Four

Chapter Four

Nikolai’s POV

“Where are you going?”

Kira stopped walking.

I stood a few steps behind her, my eyes fixed on her. She had actually dared to sneak out of the pack after everything I had told her.

“You want to run away after I warned you?” I asked angrily.

The moment her eyes met mine, I saw the fear on her face, but it quickly disappeared and was replaced by anger.

“Yes, I want to run away! What will you do?” she snapped. “Lie to the whole pack that I cheated on you? Do it! I dare you! I will tell them to conduct a DNA test between you and my sister’s child. Let’s see how you will explain that, you shameless man!”

My expression darkened.

“Are you talking back to me?”

“Yes, I am!” she shouted. “And I will keep talking back to you! Let me go, Nikolai. I am tired!”

I stared at her in disbelief.

Kira had never spoken to me this way before. She had always been the woman who lowered her head whenever I was angry, the woman who tried everything to please me.

But that woman seemed to be gone.

“You can’t leave,” I told her firmly.

“Why not?” she demanded, tears gathering in her eyes. “What else do you want from me? You have betrayed me, humiliated me, and threatened me. What more do you want?”

“Watch your tone.”

“Or what?” She laughed bitterly. “What will you do to me this time?”

My hands clenched.

I didn’t like the way she was looking at me. It was as if she no longer cared about the consequences of her words.

Then she took a deep breath and stared straight into my eyes.

“If you refuse to let me go, I will sever our mate bond.”

I froze.

“What did you say?”

“You heard me.” Her voice trembled, but she didn’t look away. “I will sever the bond, Nikolai. I don’t want to be your mate anymore. I don’t want to be your wife. I don’t want anything to do with you!”

For a moment, I couldn’t speak.

She wanted to sever our mate bond?

Kira had loved me for years. Even when I ignored her, she had continued to hold on to me. I had never imagined that she would be the one to threaten to end what connected us.

“You wouldn’t dare,” I said coldly.

“Try me!”

Suddenly, a wave of despair hit me through the mate bond.

I went still.

Her pain was so deep that it caught me off guard. I could feel her heartbreak, her exhaustion, and the hopelessness she had been hiding beneath her anger.

I had never felt anything like this from her before.

Kira had always been emotional, but she had never completely fallen apart in front of me. Even when I hurt her, she had found a reason to keep loving me.

Now, as I stared at her tear-stained face, I realized that something had changed.

She wasn’t begging me to love her anymore. She wasn’t asking me to choose her over Bella. She simply wanted to escape from me.

“Please, Nikolai,” she whispered. “Let me go.”

For one brief moment, I hesitated.

I had never seen her look so broken. Her shoulders trembled, and tears continued to roll down her cheeks. Through the bond, I could feel how much she wanted to get away from me.

A part of me wanted to reach out and wipe her tears.

But I stopped myself.

I couldn’t allow her to think she could threaten me and get what she wanted.

I was the Alpha. I had never allowed anyone to challenge my authority, and I wasn’t going to start with my own wife.

“I don’t want you anymore.”

Her words struck something inside me, but I refused to let her see it.

“You are my mate, Kira. You are my wife, and that will not change.”

“What if I sever the bond?”

I stepped closer, looking directly into her eyes.

“Then you will be making a mistake you will regret.”

She stared at me with so much pain that I almost looked away.

Almost.

But I remained firm.

I would not accept her rejection. I would not allow her to walk away from our marriage, no matter how much she hated me.

Kira could despise me for the rest of her life, but I would never, ever allow her to sever our mate bond.