Chapter 286
I looked up at her. “I don’t want to do that,” I admitted.
Her face softened. She slid off the desk and walked around to meet me, placing her hand on my shoulder. Her touch was warm, and for once, I didn’t pull away.
“I know you don’t,” she said softly. “You’re mates, and your heart yearns for her. Doesn’t it?”
I swallowed. “Yeah.”
“But you said it yourself; she doesn’t respect you. She doesn’t even love you back.” Vivian took a breath. “I’ve tried to stay quiet, Dominic. But the truth is, I see it-the way she’s been walking all over this marriage, this pack, and you, since your wedding. She’s done nothing but make your life a living hell when a Luna is supposed to support and work alongside the Alpha. You’ve been handling everything yourself. With no help from her.”
Vivian paused, then added, “Don’t you think she’s creating more trouble than she’s worth at this point?”
My breath hitched. It hurt to hear Vivian say it, but deep down, a small part of me knew she was right. I’d known since the beginning, when she fought with me on our wedding day, reading into vows that were never designed to hurt her in the way she thought they were.
She wouldn’t listen to me. She trusted me less and less. There were moments between the bad ones, moments where she seemed to remember that she loved me, but those moments were becoming fewer and further between.
I’d tried to be understanding. She spoke of trauma-I’d tried my best to help her work through it, to understand it myself so she could heal. But she wouldn’t even tell me what that trauma was. She wouldn’t talk to me at all.
It was like I was worse than a stranger to her. I was an enemy for no reason that I could understand.
Since the beginning, she had been fighting windmills and calling them dragons.
“I just want to understand,” I said. “I wish she would tell me, plainly, why she hates me so much. But she won’t.” I paused, licking my lips. “I know I haven’t been the most pleasant either. I’ve been jealous and controlling. But… dammit.” I passed my hands over my face. “She’s treating me like some kind of monster.”
Vivian crouched in front of me and placed her hands on my knees. I looked down at her.
“She doesn’t have a reason,” she whispered. “She just… doesn’t want thiş marriage, clearly. So maybe it’s time for it to be over. Save both of you the heartache.”
I bit my tongue, hard, and stood. Vivian remained where she was as I pushed my chair back and walked over to the window, looking out.
There, in the gazebo in the gardens, I saw them. Ellie and Colt. He was helping her settle on a bench, out of the rain, and they were talking. The conversation, judging from the way she was waving her hands around, was serious.
More than likely, it was about me.
Vivian came to stand beside me. “See?” she asked, gesturing. “She entertains two men, not just one, right in front of you She has no concern for you or for the pack. Why must you cling to her?”
I opened my mouth, but the words stuck in my throat. I hated to admit it. I really did. But Vivian was right.
I wasn’t sure what was going on with Colt, but the situation with Lucas was more than obvious. And now, she had another male orbiter, one who she just randomly picked up on the side of the road and invited to dinner and now he followed her around like a lost puppy. Even if she wasn’t hooking up with him, she was clearly enjoying the attention. But when it came to my attention, my love, she didn’t want it.
The idea of divorce made a pit of dread form in my stomach, and my wolf whined, shrinking into it. It went without saying that it didn’t exactly fill me with joy.
But clearly, neither Ellie nor I was happy.
Maybe divorce truly was the only option to end both of our suffering.
+30 Bonus
