The Alphas’s Revenge Bride

Chapter 2: The Party That Ended Us

Aria POV

I watched him chase her.I stood right there on those steps and I watched Damon catch up to Evelyn, grab her arm, and when she tried to pull free — he held on tighter.She shook her head. Said something. Tried to pry his fingers off her wrist.He wouldn't let go. And then he said something — low, urgent, the way you talk to someone when you're terrified of losing them — and everything in Evelyn's body just... stopped. The fight went out of her. Her chin came up. She looked at him the way a woman looks at a man who has just said exactly what she needed to hear. He was telling her he still loved her.

On our anniversary. Sable let out a sound inside me that I had never heard from her before. Not a growl. Not a whimper. Something in between — like something tearing. I turned around and walked to my car before the tears could fall.I sat in the dark parking lot for I don't know how long. Engine off. Hands in my lap. Completely still, the way you go still when you're afraid that if you move even a little, you'll shatter completely.

My phone buzzed.Then again.

Then again.JADE 💕 — 11:52 PM .Aria someone recorded it. It's all over the pack forums. Damon running after Evelyn at YOUR anniversary party. Everyone is talking. Please tell me you're okay. Call me right now..NORA — 11:53 PM I saw everything. Don't you dare cry over him. He is not worth a single tear. Call me. I stared at both messages until the screen went dark. I kept thinking about how many people must have watched it by now. People pausing the video. Replaying it. Slowing it down to catch my reaction when Damon ran after her.

I wondered if anyone noticed I never chased after him. If anyone noticed I just stood there trying not to fall apart in public.

Recorded. It was recorded. People had been watching the whole time and I had been standing there telling myself no one noticed, no one saw, this was just between me and Damon—

The whole pack had seen. The shame hit me so hard and so fast that I pressed my hand flat against my sternum just to breathe through it. Three years. Three years I had given that man, and he had humiliated me in front of everyone we knew without even having the decency to look back at me when he ran.I was not going to cry.I drove home. I did not sleep. By morning, it was worse. The forums. The group chats. Messages from people I hadn't spoken to in two years. Everyone had an opinion. Everyone had something to say.

Poor Aria. Those two words, over and over, in a hundred different messages. And I hated them more than I hated Damon in that moment — because poor meant helpless. Poor meant done. Poor meant there was nothing I could do about it.They had no idea who they were feeling sorry for.'We don't stay down,' Sable said quietly inside me. Her voice had gone cold and very still. 'You know that.'I knew that.

The Council summons arrived at noon. A sealed letter, Elder stamp, hand delivered. I read it on my doorstep and my mouth went dry. The Council of Alphas had called an emergency session. Word of last night had reached the Elders by dawn. As Damon's Moon-recognized mate — three years, Goddess-blessed — his public behavior was considered a violation of mate law. The ruling was already decided.

Damon would marry me. Formally. Immediately. Before the month was out.I should have felt something warm at that. I almost did — that stupid, embarrassing flicker of hope, the kind you can't quite kill no matter how hard you try. Maybe this is it. Maybe this finally makes him see me.Then I remembered Evelyn's face when he said he still loved her.

I put on my best dress and drove to the Council Hall. Damon was already there. He didn't look at me when I walked in. He sat with his jaw tight and his eyes fixed on the wall, the look of a man counting down the minutes until this was over.

Elder Cain didn't waste time. He laid out the facts — the bond, the years, the incident, the ruling. He asked if there were objections.

Damon's jaw flexed.

“She's my mate," he said. "I understand my I looked at him across the table. "Is that really all this is to you?" I asked quietly.

Something flickered across his face before disappearing again.

"Aria," he said lowly, like warning and apology mixed together.

But he still didn't answer the question.

obligations." I looked at him across the table. "Is that really all this is to you?" I asked quietly.

Something flickered across his face before disappearing again.

"Aria," he said lowly, like warning and apology mixed together.

But he still didn't answer the question.

Not I'm sorry. Not I was wrong. Not my name. Not a single look in my direction.Obligations. I pressed my nails into my palm under the table. I smiled. I signed the document when it was slid to me. I did not let one single thing show on my face.Damon signed without looking at me. Twice. When the room cleared he turned to face me. His expression was careful. Blank. The face of a man who was about to say something he had rehearsed.

"Aria—"

“Save it," I said quietly. "I don't need an explanation. I already understand everything perfectly." The relief that flashed across his face lasted less than a second. But I saw it. I picked up my bag and walked out and didn't look back. Outside, the afternoon sun was warm and completely unbothered, which felt like a personal insult. I stood on the steps and breathed and let the truth of it land — I was going to be his wife. His Luna. His obligation. And every single morning he would wake up beside me wishing I was her.Fine .Let him.

Because I was done being Poor Aria. Done being quiet. Done shrinking. Done loving someone who treated three years like a burden he had to carry.

He wanted an obligation? I was going to make him regret every single day he didn't choose me when he had the chance. My phone buzzed. Unknown number. The same one from last night. One message. No greeting. No introduction.

You just signed your life away to a man who is in love with someone else. I have a better offer. Come tonight. Alone.

— Damien Cross

My heart stopped.Damien Cross. The name alone made every Alpha in a hundred mile radius lower their voice. The most feared, most powerful, most untouchable wolf in the country. The man that Alphas made alliances just to avoid crossing. He knew my name. He knew what I had just signed. He had been watching.

The smart thing — the safe thing — was to delete the message, lock my phone, and never think about it again.

I typed back four words.

Send me the address.