without a care in the world if I was still there or not.

And in that moment, I felt more alone than I had ever felt in my life.