003

Chapter 3

I woke to the soft press of lips against my forehead and a low, warm voice that didn’t belong to the man who had marked me.

“Good morning, sunshine. Rise and shine.”

For a second I didn’t move. The sheets beneath me were unfamiliar—dark, expensive, carrying the faint scent of rose. My body ached in ways that had nothing to do with alcohol and everything to do with the night before. Memory returned in sharp pieces: the towel dropping, the wall, the couch, Jeremy’s mouth on my mating mark while he moved inside me like he had every right.

I opened my eyes.

Jeremy Blackwood sat on the edge of the bed, already dressed in black sweatpants and a plain gray T-shirt. His dark hair was still slightly damp, as if he’d showered again. In his hands he held a tray. Toasted bread. Scrambled eggs. A steaming mug of coffee. Breakfast in bed for me.

Chris had never done this. Not once in three years. Mornings with him had been silence, the sound of him leaving early for practice, the cold side of the bed, and the quiet understanding that I was an obligation he tolerated.

I pushed myself up against the headboard, suddenly aware that I was still naked under the sheet. Jeremy’s eyes flicked down for half a second, then returned to my face without comment. He set the tray carefully across my lap.

“Eat,” he said. “You barely had anything last night except tequila.”

I wrapped the sheet tighter around my chest and picked up the coffee first. It was strong and black, exactly the way I liked it even though I had never told him. The first sip grounded me a little. The eggs were soft, the toast perfectly browned. I took a bite because the alternative was staring at him and trying to figure out what the hell I was doing in the rival alpha’s bed.

“Thank you,” I managed. 

He nodded once and remained seated on the edge of the mattress, watching me eat like it mattered. Everywhere was quite,the only sound was the soft clink of the spoon against the plate.

When I had finished most of the food, Jeremy took the tray and set it on the nightstand. His expression shifted—still calm but the warmth from the morning greeting faded into something more serious.

“I have a proposal,” he said.

I froze with the last bite of toast halfway to my mouth. “What?”

“Fake-date me for ten months months.”

The words landed like a slap. I stared at him, was he out of his mind.

“You’re joking.”

“I’m not.”

What is wrong with this man.

“I was betrayed last night. I haven’t even begun to process any of it. I barely know you. And you’re sitting here asking me to be your girlfriend?”

Jeremy didn’t flinch. He simply leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs, dark eyes locked on mine.

“ Pretend to be rather. I’m asking you to let me help you destroy them.”

The anger in my chest stuttered. I opened my mouth, closed it again. He kept talking, voice steady and low, giving me no room to spiral.

“Chris and Kelani think they won. They think they can humiliate you in private and walk away clean. I can make sure they don’t. Publicly. Thoroughly. Every game, every event, every time the cameras are on us—they will see you on my arm looking happier than you ever did with him. They will watch the league, the packs, and the entire city believe that the girl he discarded is exactly what I want. And they will hate it.”

I shook my head, but the movement felt weak. “This is insane. You’re talking about using me.”

“I’m talking about mutual benefit.” His gaze didn’t soften. “You get revenge. Real revenge. Not crying into a bottle of tequila and hoping the pain fades. You get to watch him realize what he threw away while the whole world watches you thrive without him. And I get something I’ve wanted for a very long time.”

Silence stretched between us. Part of me wanted to throw the tray at him and walk out. The larger, angrier part of me—the part that still saw Kelani’s smile and heard Chris call the betrayal a “surprise”—wanted to hear the rest.

“Why?” I asked finally. My voice came out quieter than I intended. “Why are *you* doing this?”

Jeremy’s expression cooled. The warmth from earlier vanished completely. When he spoke again, his voice was sharp enough to cut.

“Because your mate waged a war against my pack that nearly destroyed everything I hold dear. He took lives. He ordered attacks that left children without parents and warriors without futures. He stood on the ice afterward like none of it mattered and smiled for the cameras while my people buried their dead. I have waited years for the right way to make him pay.”

He leaned closer. The intensity in his eyes made it hard to breathe.

“I intend to strip him of everything that once belonged to him. His status. His pride. His image. And I’m starting with you.”

The words settled over me like cold water. I should have been horrified. Instead a dark, vicious satisfaction curled low in my stomach. Chris had treated me like a debt to be repaid and then discarded. Jeremy looked at me like I was a weapon he planned to aim straight at the man who had broken me.

“By the time I’m finished,” Jeremy continued, voice low and certain, “he will regret the day he ever left Siena Blue.”

I sat there for a long time, thinking the rational part of my mind listed every reason this was a terrible idea. I barely knew him. We had slept together once while I was half-drunk and shattered. Fake-dating the rival alpha for ten months would put a target on my back from both packs. The politics alone could destroy what little I had left. But another deeper part of me wanted revenge more than anything

The image of Kelani’s hand resting on her stomach wouldn’t leave me. Neither would the sound of Chris telling me this—catching them—was the surprise.

I exhaled slowly.

“Ten months,” I said.

Jeremy’s eyes flickered. “Ten months.”

“And there are rules, No actual feelings. No jealousy. No checking up on each other outside the script. If either of us starts catching feelings, we call the whole thing off immediately.

“None.”

“And when it’s over?”

“We walk away.”

I searched his face for any sign of manipulation beyond what he had already admitted. There was calculation there, yes. Cold purpose. But there was also something that looked almost like respect—like he was offering me a blade and trusting me to decide whether to take it.

I nodded.

“Okay.”

Jeremy studied me for another long moment. Then he reached out, slow enough that I could have pulled away, and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered against my cheek for half a second before dropping.

He looked me straight in the eyes. His voice calm and

tempting carrying none of the coldness from before.

“Siena Blue… would you be my girlfriend?”