Chapter 9

LYRA

The whole boardroom went dead quiet after Julian’s threat.

I stood beside Zade’s chair, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Julian had actually shown up at his office and pulled this crap in front of his entire board. Seriously? He couldn’t just leave me alone. He had to come here, make a scene, and act like the whole world owed him something.

Julian didn’t care about the people watching. His attention stayed on me.

“Get up, Lyra. We’re going back to the Croft pack.”

I stared at him. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” His voice carried that same bossy edge I’d spent years putting up with. “You’re still my Luna, legally speaking. Zade has no right to keep you here before the thirty days are up.”

He turned toward Zade, his jaw set. “You’re taking advantage of a private marital dispute to steal another Alpha’s wife. I don’t care how powerful you think you are, Vane. You don’t get to ignore our laws just because you want something that belongs to me.”

Belongs to me.

My fingers curled at my sides. There he went again, talking about me like I was some damn possession he’d misplaced and could come collect whenever he felt like it. Not once did he stop to consider what I wanted.

In Julian’s mind, the fact that we were married meant he could keep dragging me back into his life, no matter how bad he treated me.

“You don’t get to walk in here and order me around,” I told him. “You’re the one who made our marriage unbearable, Julian. You made your choices, and I made mine. So don’t show up at somebody else’s office expecting me to drop everything and follow you home.”

His expression darkened. “We can settle this back at the pack.”

“No, we can’t. You just want me somewhere you can control the conversation.”

“Lyra, enough.” He held out his hand like I was being difficult over some stupid little disagreement. “Come on.”

I didn’t move.

That was when Zade pushed his chair back and stood.

The scrape of the legs against the floor was barely audible, but every head in the room turned toward him. The board members who’d been ready to challenge him earlier suddenly found themselves with very little to say. Even the other Alphas went quiet, their attention shifting between Zade and Julian.

Something changed in the air.

Zade’s aura rolled through the room, heavy and sharp. Pressure settled against my chest, making it harder to draw a full breath. The windows along the far wall started to crack, thin lines spreading across the glass.

Nobody dared move.

Zade stepped away from his chair, placing himself between Julian and me. His face remained calm, but there was nothing calm about the power coming off him.

“Take one step closer to her,” he said, his voice low and cold, “and I’ll rip your throat out.”

Julian’s confidence slipped. It was brief, barely there, but I caught it. His eyes flicked toward the cracking windows before returning to Zade.

Still, pride wouldn’t let him back down.

“You can threaten me all you want,” Julian snapped. “It doesn’t erase pack law. She’s still my wife until the legal process is complete, and you know damn well what that means.”

Zade didn’t answer. He just stood there, blocking Julian’s path.

I could feel the tension building around us, thick enough to choke on. One Alpha refused to let me leave with him, while the other refused to accept that I didn’t want to go.

Zade looked ready to tear Julian apart, and I had a feeling he wouldn’t think twice about doing it.

“Zade, don’t.”

I stepped forward before he could get any closer to Julian. Zade’s attention shifted to me, but I kept my eyes on my ex-husband.

“I’m not going back to the Croft pack,” I said. “So you can stop ordering me around.”

Julian stared at me like I’d slapped him. “You’re seriously doing this right now? In front of all these people?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Lyra, we’re still legally married.” His voice rose as he looked around the boardroom, probably realizing everyone was listening. “And you think moving in with another Alpha before our separation is finalized makes you look innocent? Do you have any idea how humiliating this is?”

I let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “Oh, now you’re worried about humiliation?”

His mouth fell open slightly.

“You stood on a stage with Vera and made sure everyone saw exactly where your priorities were. You didn’t seem too concerned about embarrassing me then, did you?” I asked. “You made our private problems everybody’s business, Julian. But now that I’m making a choice you don’t like, suddenly I’m the one who’s crossed a line?”

“That’s different.”

“Really? How?”

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out right away. For once, he didn’t have a quick answer ready.

I wasn’t surprised. Julian was used to deciding how things went between us. He could ignore me, dismiss me, or make choices that affected both of us, then expect me to fall in line. He never thought I’d stand up to him in public, much less in front of another Alpha and his entire board.

“You’re doing this to get back at me,” he snapped. “You’re using Zade because you’re bitter about Vera. You want to make me look like a fool.”

“There it is.” I shook my head. “You can’t accept that I might actually be done with you, so you’ve decided this is some revenge game.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“You don’t get to decide my motives just because you don’t like my decision.” My voice came out sharper than I expected, but I didn’t care. “I signed a contract with Zade, and I’m staying with him. I’m not coming back to the pack with you, and I’m not changing my mind because you showed up here and started making demands.”

Julian took a step toward me. “You don’t get to—”

Zade moved instantly, closing the space between them. He didn’t touch Julian, but he stood close enough to make it clear that another step would be a very bad idea.

I lifted a hand toward Zade without taking my eyes off Julian. “I can speak for myself.”

Zade stayed beside me, his presence still pressing against the room, but he didn’t interrupt.

Good. Because this wasn’t about which Alpha could scare the other one into backing down. I didn’t need Zade to fight my battles, and I sure as hell didn’t need Julian’s permission to leave him.

“I’m done, Julian,” I said. “You don’t have to like it. You just have to accept it.”

For a few seconds, he said nothing. His eyes moved from me to Zade, and the embarrassment on his face slowly gave way to something colder.

Whatever he was thinking, I knew one thing.

He wasn’t ready to let this go.