Watching Soren’s righteous fury crumble into shame was almost satisfying. Almost. But seeing him look at Kaela with actual guilt in his eyes made my stomach clench with panic.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go, Soren was supposed to drag her away from this farce, and we’d finally be together like we were meant to be Instead, that monster–that abomination was standing there like he owned her
I needed to salvage this situation fast.]
“Kaela, sweetie,” I said, letting my voice crack with just the right amount of concern. “I get that you’re angry about the family situation, but this is extreme even for you. You can’t seriously bond with someone who’s…” I gestured delicately toward Nikolai Grimweald, making sure my disgust showed through “Everyone knows what the ancient texts say about hybrids. They’re sterile–cursed. Any offspring would be abominations worse than their parents. How can you throw your future away just to hurt Soren?“]
The murmurs around the room told me I’d hit my mark Pack politics were everything, and a Luna who couldn’t produce heirs was useless.
ren’s face flushed red, and I felt a flutter of hope. This was more like st.
“Jesus Christ, Kaela,” he exploded. “Are you really this petty? You’re destroying your entire life just to get back at me for caring about Ophelia? This is pathetic, even by your standards
Perfect. Now she’d break down, realize how crazy this all was, and come running back to us where she belonged.
But instead of crumbling. Kaela straightened her spine and looked at us both like we were something she’d scrape off her shoe
“Even if Nikolai can’t give me children,” she said, voice ringing clear through the hall, “I love him. More than I ever pretended to love you, Soren.” The words hit like a slap. Tm bonding with him because I choose to. You have no claim on me anymore. We are nothing to each other.”
My carefully constructed world tilted sideways. Love him? She’d known him for what, a few hours? This was supposed to be fake, just a desperate attempt to break some ridiculous curse.
But the way she was looking at that monster.. the way she fit perfectly against his side like she belonged there…
No. No, that couldn’t be happening
Nikolai made some subtle gesture, and suddenly his warriors were advancing on us. Those weren’t regular pack enforcers–these were killers, I could smell the violence on them, see it in the way they moved like shadows given form.
“I believe my Luna asked you to leave,” Nikolai said quietly
His voice was cultured, educated, but underneath lurked something ancient and hungry. When he smiled, I caught a glimpse of fangs that were
My blood turned to it. The stories about him were true–half vampire, half wolf, an impossibility that shouldn’t exist but somehow did. The kind of creature that made even Alphas wake up streaming.
And Karla had just declared she loved him
The warrines grabbed Suren before he could react, dragging lúm toward the exat despite his struggles||
souted, still fighting against hands that could probably snap his neck without effort. “I’m not giving up on us, Kaela!“[]
I followed quickly, playing the coacerned sister at 1 called after him. But my mind was racing, calculating, trying to figure out how to turn this disaster to any advantage
Outside, Suren scrambled to his feet after being dumped on the sidewalk like garbage. The hundation was written all over his Exce as he igunediately tried to charge back inside, only to be blocked again
This was my chance[]
“Soren,” I said softly, catching lus arm with tretabling fingers. “Maybe we should just let her go. Your bunding ceremony is tomorrow, and if people find out Karla chose to mate with a hybrid let the implications hang in the air. “Your pack eklers won’t forgive a scanded like this.“[]
It was the perfect out. He could save face, we could be together, and Kaela could rot with her monster.
Shut the fuck up!” Soren snarled, jerking away from me so violently I stumbled []
The shock hit me like a physical blow. He’d never spoken to me like that. Never looked at me with anything but gentleness and concern
made my stomach drop
But as I watched him make another futile attempt to get past the guards, I realized something
sing that mad
He actually loved her. After everything I’d done, every lie I’d told, every performance I’d given–he loved that pathetic, broken little bitch more than he’d ever loved me.
The unfairness of it made me want to scream. I was the one who’d saved his life when we were children. I was the one who’d been perfect and grateful and everything a pack princess should be. I was the one who’d sacrificed everything to make him see that Kaela was poison
But watching his face as he stared at those closed doors. I knew the truth. I’d never had him. Not really. He’d been mine for three years only because he thought he couldn’t have her.
I needed to think fast. Redirect his obsession before he did something stupid like cancel our bonding ceremony.
“You know,” I said slowly, putting on my most thoughtful expression, “maybe she still loves you. I mean, if she really wanted to move on, why pick someone who can’t give her what every Lums wants most? She’s probably testing you–seeing if you’ll fight for her or just give up.”
Soren stopped struggling, and I saw the moment the idea took hold.[]
“You’re right,” he said suddenly, voice filled with renewed determination. “She’s trying to make me jealous. Show me what I’m losing. That’s why she picked ham specifically–because she knew it would destroy me.“]
He was already pulling out his phone, probably to call off tomorrow’s ceremony and plan something even more elaborate
“I’ll prove I love her,” he muttered, walking toward his car. “I’ll give her a bonding ceremony that makes this look like practice.”
I watched him drive away, my carefully composed mask finally slipping
The rage that consumed me was pure and burning. Three years of meticulous planning, three years of playing the perfect victim, and for what? So Kaela could waltz in and steal everything that should have been mine?]]
She’d won. Somehow, that damaged, desperate little nobody had beaten me at my
own game.
And the worst part? The wolf bone bracelet I’d carefully orchestrated–three years of research to find the perfect cursed artifact, convincing Soren it was the only way to save fue, watching him pour half his family’s fortune into acquiring it from those eastern territory witches–and the bitch had survived it all
That bracelet was supposed to drain her life force slowly, agonizingly, until there was nothing left but an empty husk, Ancient dark magic woven into every carved bone, designed to transfer her remaining years to me. I’d planned it perfectly down to the last detail
But somehow, she’d not only lived through it, she’d fucking thrived. Found love with the most dangerous hybrid in the territories while I was left with nothing
Her luck was absolutely unbelievable!]
Hi this wasn’t over. Not by a long shot []
I pulled out my phone, Lingers shaking as 1 accessed the hidden folder Fal been saving for exactly this kind of emergency. The video file loaded, and my lips curved into a smile that felt like broken glass||
what
“You want to play games, hatch?” I whispered to the capty street. “Let’s see how your precious hybrid feels when the whole world sees exactly wh land of whore he really bonded with ”
Since Kaela refused to da quietly like she was supposed to. I’d just have to destroy her another way.
