Chapter 10
I stood frozen at the top of the stairs, the air still charged from his scent. I had wanted to call after him, make him turn around, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. This was the first time since I returned
that he’d left without hesitation.
The mate bond we never had, had always been one-sided. And for the first time, I felt the chill of it snapping back at me like a whip.
Only after the front door closed and his scent faded from the air did I move back to my father’s
side.
He gave me a long look, something caught behind his eyes. “Lexie,” he started, his voice gentle “I know you once had feelings for Alpha Darius… but you were the one who gave up on him back then.”
His words stung. Not because they were wrong-but because they were true.
“Now he’s your sister’s mate. You really should keep some distance. Otherwise…”
“Enough.” My mother-Luna Myra-cut him off sharply, her voice slicing through the tension like a claw through silk. “She just came home, and you’re already lecturing her?”
She stepped between us, putting a protective hand on my shoulder. “Our Lexie is a wonderful girl. There are plenty of strong, noble wolves who’d give anything to claim her. As if she’d stil pine for her brother-in-law? Don’t say things like that again. I don’t like hearing it.”
Without waiting for a reply, she guided me up the stairs, her tone softening into something sweeter. “Come on, sweetheart. I brought back so many things for you from Switzerland. Silks, moonstones, perfume blends from the Highland markets-you’ll love them.”
I let her lead me, but my mind was stuck downstairs… with him.
Alpha Darius POV
I sat alone in the dimly lit packhouse, a fire low in the hearth, casting long shadows across the room. The darkness felt like a second skin tonight-thick, heavy, suffocating.
And I was waiting.
Waiting for Avelyn.
I kept telling myself she’d return. That she would walk through that door and throw my world back into chaos the way only she could. For years, she’d been the constant I didn’t know I needed-the steady presence I often overlooked.
She had loved me with her whole heart. Even after every mistake I made… even after I drifted toward Lexie out of habit or maybe weakness, she’d stayed.
And now she is gone.
The door’s lock clicked-it was soft, mechanical. I stood immediately. My heart thudded once. Twice.
But when the door opened… it wasn’t her.
It was Lexie.
Chapter 10
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10.50
8:59 pm D DGM.
Disappointment dropped through me like a stone in a still lake.
“What are you doing here?” I asked flatly, my voice colder than I meant it to be.
Lexie paused as if I’d slapped her. She had always been beautiful, always graceful-but tonight, I saw none of that. Just… her, standing where someone else should be.
“I thought you were waiting for me,” she said, her tone light, almost teasing.
She crossed the room, sat beside me, and leaned into my lap like she used to, wrapping her arms around my neck. The moment her skin touched mine, my wolf recoiled.
I pulled back, but she held on tighter.
“What’s wrong with you?” she whispered. “You seem… off.”
Off? I wasn’t just off, I was falling apart.
I should have felt relieved. Avelyn was gone. No more arguments. No more quiet resentment. No
more tension.
I could now do everything I wanted, with her sister.
But I didn’t feel free.
I felt wrong.
Even if the bond had broken, it should’ve been me who made the choice. I was the Alpha. Not
her. I should be the one rejecting her.
“Lexie…” I said slowly. “Has your sister contacted you lately?”
Her arms stiffened slightly, but her voice stayed light. “Avelyn? She’s never liked me-not even when we were pups. Why would she talk to me now?”
She tilted her head, feigning confusion. “Is she… missing?”
I didn’t answer right away. Couldn’t bring myself to say the word that had started this downward spiral.
Divorce.
‘She’s been upset. She left home. Changed her number too.” I raked a hand through my hair. ‘Could you do something for me? Ask your mother to try and reach out. Tell Avelyn… to come
back.”
Lexie’s jaw tightened. I saw it even in the low light. She tried to hide it, but the wolf in me could smell the shift in her mood-the irritation, the silent growl buried beneath that lovely face.
Still, she managed a soft voice. “Why, Alpha? Why do you want her back?”
Her eyes locked onto mine, searching. “Have you fallen in love with her?”
The question dropped like a stone in my gut.
I looked away.
Had I?
I didn’t know. For three years, Avelyn had been beside me-quiet, loyal, endlessly giving. I thought what I felt for her was obligation, or maybe guilt. But now, in her absence, I realized it had been something else entirely.
Her warmth haunted me. Her absence was unbearable.
3:12
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8:59 pm D DGM.
But I forced the words out. “Lexie… the one I love is you.”
Even I wasn’t sure if I believed it.
“But Avelyn is still my wife. My Luna. And I don’t want anything to happen to her. I’ve never asked you for anything before. This is the first time.”
Lexie’s face didn’t change, but something in her scent shifted-faintly bitter, like jealousy laced with desperation.
“Alright,” she said softly. “I’ll ask Mom tomorrow.”
She leaned closer, her fingers trailing down my chest. “So… how do you plan to thank me tonight?”
Her hands moved to my tie, fingers slow and deliberate.
I didn’t stop her right away-but I didn’t return her touch either. My wolf… didn’t want her.
Not tonight.
