Chapter 2

From the moment I stepped into the bridal suite, Zane spared me a single cold glance before ignoring me completely.

He sat on the wide wedding bed and shifted into his beast form right there. The thick black serpent coiled himself into loop after loop until he filled the entire bed, then shut his eyes and sank into his training.

Left with no choice, I lifted my veil myself and walked over to him in silence.

Sensing my approach, the black serpent flicked his forked tongue with a hiss, though he still refused to open his eyes.

I bent down, picked up the tip of his tail where it hung off the edge of the bed, and stroked it lightly until his eyes finally opened.

He glared at me with slit pupils and jerked his tail back.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped.

I rolled my eyes inwardly, though outwardly, I put on a bashful expression. "Zane, we got married today, so of course we should… we should…"

He shoved me back several steps with his tail, disgust written all over his face. "You sleep on the floor. Don't interrupt my training. I'm not like the lustful common snakes in this clan. That kind of thing doesn't interest me."

"But…"

With tears brimming in my eyes, I took a step forward. He immediately whipped his tail across my legs, hard enough to knock me to my knees.

"Get out!" he roared, his temper snapping. "You married into this clan, so I'm the one you answer to now. You listen to me, and you do what I tell you. I'm going to make this clan the top clan in the world. You think I've got time for romantic crap?"

With that, he wrapped his tail tightly around my waist and flung me out of the bridal suite.

I landed on the hard floor, my waist aching from how tightly he'd squeezed me. I slowly pushed myself up against the wall.

In my past life, I'd heard Kelsey was thrown out of the bridal suite just as fast. She was so furious that she actually stood outside, waiting for Zane to apologize and call her back in.

However, he never apologized, and she stayed out there long enough for a passing servant to see her.

By the next day, everyone at Coyle Manor knew she'd been kicked out of the bridal suite and that her husband didn't like her. For a long time after, it remained a running joke among the clan wives.

Thinking back on that, I let out a heavy sigh.

I hadn't realized Zane's distaste for women ran so deep. If I'd known, I would have just slept on the floor from the start.

I rubbed my aching waist and stepped carefully back into the suite.

Zane moved to fling me out again, but I spoke before he could. "I was wrong. I won't bother you while you're training anymore. Please don't kick me out."

Once he saw I was actually behaving, he curled back up on the bed, closed his eyes, and went on with his training.

…

The next morning, the first ray of sunlight shone into the room.

Zane exhaled a breath of stale air and shifted back into his human form on the bed.

He looked more than satisfied when he saw that I really had made myself a bed on the floor. He changed his clothes and reached for the doorknob.

Sensing his movements, I quickly pinched my palm hard and forced myself awake.

"Zane, you need to come with me to the family banquet tonight."

He frowned and turned around, puzzled. "I never go to those boring banquets. Can't you handle it yourself?"

My eyes reddened as I looked up at him, putting on the most pitiful expression I could manage. "If you don't show up with me on the first day of our marriage, people will talk about both of us."

He kept his hand on the doorknob. "Who cares?"

"If they do, it could spill over into business. People will gossip about you. I know efficiency matters to you more than anything. If you come to the family banquet with me tonight, you can put an end to all of it once and for all."

I looked up timidly at the tall man scowling down at me. His face was as dark as a storm cloud. "Two hours of keeping up appearances, and nobody in this clan will be able to find fault with your marriage and lecture you about it. Isn't that worth it?"

He seemed to recall some unpleasant memories. His handsome face darkened another shade, but in the end, he nodded.

The second he was gone, I sprawled out on the big bed.

In my past life, I hadn't known much about what went on behind Kelsey's bedroom door, but whenever the clan wives got together, I always heard about how she'd gone to Zane's grandmother, Rosalind Coyle, again and again to complain that Zane refused to consummate their marriage.

Every time Rosalind sat him down for a lecture, he'd stay away from home for ten days or even half a month.

He was a serpent shifter born at the very pinnacle of power, yet he craved strength more than anyone else in the clan. He hated anything that wasted his time.

…

After going back to sleep for a while, I got myself ready and went to pay my respects to Rosalind.

On my way back, I ran right into Kelsey and Mike.

Their fingers were laced together, and she leaned against his arm, looking sweet and blissfully happy.

She'd made a point of wearing a low-cut blue knit top, leaving a pink mark partly exposed on her bare collarbone. When she spotted me, she actually tugged her neckline down a little further and smirked, showing it off.

I said nothing.

In our past life, Kelsey had lived like a widow—with sorrow and resentment etched deep into her face. I'd had no idea she could be so bold and uninhibited.

Mike saw what she was doing and pinched her cheek indulgently. His eyes were soft with tenderness.

Then, his gaze swept over to me. "Didn't Zane come with you?"

I forced a smile, fighting to keep my body from shaking. "Zane is busy with work. He couldn't spare the time."

Something shifted in Mike's eyes at once, and I knew I'd hit a nerve.

Mike and Zane were twins, but Mike had been born frail. He couldn't push himself too hard, and his gift fell far short of Zane's, so he'd spent his whole life envying his brother.

He wanted to run the clan's company, and he wanted to join the hunts himself, but his body couldn't handle either one.

That was why he resented Zane so fiercely, simply for having a healthy body.

I watched Mike walk off with his arm around Kelsey and couldn't help but sigh.

Maybe the seeds of his twisted nature had been planted the moment he was born. Fed on envy, they had grown into a sprawling tree that no one could ever cut down.