C5

When Ronan sees that I am really crying and mad, his voice gets a bit softer. "I made a mistake about you."

I turn my head away and snort.

Ronan reaches out and pinches my red cheek. "Do not be mad. I will use my claws to open the river crabs for you at dinner later."

The second I hear the word "crabs," my stomach flips over. I want to throw up right on the floor. But I have to swallow it down because Ronan is looking right at me.

"I went to see the healer today," I say in a tiny voice.

Ronan looks blank. "Didn't you say you have no pup inside?"

"Yes, I have no pup," I lie again. "But the healer said my stomach is very weak. He told me I cannot eat cold things from the river."

"Oh," Ronan says, looking at my small body. "You are a very fragile wolf, Sommy."

I bite my lip hard. "You are the one who made me soft for three years because you gave me everything. If you keep talking badly to me, I will not sign the divorce papers. It is too hard to find another male who will give me good things like you do."

I wish I had not said that as soon as the words came out. I know Ronan will get very angry at me.

But he does not shout. He just says, "Even when we are not mates anymore, I told you that you will get plenty of pack resources. After the divorce, you can live your life just like before. No other pack will bully you."

I look right into his eyes. You are the one bullying me right now, Ronan!

"Ronan, is Sommy awake yet? The meat is ready on the table," Adanna's voice comes through the heavy wooden door.

"Yes! We are coming down!" Ronan shouts back.

"Hurry up," Adanna says. "Kellan Stormfang is here to eat with us, too."

"Got it!" Ronan says.

We hear Adanna's boots walking down the stone hall.

"Get up from the bed," Ronan says, and his face goes cold again.

I look at him, surprised. "Why is Kellan here tonight?"

Kellan Stormfang is Ronan's older cousin. His mother is Lady Adanna's big sister, Lady Adanna Wolfhart. They are sisters, but they are totally different. Kellan's mom is very sweet and gentle.

"Why are you asking so many things about him?" Ronan asks with a mean voice.

I feel so tired of him. Ronan's wolf mood changes too fast. One second, I think he is being nice to me, and the next second, he treats me like dirt.

"Put on some big clothes," Ronan says, looking at my dress. "We have an outsider wolf here tonight."

"An outsider?" I ask.

Ronan squints his eyes. "Kellan."

He hates the way Kellan looks at me. Kellan does not look at me like a bad male, but he looks at me like he wants a pretty flower he can never touch. But Kellan is Ronan's cousin, and they ran in the woods together since they were little pups, so Ronan cannot tell him to go away.

I think Ronan is just mad because Zanele is sick in the healing centre, so I do not argue with him. I get off the bed and go to the closet. I pull out a big pink wool sweater and some wide white pants.

My neck and collarbone still show a little bit, and my skin looks very white. I look like a pretty little forest fox from every side. I pull my hair up into a high ponytail so my neck is bare.

Ronan does not like that look at all. He walks right over to me and pulls the hair tie out of my hair.

"What are you doing, Ronan?" I ask with a soft voice.

"It looks bad on you," he says.

"I do not care," I say, reaching my hand out. "Give it back to me. My hair will get into the meat when I eat food."

"No," Ronan says, and he holds his big hand high up in the air.

I stand up on the tips of my toes to grab it from him. I am one hundred and sixty-eight centimetres, but Ronan is a huge Alpha who is one hundred and ninety centimeters tall. I am just a short little wolf next to him. Standing on my toes does nothing.

My whole front body gets pressed right against Ronan's hot, hard chest. My weak hand goes onto his shirt while I try with all my power to get my hair tie back. I do not even think about how close we are. Since we married, he has never pushed my body away. We are mates, so we do everything mates do. I am used to touching him.

Suddenly, his big arms wrap around my thin waist, and he bends his head down right against my ear. His breath is very hot. "You are a very stubborn wolf, Sommy. Why do you keep fighting when you know you cannot reach it? Why don't you just beg your Alpha like you used to do?"

Before, I would use my sweet voice to beg him. I would say, "Ronan... please give me my hair tie. I will be a good girl for you."

But tonight, I will not say those words. He hates that I am fighting him now.

I push his big chest away and look at him with mad eyes. "That is because we can never go back to how things were before."

Ronan freezes for one second.

I hold out my open hand. "Give me my hair tie, Ronan."

He wanted me to talk to him, but my eyes and my voice are not sweet anymore.

"No!" Ronan shouts. His handsome face gets very dark, and he walks right to the big stone window and throws my hair tie out into the dark woods!

"You!" I grit my sharp teeth at him.

Ronan turns around and stomps out of the bedroom because he is mad. I stand there with no words.

We do not sleep at the Moonkeep very often, so I do not have many things here. Most of my clothes and things are at my little condominium in the city. That hair tie was the only one I had here. He is acting like a crazy wolf today!

I have no choice, so I go downstairs with my long hair flying around my shoulders.

Adanna waves her hand at me from the big table. "Come sit here, Sommy."

I walk over to the table.

Kellan looks at me with very soft, kind eyes. "Sommy."

I smile back at him sweetly. "Kellan."

Ronan sits across from us, and his face looks like a dark storm cloud.

Kellan smiles a little bit, but he looks sad inside. I sit down right between Ronan and Adanna.

Adanna immediately picks up a huge river crab and puts it on my wooden plate. "Your stomach is sick today, so you can only have one."

"Thank you, Mother," I say.

Phew! I am so glad I only have to eat one. But my throat feels like it wants to throw up right now from the fish smell. I hold it in because I do not want the pack to see my secret.

Just when I reach my fingers out to open the crab, Ronan reaches over and snatches it right off my plate!

I swallow hard and look at my empty plate. My eyes stay on the crab. Even if the smell makes me sick, I still want to try to eat it for my baby. I can eat one.

"Eat your green vegetables, Sommy," Ronan says with a loud voice like a mean dad. "Remember what the healer told you about your stomach."

I puff my cheeks out and pick up my fork to eat the greens. Kellan looks across the table at me, and nobody knows what he is thinking in his head.

After we finish eating the meat, Ronan and Kellan stand up and go to the big study room upstairs to talk about pack laws and the Royal Lycan Court.

I walk outside into the big stone courtyard. The Wolfhart bloodline has a huge white Samoyed dog named Snowy that lives with the pack of wolves. Snowy and I are best friends. Whenever I come to this Moonkeep, I always run to play and talk with him.

"Snowy, I do not think I can come to the woods to see you anymore," I say, wrapping my arms around the dog's soft white neck. "Will you miss me when I am gone?"

"Why can't you come to see the dog anymore, Sommy?" a low voice asks behind me. "What did Ronan do to you?"

I look up fast and see Kellan standing under the moonlight.