Chapter 3

Karina POV

Edward hauled me inside. As he turned, my eyes landed on the other person in the elevator.

The man took up half the damn space—all broad shoulders and long legs, packed into a tailored black suit that probably cost more than my car.

Even the way he stood, casual and relaxed, radiated a contained power that was nothing short of overwhelming.

The small space immediately felt suffocating.

As the doors began to close, I couldn't help but glance up at his face.

It was the kind of aggressively handsome you'd see on a statue—all sharp jawline and aristocratic coldness.

But his steel-gray eyes were pure predator, assessing me with a look of undisguised disdain.

His lips were pursed slightly, and his whole face was a mask of elegant, detached aggression.

I instinctively ducked my head, staring at the floor.

My human senses might be weak compared to a wolf's, but even I could feel the raw power rolling off this stranger in waves.

He wasn't just an alpha. He was something else entirely.

Outside the club, Edward didn't so much help me into his car as he did toss me into the back seat before climbing in himself.

I struggled to sit up, my head spinning from being carried upside down and then thrown around.

For a second, I thought I might actually have a concussion.

He grabbed a pack of wet wipes from the glove compartment and started wiping his face.

As he did, my eyes snagged on the corner of a foil wrapper sticking out from behind the tissue box—a condom, of course.

The evidence was literally everywhere.

"What the hell was that, Karina?" he snarled, his voice dripping with accusation. "Were you trying to catch me?"

I yanked the car door open, desperate to get out.

The whole car felt toxic.

"Karina!" Edward growled, yanking me back inside so hard the door slammed shut. "Where the hell do you think you're going? Don't you know when to quit?"

My breath hitched, and I pressed my fingertips together, trying to ground myself.

"I want to go home," I managed to say.

He made a call, and a minute later, his beta, Daniel, was driving us away from the club.

The entire ride was silent.

I sat pressed against the door, as far away from him as I could get, my face pale.

I felt like I was going to be sick.

The sharp scent of his cologne was mixed with a perfume that definitely wasn't mine, and it made my stomach churn.

As soon as we pulled up to the house, I bolted from the car.

In the kitchen, I chugged an entire glass of ice water before the shaking in my hands finally started to subside.

When I came out, he was sitting in the living room, waiting.

I walked over and sat down opposite him.

Another crushing silence fell between us before he finally spoke.

"I was there for business. Storming in and causing a scene like that, you embarrassed me, Karina. Don't you realize how stupid and pathetic you look?"

"Is that it?" I asked, my voice completely flat.

My emotions were locked away behind a wall of ice.

"If you want us to have any kind of future, you need to drop these paranoid suspicions. I don't have time for your drama."

"Got it," I said, my voice just as steady. "Is that it?"

He scowled.

His frustration obvious.

"Karina, do you have any idea how irritating you're being right now?"

A small smile curved my lips as I stood up.

Soon enough, he wouldn't have to deal with me at all.

I went upstairs.

After I showered, Edward slid into bed beside me.

I lay on my side in the darkness, facing away from him, inching closer to the edge of the mattress to avoid his touch.

Among wolves, touch was sacred—a way to strengthen the bond between mates.

But our bond was a lie, and now it was shattering completely.

He turned and pulled me forcefully into his arms.

His anger barely contained as he dragged me from the edge of the bed and into his embrace.

His body easily overpowered mine, and once he tightened his grip, I couldn't move an inch.

I spent the entire night stiff as a board, trapped in his arms, picturing them wrapped around Lila Foster.

In the morning, I made breakfast just for myself.

Edward came downstairs and found me sitting alone eating toast.

He was about to leave for work, but stopped and leaned down.

His voice suddenly gentle, as if he could sweet-talk his way out of this.

"Let's take the boat out this weekend. A couple of days, just the two of us."

I kept drinking my milk and gave a noncommittal hum.

Unsurprisingly, the day before we were supposed to leave, he called to cancel.

He had to fly to Hong Kong for business.

I felt nothing—not a flicker of disappointment.

He probably hadn't even realized how long it had been since we'd shared a meal or spent any real time together.

He'd warned me not to even think about divorce, but in reality, he treated me like I was invisible.

If I vanished tomorrow, he might not even notice.

That weekend, I started pulling my books from our shared bookshelf and packing them into a suitcase for my new place.

While I was sorting through them, I got a rare call from Victoria.

"Hello, Luna Victoria," I answered, keeping my voice polite.

Her voice was as cold and arrogant as ever.

"Get over here. We need to make what we discussed official."

"Is that really necessary?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"I say it is," she snapped.

Her authority as the pack's former Luna dripping from every word.

"Fine," I sighed. "I'll be there this afternoon."

"Be here at noon."

"Fine."

I hung up.

A nasty image of Victoria's smug face already forming in my mind.

She'd cooked up some new petty scheme to torture me.

Probably a sick little display designed to show off Edward and his homewrecker.

She likely wanted me to see them together to finally break me with the reality that only a pure-blood werewolf was good enough for her precious son.

Too bad for her; it wasn't going to work.

I didn't care what kind of game she was playing.

Bring it on.

I showed up at the Hayden family mansion, the heart of the Blood Moon Pack's territory, at 11:40 in the morning.

The air was thick with the scent of pine and damp earth—a smell so familiar it was uncomfortable.

This place had once been a second home, but now every visit just made me feel like an outsider.

The pack's werewolf steward did a double take when he saw me on the doorstep, his eyes going wide.

"Luna Karina," he stammered, darting his gaze around nervously.

He'd obviously been told to expect a guest, but he clearly hadn't thought it would be me.

The guy was already sweating bullets.

Our civil marriage was the pack's dirty little secret.

The certificate was tucked away like something to be ashamed of, known only to our parents, the beta, Daniel, and a handful of other insiders.

In the werewolf world, a union isn't real until there's a formal mate ceremony.

So for the last eight years, I'd been an oddity, the barely tolerated human woman.

Every pack gathering was a gauntlet of dirty looks, each one reminding me that I was just a placeholder, someone who could be tossed aside at any moment.

"Please follow me," the steward said.

His reluctance so thick you could taste it.

He led the way like a man walking to his own execution.

We hadn't even reached the living room when a sickeningly sweet voice sliced through the air.

"I win again, Edward. Are you going easy on me?"

I stopped dead in my tracks.

My brain went blank for a solid three seconds before all the pieces clicked into place.

So this was his business trip.

This was why he bailed on our weekend.

A cold, sharp laugh escaped my lips as I started walking again.

Edward's eyes widened when he looked up and saw me.

"What are you doing here?" he snapped, his tone like a blade.

"Your mother invited me," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "This is rich. Aren't you supposed to be in Hong Kong? When did you learn how to teleport?"

His eyelashes fluttered, a dead giveaway of his guilt that I'd come to know by heart over the years.

The she-wolf from the Shadow Pack, Lila Foster, uncurled herself from the couch and deliberately sauntered over, holding out a hand.

The room reeked of her scent, tangled with Edward's, and a wave of nausea rolled through my stomach.

"Hi, I'm Lila," she chirped, flashing a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

She was practically vibrating with the effort to get under my skin.

I didn't even glance at her hand.

In the pack hierarchy, even as a human, I was still the official Luna of the Blood Moon Pack, title or not.

It was beneath me to stoop to her level.