Chapter 5

Ethan’s POV

I rubbed my temples as Vivian’s sobbing echoed through the speaker of my phone. She had been crying for the past twenty minutes, her voice high and breathless as she went over the details of what happened at the hospital again.

"She literally had the guards throw me out, Ethan," Vivian wailed, sniffing loudly. "In front of everyone! I was just trying to be nice and see how she was doing, and she completely humiliated me. My arm still hurts from where that man grabbed me. It’s not good for the baby to be this stressed."

"I know, Viv. Just breathe," I said, my voice deep and tired. I leaned back in my leather office chair, staring at the stack of pack paperwork on my desk. "Ruby shouldn't have done that. I’ll handle it, okay? Try to rest. I’ll come by and visit you this evening to check on you."

"Promise?" she whispered vulnerably.

"I promise," I said, hanging up the phone a second later.

As soon as the screen went black, a notification popped up at the top. It was a text from Ruby. I unlocked the phone, my eyebrows drawing together as I read the short, blunt words.

"I agree to the divorce. Let's meet in your office tomorrow morning to sign."

I stared at the message, a strange, uncomfortable tightness twisting in my chest. She was agreeing? Just like that? Yesterday she was screaming, crying, and telling me about a miscarriage. She looked like her entire world had ended. I expected a massive fight, weeks of legal battles, and endless pack drama. I wondered what could have possibly made her change her mind overnight.

Before I could think about it any further, the heavy office door opened and my Beta, Marcus, walked in. His expression was dead serious, his posture rigid.

"Alpha," Marcus said, stopping in front of my desk. "The border patrol just reported signs of rogue activity near the eastern ridge. It looks like a small group tried to cross into our territory. Several of our warriors were caught off guard and have already been injured."

My Alpha instincts flared instantly, a low growl rattling in my throat. "Are the borders secure now?"

"We pushed them back, but the tension is high," Marcus replied.

"Increase the patrols," I ordered, standing up and leaning over my desk. "Double the guards on the eastern sector and make sure the pack houses are locked down. Nobody goes out after dark until we know exactly what we are dealing with."

"Understood," Marcus said, turning on his heel and exiting the room.

The moment the door closed, my hand instinctively reached for my phone. My thumb hovered over Ruby’s contact name. My first instinct was to text her, to tell her to stay inside, to warn her to be careful if she had to leave the house. My wolf was pacing inside my head, anxious about her safety.

Then, reality hit me like a slap in the face. I stopped myself, my fingers freezing over the screen. We were getting divorced. She wasn't my responsibility anymore. I locked the phone and tossed it onto the desk, forcing myself to take a deep, steadying breath.

I was the eldest son in my family. Growing up, my life wasn't my own. My father had many sons, a pack full of half-brothers who were all waiting for me to fail so they could steal my birthright. My mother was brutally strict with me, constantly pushing me to my limits because she wanted me to inherit the Alpha position at all costs. To meet her impossible expectations, I trained until my bones ached, studied pack law until my eyes bled, and became the most ruthless version of myself.

And then, she forced me to marry Ruby just to please my grandfather.

I felt controlled my entire life. I was the most capable, strongest son in the lineage, yet I was told I could lose my inheritance simply because I wanted to date Vivian—the woman I chose—instead of marrying the fated mate the universe and my grandfather picked out for me. My mother had literally dropped to her knees, crying and begging me to just sign the marriage certificate so my brothers wouldn't take the title. So, I agreed.

But secretly, I swore a vow to myself. I told myself I would marry Ruby to secure the title, but the moment I became Alpha and solidified my power, I would divorce her.

Yet, somewhere during those three quiet years of marriage, everything changed. I fell in love with Ruby.

I refused to admit it to myself. I hated the feeling of being controlled, so I blamed my racing heart and my protective instincts entirely on the mate bond. I told myself it was just biology, just a magical curse forcing me to feel things. I fought against it every single day. It wasn't until my second year as Alpha, when my position was completely unshakeable, that I finally built up the nerve to file for the divorce. I needed to prove to myself that I was in control of my own destiny.

I didn't know why Ruby had returned to the hospital this morning, and frankly, I forced myself to stop caring. I couldn't let myself care. I believed that everything would be better once she was finally gone and the bond was broken.

The next morning arrived far too quickly.

The office door opened right at nine o'clock, and Ruby walked in. She looked different. The fragile, broken girl from the hospital room was gone. She was pale, and she still had a small bandage on her forehead, but her chin was held high and her eyes were completely blank. Dead.

She didn't sit down. She didn't even look at the couch. She walked straight to my desk, her heels clicking sharply against the hardwood floor.

The very first thing she asked was, "How much alimony am I receiving?"

I blinked, slightly caught off guard by her cold, clinical tone. I named a huge amount, a number that would ensure she would never have to work a single day in her life, a number that would buy her a luxury estate anywhere outside pack lands.

Ruby didn't even blink. "I want to see the money transferred to my private account before I sign anything."

I stared at her, a bitter taste rising in my mouth. I pressed the intercom on my desk. "Marcus, contact my lawyer. Arrange the immediate transfer of the divorce settlement to Ruby’s account. Do it now."

To me, this sudden greed just confirmed everything Vivian had always told me about her. Vivian always said Ruby only cared about the Sinclair name and the wealth that came with it. Seeing her stand there, demanding the cash before she even touched the pen, proved it. She was just like everyone else.

A few minutes later, Ruby’s phone buzzed with a confirmation text. She checked the screen, nodded to herself, and then picked up the pen from my desk. With a few swift, elegant strokes, she signed her name on the dotted line, officially ending our legal marriage.

She dropped the pen onto the desk, looking directly into my eyes. Her expression was completely unreadable.

"Now you can reject me," she said, her voice terrifyingly steady.

My heart did a violent plunge. This was it. The final step.

I stood up from my chair, drawing myself up to my full height to face her. I looked deep into her dark eyes, pushing past the sudden, suffocating wave of regret that tried to choke me. I needed to be free.

"I, Alpha Ethan Sinclair, reject you, Ruby Winters, as my mate and Luna," I spoke the words clearly, the Alpha command vibrating through the room.

The moment the words left my mouth, a violent, agonizing pain crashed through my chest. It felt like my soul was being torn in half, a physical ripping sensation that stole the air right out of my lungs. The severed mate bond recoiled violently inside me. My knees buckled under the sheer force of the agony, and I dropped to one knee, gripping the edge of my desk just to keep from collapsing completely onto the floor. Sweat broke out across my forehead as my wolf howled in agonizing torment inside my mind.

I looked up through blurry vision. Ruby was trembling violently, her face completely pale as she gripped the back of a chair to stay upright. She was feeling the same pain, the same brutal tearing of the soul. But she didn't fall. She forced herself to remain standing, biting her lip so hard a tiny drop of blood appeared.

She looked down at me, her eyes colder than ice.

"Now we're even," Ruby whispered, her voice shaking but full of a final, heavy finality. "Goodbye, Ethan. May we never meet again."