Aiden’s POV

"Alina." I barked her name, my knuckles rapping against the wood for the third time. The muffled shuffling from inside set my teeth on edge—she was in there, so why was the lock still turned?

News of the rogue raid had hit the pack house an hour ago. They’d hit the sector where she kept that pathetic little job of hers. Inside my chest, my wolf paced a frantic, jagged circle, his claws scraping the underside of my ribs until I tasted copper.

Mate. Our mate. She’s close.

"Shut up," I growled under my breath. My jaw ached from the tension. I was engaged to Emily; the wedding was a fixed point. The sooner the beast understood that, the better.

The door finally creaked open. Alina stood there, her lips pulling into a faint, awkward line that didn’t reach her eyes.

"Aiden? I didn’t expect you... did you come for a pie?" She hovered in the threshold, her body angled to block the view of the room.

"Is someone in there?" I leaned in, my scent-tracking flaring.

"Why would anyone be here? This is my office." She blinked fast, a nervous flutter. The lie was written in the slight tremor of her hands.

"Move aside." I didn’t wait for an invitation. I planted a hand on the frame and shouldered past her, forcing my way into the cramped space.

"Aiden, you—" She cut herself off, breathless. "You see? No one is here."

Then it hit. A sharp, phantom pain lanced through the mate bond—faint, but pulsing with a sickening clarity. Pleasure. The echo of a moan that wasn’t for me; the phantom sensation of slick heat and another male’s touch on skin that the bond claimed as mine. My vision bled into a dark, pulsing red.

Lucian. That filthy rogue had been on her again.

My fist collided with her oak desk. The wood groaned and splintered, a clean crack snapping through the center of the heavy top. Alina recoiled, her eyes turning into dinner plates.

"Aiden? What’s wrong?"

"What the hell is your problem?" I lunged, my fingers hooking under her chin to force her gaze up to mine. My skin burned, the shift ghosting just beneath the surface. "I told you not to let a rogue anywhere near you. But you brought him here? You let him touch you?" The words came out as a gutteral snarl. My wolf was scratching to get out, feral and screaming for blood.

"I didn’t do anything! Let go of me!" She twisted, putting her weight into it until she yanked her chin from my grasp. "This is my place of work. You need to leave."

A jagged, humorless laugh tore from my throat. I lunged again, snapping my hand around her wrist.

"Tell me, Alina, what do you really think of yourself?" I squeezed, watching the skin pale beneath my grip. "Is he that good? You’d let that monster put his hands on you? A murderer, Alina. God damn it!"

"You’re hurting me, Aiden," she whispered.

The smallness of her voice hit me like cold water. I dropped her wrist as if it had burned me.

"I’m the reason you have this place," I said, my voice dropping to a low, dangerous vibration. "And now, I’m the reason you’re losing it."

Confusion clouded her face, her brow furrowing. "Wait... what do you mean?"

I didn’t answer. I turned on my heel, stalking out of the office and into the main shop. She scrambled after me, her footsteps frantic behind mine.

"I want everyone out of this shop! Right now!" I let the Alpha command rip through the room, my voice vibrating with the weight of the wolf. The customers froze, a collective murmur of fear rippling through the tables.

"NOW!"

I didn’t have to say it a third time. They scrambled, chairs screeching against the floor as they fled into the street to get away from the monster in their midst.

"You can’t do this to me!" Alina’s voice rose, sharp with an annoyance that barely masked her panic. "This is my place of work!"

I didn’t give her the satisfaction of a verbal reply. Instead, I let my wolf take the lead. I lunged at the nearest table, the wood snapping like kindling under my strength. I grabbed a chair by the back, swinging it with a roar into the front display case. The glass exploded, a thousand glittering shards raining onto the floor. Behind the counter, the workers didn’t wait for a second warning; they bolted for the back exit, leaving me alone to dismantle the shop piece by piece.

"I built this for you," I snarled, turning to face her amidst the wreckage. My chest heaved. "So I have every right to tear it down. You’re a mother, for God’s sake, but you’d rather be a whore for a fucking rogue?"

"I’m a whore?" She didn’t flinch. If anything, she stepped closer, her eyes flashing with a defiance that staggered me. "Are you kidding me? I can do whatever I want with my body, Aiden."

The shock hit me like a physical blow, turning my vision white. I bridged the gap between us in a blur of motion, my hand snapping around her throat—not to crush, but to claim.

"I own you, Alina," I hissed into her face. "That’s how it has always been. That’s how it will always be." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

She didn’t claw at my hand. She didn’t struggle. Instead, a jagged, broken laugh bubbled out of her. "You don’t own me anymore, Aiden. You had your chance and—"

I silenced her the only way I knew how. I crashed my lips against hers, the kiss loud, messy, and fueled by a desperate, territorial hunger. She shoved against my chest, her fists thudding against my shoulders to break free, but I only pulled her closer, deepening the kiss until I felt like I was stealing the very air from her lungs. When a low, involuntary moan finally broke from her throat, a surge of dark satisfaction settled in my gut.

I pulled away, both of us gasping for air, a thin silver thread connecting us for a heartbeat before it snapped.

"You have lost your fucking mind," she breathed, her anger vibrating through the bond.

"Maybe I have," I admitted, my voice a low tremor. "But me divorcing you wasn’t an invitation for you to go fuck other men, Alina. I want you as my concubine. After I marry Emily, I’m taking you back."

Another laugh tore from her, this one sounding like glass breaking. "You are truly pathetic, Aiden. That’s all I’m worth to you? A concubine?"

The words tasted like ash as soon as they left my mouth. That wasn’t what I meant, but the beast inside didn’t know how to be subtle. "You’re worth so much more... but I’m marrying Emily because I love her. But I love you, too."

Alina’s left eyebrow arched, her expression shifting to one of pure, incredulous disdain. "Aiden—"

"Aiden!"

The scream pierced through the tension in the ruined shop. I whirled around, my blood turning to ice. Emily stood in the shattered doorway, her face pale and her eyes wide as she looked from the destroyed furniture to my hand still hovering near Alina.

The air left the room. She had heard everything.