Bleed Me Dry, Alpha

Chapter 4

The connection goes silent, the sound of his staggered breathing on the other end of the line was the only thing informing me that Mr. Thomas’ was still there. “Delta, did you hear me? I said…”

“I heard you, Mrs. Skye,” his previously warm and jovial voice has taken on a cold, lawyerish tone as he sifts from what he believed to be a social call to business. “But just to be clear, let me repeat what I just heard,” he pauses,”You just said you want to divorce your husband, Logan Skye, Alpha of Crimson Sky Pack, the largest most powerful pack in the North…Is that what you just said, Mrs. Skye?”

Taking a deep, calming breath I confirm my intention to leave my husband. “He doesn’t want me, I don’t think he’ll fight it,” I admit sadly to myself. “We have an arrangement and I…”

“Mrs. Skye,” Mr. Thomas has shifted to not using my first name, keeping everything purely professional. “As your potential legal counsel I will advise you to wait until we can speak in person before saying anything else. Can you meet in Crimson Town in…45 minutes?”

“Yes,” I reply and then hang up quickly. My heart is racing. I can’t believe I’m finally doing this.

With rapid fingers, I text the delta the name of a cafe in the town, and then take a moment to wash myself up from dinner, changing into something a little nicer than now stained and torn clothing from making them dinner–dinner that they didn’t bother to taste. Quickly drinking down one of the discarded bowls of soup, I grab one of the abandoned grilled cheese sandwiches, clamping it tightly between my fangs, before I rush out the side door through the kitchen.

With all the servants gone, there is nobody here to see me pull out of the otherwise empty driveway. The deep treadmarks from Logan’s SUV shows how much of a hurry he was in when he backed out of here to get Eloise to the emergency room. Even though it was a non-existent minor injury, Logan is going to demand the very best treatment, most likely ordering the bedraggled hospital staff to put them up in the VIP suite in the alpha wing of the hospital until they perform every possible test he can think of.

Logan’s going to be at the hospital all night.

That gives me hours to work with Mr. Thomas and come up with a plan to leave. By the time Logan finds out what’s going on, the divorce papers will be sitting on his desk, waiting for his signature.

And then…then he can give me a proper rejection. Something he should have done the moment he met me.

Holding onto the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles are white and my clawed nails dig into the faux leather surface, I take deep centering breaths, doing what I can to help this panic attack pass as I count the turns to the bottom. Even though the storm from yesterday has passed, it left broken branches and pine needles all over the road, still slick and wet as the mountain itself weeps water from its dense soil, covering the road with slick runoff. I’ve lived in the packhouse at the top of the ridge for three years, but I’ve never gotten the hang of driving these roads. I grew up in a pack near the water, in the flatlands. If it weren’t for my keen night vision and wolf-fast reflexes, I’m sure I would have ended up in a ditch before now, especially on a sad day like today.

When I reach the cafe I’m surprised to see that Mr. Thomas is already comfortably situated in a quiet corner, his laptop taking up most of the space along with a cup of warm tea, which he pushes in my direction as I take my seat next to him.

“Camomile with honey,” he smiles sagely, the corners of his eyes wrinkling. “Great for calming nerves.”

Taking a grateful sip, I watch as he pulls up a standard divorce agreement, one that he’s used for other high ranking wolves from other packs who found a need to end their marriage. “The tricky part isn’t dissolving your marriage, but equalizing any property you might share jointly, especially if it belongs to the pack. I’m assuming you live in the packhouse?”

“I don’t want anything from him, Mr. Thomas,” I clarify. “Other than my freedom.”

“Are you sure,” he raises a skeptical eyebrow. “He has more than enough resources to pay alimony and other expenses until you find a new pack, although I suggest you call your father and see if you rejoin Moonstone,” he pats my hand gently. I think it will be easier for you to get back on your feet if you don’t have to worry about going rogue.”

Rogue. The word sends a shiver up my spine. “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea,” my fingers fidget with the cup handle as I consider how that conversation would go. My father hates me. He was more than happy to see me leave. “I don’t think he’d welcome my call.”

“Nonsense,” Delta Thomas disagrees. Sighing he tells me that my father has changed quite a bit in the last three years. “I won’t say he’s growing softer, but since you’ve left he has changed.”

I say something non-commital about taking his suggestion under advisement as he continues to go through the paperwork. He prints me a quick copy of the divorce agreement instructing me to look it over as he leaves to answer a call outside. Sitting alone with my thoughts, I read it line by line. There are no flaws, no mistakes, nothing that I’d want to change.

But is this what I want? What do I really want?

I’ve loved him for so long without feeling it in return, it is almost hard to break the habit, but for the sake of our little one, I’ll need to try.

As I take a deep breath, I roll my shoulders and sigh, “Now I just need him to agree and…and to reject me.”

A tall figure looms over me, casting a wide shadow that covers most of the divorce agreement. Before this person even says a single word, his burning cedar and sandalwood scent sends a fire of fear through my body.

