All Chapters of I Signed a Marriage Contract, Not a Love Triangle: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

“What happened to you?”Kael stood outside Irene’s apartment, looking like he had run there.His hair was damp at the temples, his shirt clung to his chest, and his breathing was heavier than it should have been.He looked past her into the apartment. “Can I come in?”Irene should have said no. He had arrived after midnight without calling, and Kael showing up unexpectedly had never once improved her evening.Then his hand closed around the doorframe, hard enough that she saw the tendons stand out across his wrist.Something was wrong.Irene stepped aside. “Five minutes.”Kael entered without arguing over the time limit.Her apartment seemed smaller with him inside it. Kael had always taken up too much space, but here there was nowhere for all that height and heat to disappear into. He looked around once, taking in the kitchen, the worn sofa, and the stack of unopened mail on the table.Then he noticed the tank.Mr. Mustard had moved off his basking rock and was paddling toward the gl

“Oh, shit.”Irene stared at the ceiling.Kael had kissed her last night. An actual kiss. Mouth, tongue, hands under her shirt, Irene sitting on his lap and moving against him like she had temporarily misplaced every sensible thought she had ever had.In the space of one week after her so-called wedding, she had let her vampire husband put his fangs against her skin, listened to that same vampire offer to watch her touch herself, kissed a lycan Alpha, and allowed said Alpha to leave evidence on her throat.“This is getting out of hand.” Her stomach sank. She lay completely still while the thought settled in properly.Kael leaving last night had bothered her.Not only because he had walked out while she was still worked up. She had worried about him going back to a Pack that apparently wanted to formally contest their bond.And Ares...Irene groaned and covered her face.She noticed when he withdrew. She cared when something from his past hurt him. She wanted his attention even when sh

Irene received a message from Kael.The elders are formally contesting the bond. I need to see you.Her stomach tightened.Across from her, Ares had gone completely still while reading his own message.He turned the screen toward her.A rival Coven has started asking questions about the marriage. They want a meeting, and they’re asking to review the terms. There’s noticeably more interest now than there was before. They believe the situation has changed. “They can do that?” Irene asked after reading it.“They can request it.”“Do you have to give them anything?”“No.”Ares slipped the phone back into his pocket. His expression had gone cool again.“They’ve ignored most of my previous marriages beyond the usual curiosity. This time they’re digging. It does tell me something.”“What?”“That apparently I’m not the only one beginning to think this marriage is worth keeping.” Ares’s gaze dropped to her mouth before returning to her eyes.He led her to his study, and Irene stopped in the d

Irene had been trying to sleep for nearly an hour when she gave up.The estate had felt tense all evening. Dorian had spent most of dinner taking calls about the rival Coven, Ares had disappeared into his study twice, and unfamiliar security officers had been moving through the halls more often than usual.Nobody told Irene there was an immediate problem, but did not make it easier for her to sleep.She pulled on a cardigan over the shirt and shorts she slept in and went downstairs.The library lights were on, and she immediately found Ares sitting in one of the deep chairs near the fireplace with a book open in his lap. His jacket was gone, his sleeves were rolled to his forearms, and a glass sat untouched on the table beside him.He looked up when she entered and took in her bare legs, messy hair, and probably exhausted face in one quiet sweep.Ares looked up when she came in. “Another sleepless night?”“Looks like it.” Irene walked toward the shelves. “But I’m fine.”Ares closed th

Irene had eaten a burger during her convenience-store shift, so by the time she returned to the estate, she had no interest in dinner.Lena offered to have something sent upstairs anyway. Irene declined, went straight to her room, showered, changed into an old shirt and sleep shorts, and then felt tired but still not able to sleep.Everything she had read the night before kept coming back whenever she closed her eyes.Eventually, she shoved the blanket aside and got out of bed.The estate was quiet at that hour. She intended to go downstairs, get a glass of milk, maybe find something boring in the library, and then come back once her brain had tired itself out.Instead, she took the wrong corridor.She realized it almost immediately. The wallpaper was darker here, the rooms farther apart, and she didn’t recognize the paintings on the walls. She was about to turn around when she noticed light coming through a door near the end of the hall.It had been left slightly open.Then she heard