Unclaimed After Nine Years

I was almost at the door when Kael stopped me.“Selene. Leave the moonstone ward charm.”My fingers tightened around the handle of my suitcase.That charm was the last thing my parents had left me.Kael’s face showed no emotion.“Lyra has been having nightmares. She needs it more than you do.”When he saw my eyes turn red, his voice stayed cold.“Name your price.”I almost laughed.After nine years of being worn down piece by piece, what price was I supposed to name?I said nothing. I only remembered the last time I had refused Lyra something she wanted.At the winter hunting resort, Lyra said the cold made her dizzy and asked for my cloak. I refused, so Kael tore it from my shoulders, wrapped it around her himself, and left me outside the hunting lodge in nothing but a thin sweater until I could barely feel my hands.So this time, I unclasped the charm and fastened it around Lyra’s wrist myself.Then I looked at her stomach and said quietly, “May the pup be born safely.”For the first

Ten minutes later, Kael called.I didn’t answer.Half an hour after that, I finished the discharge papers alone. When I stepped out, I saw him outside the birth ward with Lyra.At the front desk, a healer’s assistant was looking at Lyra with open admiration.“Mrs. Blackthorn, your husband is so thoughtful. He comes with you every time. Even before the womb scan, he warms the gel in his hands so it won’t feel cold on your skin.”Several pregnant women nearby looked at Lyra with envy.Without thinking, I touched my lower abdomen.There had once been a pup there too.On the day I miscarried after the car crash, I called Kael in tears.Lyra answered.Bare shoulders. His sheets. A smile aimed straight at the camera.“Mrs. Blackthorn, Alpha Kael lost a game to me, so I cuffed him to the bed for his punishment. Did you need something?”I said nothing and ended the call.Less than a minute later, Kael called back.Lyra was in his arms, her eyes red as if I had wronged her, and he started teari

The next day, at the healing center, Lyra looked up at Kael with wide, anxious eyes.“Is our baby all right?”He pulled her close at once, his voice soft in a way I had not heard in a long time.“The healer said the pup is fine. Yesterday’s fire didn’t affect it at all.”“That’s such a relief. You’ve been serious ever since we got here. I thought something had happened to the baby.”Her words were innocent enough, but they left him still for a moment.For an instant, the image that rose in his mind was not Lyra.It was me, looking at him through the fire, with nothing left in my eyes.He frowned and checked his phone again, irritated that I still had not replied with so much as a single word.In the past, no matter how coldly he treated me, I had always answered when he called.Now I had learned silence.He told himself it was only pride.After lunch, he escorted Lyra safely home, then went to the territory offices.The moment he stepped inside, his assistant informed him that the Blac

Seven hours later, Kael walked out of the studio in a bloodstained white shirt.He bought gifts worth a fortune and nine hundred ninety-nine white roses.He had been awake nearly two full days, but drove himself through the English countryside to a vineyard estate outside London.The whole way there, he rehearsed his apology again and again.In every version, the first thing he said to me was always the same.Selene, I missed you.At last he found me.But the flowers slipped from his hand the moment he saw me.The sun was low. I was standing in the vines, laughing softly, while a tall, striking man held me against his chest and fed me grapes one by one.Kael never got to say the words he had repeated all the way there.He only stood there and asked, “Who is he?”I stiffened for a second.The man beside me, Kane Ashford, tightened his arm around me and smiled.“So you’re Kael Blackthorn. I’ve seen the old pictures. Funny. You look worse in person.”He did it on purpose. Just enough to m

One night, Kane and I came back late from a party.Even from a distance, I could see Kael under the streetlamp, holding the same white roses he always brought.The moment I stepped out of the car, fireworks exploded overhead in sheets of rainbow light.Kane had watched Kael’s old proposal video more times than I knew. He knew that years ago, I had been foolish enough to say yes beneath fireworks like those.The second he saw me glance up, something dark flashed across his face.He strode straight toward Kael.“Are you insane? You think if you recreate the old trick, she’ll suddenly look back?”Then he swung.They crashed into each other so hard that the roses scattered across the pavement.“I’ve never seen anyone more shameless,” Kane spat. “Thirty years old and still playing the pathetic third man outside another woman’s gate.”Kael hit back just as hard.“Third man? Selene was with me for nine years. If she hadn’t lost the pup in that crash and if her body hadn’t been damaged after,