The cold reality

POV: Elara

​The car ride to the pack house was silent and uncomfortable, and I spent the entire time looking out the window at the passing trees because I didn't want to look at Silas, who was driving with a frustrated grip on the steering wheel.

When we finally pulled up to a massive stone building that looked more like a fortress than a home, he didn't even offer to help me out of the car, and he just started walking toward the front doors while expecting me to follow behind him like I had done a thousand times before. I walked at my own pace, ignoring the way he kept glancing back with an annoyed expression, and when I stepped into the foyer, several people stopped what they were doing to stare at me.

​"Your room is upstairs, the third door on the right, and don't expect me to come up there and check on you because I have a meeting with the council in ten minutes," Silas said, and he didn't even look at me as he pointed toward the grand staircase.

​"I can find my own way, Silas, and you don't need to explain your schedule to me since I didn't ask," I replied, and I saw his eyes widen for a split second before he scoffed and turned toward his office.

​I climbed the stairs slowly, feeling the ache in my body from the accident, and when I found the door he had described, I pushed it open and stepped into a room that felt completely alien to me.

The space was small and cramped compared to the rest of the house, and it was filled with lace doilies, dried flowers, and dozens of framed photos of Silas, which made me feel a wave of nausea.

I walked over to the desk and found a stack of leather-bound notebooks, and when I opened the first one, I saw page after page of messy handwriting detailing how much "Elara" loved her Alpha and how she would do anything just to see him smile at her once.

​"This is pathetic," I muttered to myself, and I felt a hot flush of embarrassment for the woman who had written these things, because she sounded like someone who had no self-respect at all.

​I found a large trash bag in the corner of the room and I didn't hesitate for a second, and I started grabbing the photos and the journals and shoving them into the bag as fast as I could. I pulled the lace curtains down and tossed them on top of the pile, and then I went to the closet and found a collection of drab, oversized dresses that looked like they were designed to make me invisible.

I was in the middle of dragging a heavy rug toward the door when the handle turned and Silas stepped inside, and he stopped dead in his tracks as he looked at the nearly empty room and the bulging trash bag.

​"What the hell do you think you're doing, Elara? That room was exactly how you wanted it, and you spent months begging me for those specific curtains," he said, and his voice was booming with authority as he stepped further into the space.

​"I'm clearing out the trash, Silas, and I’m making this room liveable because right now it looks like a shrine to a man who doesn't even like me," I told him, and I didn't stop what I was doing as I reached for another stack of old letters on the nightstand.

​"You’re throwing away your journals? You used to cry if I even touched those because you said they held your most precious memories," he said, and he reached out and grabbed my wrist, trying to pull me toward him.

​"Let go of my hand," I said, and I looked down at his grip and then back up at his face with a look of pure indifference, and I didn't feel the urge to pull away or the fear that usually came with his touch.

​He looked shocked that I wasn't flinching, and he slowly released my arm, but his face was turning a dark shade of red.

"You’re acting like a spoiled child, and I told you that I won't tolerate this amnesia game, so put everything back where it belongs before I lose my patience."

​"I don't care about your patience, Silas, and I don't care about these journals either because the woman who wrote them is dead as far as I’m concerned," I said, and I walked past him to drop the letters into the bag. "Since you’re the Alpha and I’m apparently stuck here for now, I’ll need some actual clothes that fit and maybe a few books that aren't about romance, so if you could arrange that, it would be helpful."

​"Helpful? You're talking to me like I’m a servant or some delivery boy," he snapped, and he moved into my personal space, trying to use his height to intimidate me. "I am your Alpha and your mate, and you will show me the respect I deserve, especially when you're carrying my child."

​"I’ll respect you when you earn it, but right now you’re just a man shouting in my bedroom while I’m trying to clean," I replied, and I turned my back on him to pick up the trash bag. "If you’re done with your tantrum, I’d like to finish this so I can get some rest, so please close the door on your way out."

​Silas stood there with his mouth slightly open, and I could tell he was waiting for the usual reaction, the way my scent would change to something sweet and submissive when he got angry, but I felt nothing but a cool calm.

He sniffed the air, his nostrils flaring as he searched for the familiar smell of my fear, but the room just smelled like the cleaning spray I had found under the sink. He looked like he wanted to say something else, maybe to yell or to demand I apologize, but the way I was looking at him—like he was just a stranger who had lost his way—seemed to drain the words right out of his mouth.

​"I don't know who you think you are right now, but this won't last, Elara," he muttered, but his voice lacked the bite it had earlier, and he backed out of the room.

​I didn't answer him, and I just waited until I heard his heavy footsteps receding down the hallway before I dragged the trash bag out and set it by the door. I walked back to the center of the room and looked at the bare walls, and for the first time since I woke up in the hospital, I felt like I could breathe properly.

I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the door, wondering how long it would take for him to realize that the girl he used to bully wasn't coming back, and then I heard a strange sound from the hallway that made me stand up again.

It sounded like Silas was still standing there, and when I peeked out, I saw him staring at the closed door with a look of total confusion, and he looked like he was trying to figure out a puzzle he couldn't solve.