CHAPTER 8: THE BREAKING POINT

The car ride back to Blue Moon territory was suffocating.

Adrian sat in the back seat, his hands clenched into fists on his thighs, staring out the window without seeing anything. The mate bond burned in his chest like a live wire, pulsing with pain every second he got further from Leila.

From his wife.

From the mother of his child.

From the Lycan Princess.

"Adrian." Lydia's voice cut through his thoughts, sharp and insistent. "Adrian, are you even listening to me?"

He wasn't. He hadn't heard a single word she'd said since they'd left the palace.

All he could see was Leila's face. The cold resolve in her eyes. The way she'd looked at him in that hallway like he was nothing. Like he meant nothing.

"You had three years of chances, Adrian. And you wasted every single one."

His wolf howled inside him, clawing to get out, to run back to the palace, to claim what was theirs.

"ADRIAN!" Lydia's hand grabbed his arm, her nails digging through his jacket.

He turned to look at her, and the fury in his eyes made her shrink back.

"What?" His voice was deadly quiet.

Lydia's eyes widened, but she quickly composed herself, lifting her chin. "I said, what was all that back there? That... that scene you made?"

"I didn't make a scene."

"You cornered her in a hallway!" Lydia's voice rose, shrill with anger and something else. Fear, maybe. "In front of the entire Lycan court! Do you have any idea how that looked? How we looked?"

"There is no 'we,' Lydia."

The words came out flat, emotionless. Final.

Lydia's face went pale. "What... what do you mean?"

Adrian turned back to the window. "I mean exactly what I said. There is no 'we.' There never was."

"That's not true!" Lydia's hand flew to his face, forcing him to look at her. Her eyes were wide, desperate. "Adrian, we've been together for years! We're meant to be together! Everyone knows it! Your mother…"

"My mother," Adrian interrupted, his voice sharp as a blade, "does not get to decide who I'm with."

"But we're perfect together! We…"

"I have a mate, Lydia."

The words hung in the air between them like a death sentence.

Lydia's hand dropped from his face. "No. No, you can't mean that... that woman? That human?"

"She's not human." Adrian's jaw clenched. "She's the Lycan Princess. And she's carrying my child."

Lydia's face went through a series of emotions, shock, disbelief, rage, and finally, something cold and calculating.

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

"Then why didn't you tell anyone? Why did you keep her hidden if she was so important to you?" Lydia's voice turned mocking. "Oh, that's right. Because she wasn't important. She was just some contract marriage your father arranged. You told me that yourself."

Adrian flinched. The words hit like physical blows because they were true. He had said those things. He had treated Leila like she didn't matter.

And now he was paying the price.

"Things have changed," he said quietly.

"Things have changed?" Lydia laughed, but there was no humor in it. "What changed, Adrian? The fact that she's a princess now? The fact that she has money and power? Is that what it takes to make you care about someone?"

"It has nothing to do with that."

"Then what? What is it about her?" Lydia leaned closer, her voice dropping to something almost pleading. "What does she have that I don't?"

Adrian looked at her, really looked at her, and for the first time, he saw Lydia clearly. Saw the manipulation, the calculation, the way she'd positioned herself in his life not out of love, but out of ambition.

"She has my heart," he said simply. "She's always had it. I was just too stupid to realize it."

Lydia's expression hardened. "You're making a mistake."

"The only mistake I made was not appreciating her when I had the chance." Adrian turned away again. "When we get back to the pack house, I'll have someone drive you home."

"Home? Adrian, we came together…"

"And now we're leaving separately." His tone left no room for argument. "It's over, Lydia. Whatever you thought we had, whatever my mother promised you, it's done."

"Your mother…"

"Is wrong." Adrian's voice turned to steel. "About you. About Leila. About everything."

The rest of the drive passed in tense silence. When they finally pulled up to the Blue Moon pack house, Lydia turned to him one last time.

"You're going to regret this," she said, her voice cold. "She's never going to forgive you, Adrian. You destroyed her. She'll never come back to you."

The words cut deep because Adrian feared they were true.

But he met Lydia's eyes steadily. "Then I'll spend the rest of my life trying to earn her forgiveness. But I won't do it with you beside me."

He got out of the car without looking back.

Inside his office, Adrian poured himself a drink with shaking hands. The alcohol burned going down, but it did nothing to ease the pain in his chest.

His phone rang. Alex.

"Alpha, I have news about…"

"Not now, Alex."

"But sir, it's about the princess. The Lycan Princess. I found…"

"I know who she is." Adrian's grip tightened on the glass. "I know everything."

There was a pause. "You... you know that your wife is Princess Leila?"

"Yes."

"And you know about the pregnancy?"

"Yes."

Another pause, longer this time. "Alpha... what do you want me to do?"

Adrian closed his eyes, the weight of everything crashing down on him. His wife was a princess. She was carrying his child. She hated him. And he'd just ended things with Lydia, burning that bridge permanently.

"Find out everything you can about Lycan law," Adrian said finally. "Marriage law, divorce proceedings, custody rights. Everything."

"You're not going to sign the divorce papers."

It wasn't a question.

"No," Adrian said quietly. "I'm not going to let her go without a fight."

He hung up and sank into his chair, the glass forgotten in his hand.

Somewhere across the territory, in that magnificent palace, Leila was probably relieved to be away from him. Probably celebrating her freedom.

But Adrian could feel her through the mate bond. Could feel her pain, her exhaustion, her conflict.

She wasn't happy either.

And that gave him a sliver of hope.