“Where we go from here,” I repeated flatly. “You mean the contract marriage that will make me a shell while you live happily ever after with Giana?”
He winced, but didn’t deny it. “I need time, Aurora. Time to secure my position as Alpha. Once I have full control, I can change things, protect Giana openly.”
“And what about me?” I whispered.
Raymond’s expression softened slightly. “After our divorce, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of. You’ll have the status of my Alpha–born sister. I’ll always protect you, support you financially. I owe you that much.”
I nearly laughed at the absurdity of it all. He was offering to make me his sister after all the years I’d loved him.
“How generous,” I said, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice.
Raymond leaned forward earnestly. “This is the best solution for everyone, Aurora. We just need to get through the wedding, spend a few months establishing ourselves as Alpha and Luna, and then we can quietly separate. No one gets hurt.”
No one gets hurt. The words echoed in my mind like a cruel joke. I was already hurting, breaking a little more each day.
But looking at him, I knew I had no choice. My mother’s life depended on this charade.
I forced a smile. “Just remember to help me find a good next husband after our divorce.”
Relief washed over his face, and he grinned. “Of course. I’ll find you someone worthy of you.”
The irony was almost too much to bear. The man I loved promising to find me someone else to love.
Raymond left the same way he’d come, through the window with a casual ease that spoke of years of practice. As a teenager, I’d found it romantic–my own personal Romeo climbing up to see me. Now it just felt like another reminder of what we’d lost.
I picked up the small box he’d left, opening it to find a silver charm bracelet. Dangling from it was a single charm–a tiny silver wolf. A symbol of pack loyalty. Not love. Never love.
After he left, memories flooded back unbidden. Raymond teaching me to swim in the pack lake. The two of us stealing cookies from the pack house kitchen. So many moments, so many years, all leading to this hollow arrangement.
***
That evening, I shifted into my wolf form and ran through the forest, desperate to clear my head. The cool
Chapter 14
+15 BONUS
autumn air rushed through my fur, and for a brief moment, I felt free.
But even this small freedom was short–lived. As I rounded a bend in the trail, two familiar scents hit me at once. Raymond and Giana.
I froze, instinctively ducking behind a large oak tree. They stood in a small clearing ahead, locked in an
embrace.
“Raymond, I can’t do this,” Giana sobbed, her delicate hands clinging to his shirt. “I can’t watch you marry
her.”
Raymond cupped her face with such tenderness it felt like a knife twisting in my chest. “It’s just
temporary,” he murmured, wiping away her tears. “Just a contract. Once everything is secure, I’ll reject
her.”
“But the wedding preparations are already starting,” she whispered. “Everyone’s talking about it. I can’t
bear it.”
“I know, love. I know.” Raymond pressed his forehead to hers. “But I’m not giving you up. Never. If you
want, I can reject her now. We can run away together.”
My heart stopped. Was he serious? After everything, would he throw it all away?
But Giana shook her head. “No, I would never ask you to give up your birthright. I know how much
becoming Alpha means to you.”
“Listen to me,” Raymond said, his voice fierce with conviction. “I will never reject you. Our mate bond is
sacred. Once the contract with Aurora ends, I will reject her immediately. In my eyes, in my heart, you are
my only Luna. Always.”
They sealed this promise with a kiss so passionate it left me hollow inside. I backed away silently, my wolf whimpering with a pain that had nothing to do with physical wounds.
I ran home, pushing my wolf to the limits, trying to outrun the image of them together and the cold certainty that no matter what happened, I would always be second best.
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