Aria’s POV The phone continued to ring. Being alone in the house meant there was no one else around to answer it. It had to be me. I had to face the consequences of what I’d done. “This is what you want,” I reminded myself, my heart pounding against my ribcage. Standing, I walked into the hallwa
Aria’s POV In a panic, I immediately swiveled back around, facing away from Lucian and the door. Grabbing my mask, I re-covered my face with shaking hands. Had Lucian seen me? Did he know I was Aria under this mask? My heart hammered in my chest, and my breathing was short in shallow in my pan
“I’ve made my decision,” he continued. With bated breath, I waited for him to continue, to share with me what he decided. Instead, he turned more fully toward the door. “If you will excuse me,” he said and stepped out of my office. Lucian’s POV My head was a mess, and no matter what I did, I
Lucian’s POV With no way of knowing what this rejection could mean for Aria, I wanted to believe that she had finally come to her senses and would at last be returning home. Perhaps she realized once and for all how silly this desire for a divorce truly was. The thoughts pleased me more than I wou
Lucian’s POV She called me Lucian. That was the first thought to run through my mind as Aria opened the door for me at Cathy’s house. The second? Why did her face fall so much when she saw it was me, and not Jasper? It was as if the bright light inside of her had been snuffed out. Did I truly pro
Aria’s POV I stood in stunned silence, my mouth falling open, looking at Lucian, trying to understand what he was saying. While not a divorce, a mutual rejection would end our mating bond. Lucian’s mark on my neck would fade and we’d be free to bond with others instead. For him to suggest such a
Aria’s POV I kept watching Lucian until he entered his car and drove off. Even with him gone, I stared at the place he had been, wondering how everything went so wrong so quickly. I was in a state of shock, my hands trembling. “Aria,” Jasper said. With his hand on the small of my back, he gentl
“How’s the baby?” Cathy asked. “Okay,” I assured her. Cathy nodded. “And you?” I could not answer that as promisingly, so I pressed my lips hard together and remained silent. Cathy and Piper looked at each other. “You’ll feel some side effects of the mutual rejection,” Piper said. “Lucian migh
He didn’t seem to mind. In this, as in most things lately, Lucian had allowed me to take the lead. He’d remained supportive and contributed his ideas and opinions, but never once anymore did he state his opinions as law or facts. Instead, we’d had conversations where we weighed the pros and cons of
Jean’s POV“Come on, Luke,” Jean said, tugging on her brother’s sleeve. “I don’t want to be late.”“We won’t be late, Jean,” Luke replied with unfounded confidence. “They won’t start without us.”While the guests had been taking their seats in the wooden fold-out chairs arranged on the beach, and th
In a flash, Lucian was there instead, stepping into the space between us. I couldn’t see what happened, but I smelled Lucian’s blood. My wolf whined in sympathetic pain.The rest of the bottle quickly smashed on the floor.In the end, William was bound to a chair, treated even as the police were on
Aria’s POVIn our little house in Moonglow, I woke up early to head into work. Lucian woke up at the same time as me, I think to have tea with me in the little kitchen. He always took the kids to school before he started his assistant job at the clinic.“You sleep okay?” I asked him, as he heated up
She was beautiful. Why had I never noticed before?Why was I noticing now?Quickly, I looked down at the menu. It was far too soon for a new romance, not if I wanted to find one for real. I wasn’t about to play around with Cathy’s heart, when she had come to be such a friend.And I didn’t want to pl
Jasper’s POVA couple of days after I punched Lucian, and he quit and ran off with Aria, Cathy invited me out to lunch. Sitting across from me now, in a café that we tended to frequent when we got together, she was looking at me as one might a wounded animal, as if trying to determine if I needed co
But Jasper’s words still rang true. When was the last time, as Alpha, I had ever been happy?The job made me miserable, even before Aria had left me. Constant pressure, constant responsibility, constant ridicule, limited thanks. Years and years of it had worn me down, eroded like a rock in the water
Lucian’s POVJasper’s punch caught me by surprised. I stumbled back, nearly into the elevator again as the doors started to close. He definitely broke my nose. Holding it, I stepped forward again, back off the elevator. Blood dripped down onto my shirt.Jasper had several different reasons to be pis
Over the next few days, I didn’t see Lucian at all. Presumably he saw the kids after I took them to spend time with their grandparents. Harold was out of the hospital and eager to see the kids.With the kids there, I returned to Cathy’s and started packing up my clothes and that of the kids. Cathy w