“Why would I do that?” My husband’s voice cuts through my thoughts as I look up into his steely eyes. “You are MINE Annalise. MINE! Why the f**k would I give you a rejection?”

His hard, critical gaze sinks into me, forcing me down as he uses his alpha energy to make me feel insignificant and meek. My mate is stronger than me in every way and he is used to having others meet his demands. Even other alphas bend before Logan Skye, and I’m not an alpha–I’m hardly even a true luna.

“Logan, why are you here?” I ask, forcing myself through the fog of his influence as I stand tall and straight, making myself look him in the eye unflinchingly. “Did you have me followed?” I hiss, my anger rising to match his.

Confused at my sudden brazen bravery, he scrunches his eyebrows as he snarls about finding out I had left and leaving the hospital in a rush to find me.

“All I had to do was track you through our bond,” he growls. “I expected you were up to something, but not this. Not divorce?” Leaning in, he grabs me by the chin, not letting me look away. “Do you think you can just leave?”

Our faces are only inches from one another. To an outside observer, it might even look like we are sharing an intimate moment.

“Why do you even care where I am? You have her! And you’re supposed to be with her in the hospital. Not here. Not following me around like I’m a naughty child!”

Suddenly, the thought of him chasing me around town ready to scold me for going to the store, or meeting a friend, is so ridiculous that a bubble of laughter springs to my lips. Startled, he releases me.

“THIS ISN’T A JOKE,” Logan bellows and several heads turn in our direction. Leaning in he lowers his voice. “So what if I am following you?” his eyes flash dangerously. “You’re supposed to be MY wife, and you’re here with some old wolf playing house.”

As if on cue, Mr. Thomas walks back inside. Seeing us he rushes over his hand extended. “Mr. Skye, I’m Delta Thomas from Moonstone Pack, I’m here to help your wife with…”

“If you were smart,” Logan turns his head to the side. “You’d tuck tail and leave, now, while you still have a chance to leave at all.”

“Mr. Skye…Alpha Skye,” Delta Thomas corrects himself. “I promise you that my relationship with your wife is strictly professional. I’m only here to help her with a legal matter. Nothing else.”

Logan turns towards me, his eyes strangely glossy as he demands to know why I’d want “legal help” from a stranger. Help to break off ties with him. “Aren’t I enough for you, Annalise?” he pushes his body forward, forcing me to take a step back until my back is against a wide, wooden beam.

“Logan, it’s not what you think…” His hand is around my throat, pinning me to the beam before I can utter another word. Logan hates betrayal, and as I watch him try to strangle the life out of me for the second time in the last hours, I realize that it isn’t just the idea of me cheating on him that is setting him off, it’s the idea of me leaving at all.

“Alpha Skye,” Mr. Thomas tries to intervene. “I’m only here as a favor to her father to help negotiate her divorce, I…”

Logan turns his head towards the delta, his eyes focused and shining brightly in anger. “Leave.” When Mr. Thomas continues to stand there, stunned, Logan repeats his demand, bellowing loud enough that everyone leaves, including Mr. Thomas, who scuttled out the door, leaving his laptop and everything else behind.

Once we are alone, Logan slowly releases. “Stop this foolishness, Annalise. Just come home.”

“Why would I do that when you just tried to kill me again?” I challenge, rubbing my neck, still sore from the day before. “Why do you even want me around, when you seem to want me dead? You don’t want me, you want her, and you have her, Logan, you have Eloise. Just…just let me go, Goddessdamn it!”

He doesn’t say anything, he simply stares, waiting for me to give up.

Fine. I guess I need to make the first move. “You don’t get to choose this for me, Logan Skye.” Lifting my pen, I sign my name in long, fluid strokes as I announce that “I, Annalise Melissa Monroe Skye, reject you, Logan Steven Skye, as my mate and alpha, and from this moment on I renounce our marriage and my role as wife and Luna.”

Once again, that bright feeling of freedom fills me, like lifting a heavy weight from my chest. I’m not sure what to call this feeling–I’m not sure I’ve ever felt it before today.

“I don’t accept this rejection, or this divorce,” my husband fumes, his eyes flashing in the dim cafe, “Why do you want a divorce?” he repeated, his tone harsher. “Didn’t I give you everything I promised to give you. You are my wife, my Luna, what else do you need?

I want to say “love” or “respect” or even “peace.”

Instead I say, “I don’t love you anymore, Logan. I hate you. I hate everything about you. I am done being Eloise’s walking blood bank. If you don’t let me go…I’ll tell everyone the truth. I’m tired of this lie, Logan.”

“You wouldn’t,” his nostrils flare as his face grows red.

“What other choice have you given me,” I demand. “I don’t want anything from you–not your money, or your title, or your privilege. I just want, no I deserve, a chance at life too, Logan.”

With a deep breath, I turn to walk away.

“Fine,” he snaps and I turn at the sudden sound of his pen scraping against the wood. “Here’s your divorce. Don’t come crawling back to me when your life falls apart,” he warns. “I, Alpha Logan Skye, accept your rejection.”