CHAPTER 2
905 Words
"Say it didn't matter."
I couldn't stop the words from coming out. With my arms clenched, I stood in the middle of the room and stared at the man I had married—the Alpha who had picked me without giving it a second thought.
There was nothing said by Lucien.
I could feel the weight of the quiet in my ears. Through the open balcony doors, the moonlight cut his face in half. One side looked like it was known, but the other side was dark and strange."Lucien," I said again, but this time I was kinder. "Say it."
He took a breath. His jaw moved. "I can't."
That one word hurt me deeply.
I got a little closer. It was a whisper, "You promised me." "You said this marriage was enough.""I know," he said quickly, taking a step back as if I had hurt him. "Yes, it was. "Yes, it is."
I laughed, but the sound was off and not very loud. Right now, don't lie to me.
He quickly looked away to the door. As she walked toward the sound of guards moving around and elders talking, the sound of her presence echoed through the bond like a wound that wouldn't heal.
I thought about another night. Not as much noise. "More warmth.""Why me?"
Lucien was scared that night. Alpha Lucien Storm is stressed out. In the ceremony hall, he stood in front of me with his shoulders stiff and a crown in his hands.
It was "Because I love you." "And I don't want a bond to tell me how to feel."
It was what the elders told him. The pack spoke in a whisper. It was dangerous to pick a Luna who wasn't marked to be yours. Not safe.
It didn't matter to Lucien."I choose you," he said again, but this time it was louder. "Every day." Even if bad luck never comes.
I gave him my full trust.
---"Lucien brought me back to the present by saying, "I didn't go look for her." "I swear." She just... showed up.
I said, "Like fate."
He jumped.
When I crossed my arms, my nails went through the skin. "Tell me how you felt." When you saw her.
Clarence gave it some thought. It's too long.There was something about it. He rubbed his chest and ran his fingers through his shirt. "I felt like something woke up inside me." It was like my wolf knew something I didn't want to think about.
It made my stomach turn."And you?" I asked. "What did you think when you saw me?"
He looked up. They hurt a lot. "You're my wife."
My search did not lead me to that answer.
He wouldn't see my face break, so I turned away. "That's not what I asked for."
The bed made a noise when he sat down hard behind me. "Tamia, please. This is something I never thought would happen. There was no way I wanted it.I told her, "But you feel it." "Don't you?"
He said yes.
I put my hand on top of my heart and on my chest. It hurt to breathe. It was painful to stand. It hurts to remember when there was real love here.What hurts the most, do you know?" I whispered the question. "Not that she is real." Not that fate chose her.
"I looked at him."
Louie quickly looked up. "I didn't have a choice."
"That was our point."
"I know."
He didn't say anything.
The bond pulsed once more, but this time it was stronger. The sound was sharp and raw, and it echoed through the pack link.
I saw it happen. The pull.
I walked past him and opened the balcony doors wider, letting the cold air hit my skin. "Go," I said.
He stopped. "What?"
"Go to her," I said again. And it will break this pack apart.
"Tamia—"
I turned around, my eyes on fire. "Please don't make me beg you to go."
His face changed. "I don't want to go."
"But you will," I said. "Again and again. No matter what, you can stay in this room.
The truth settled between us, ugly and impossible to avoid.
Lucien took a deep breath. "This marriage—"
I said firmly, "was built on choice." "Not fate." Don't insult me by pretending we're the same if you stop choosing me.
He looked at me for a long time. Then he nodded once, sharply, as if the motion hurt.
He said, "I'll talk to the elders in the morning." "We'll... come up with something."
*We.*
I almost laughed.
He reached for me and his fingers brushed my sleeve. I pulled away.
Lucien's hand dropped.
He left without saying anything else.
The door shut quietly behind him.
I stood there for a long time after his footsteps faded, listening to the pack breathe, the bond hum, and my own heart break open piece by piece.
I told myself that this was just the start. It wasn't like our love went away overnight.
But deep inside, where my wolf curled up and was quiet, a cold thought whispered:
*Choice only matters until fate demands payment.*
I turned back to the bed and stopped.
There was a thin silver thread that sparkled in the air above the sheets. Faint. Alive. Beating.
A connection.
Not between Elara and Lucien.
Between Lucien and me.
And it was starting to rip.
- Writer
