Bound To The Alpha She Left

Chapter 8

Raymond’s POV.

An hour later, as the banquet transitioned into music and dancing, Elena slipped away toward the tall glass doors leading to the grand terrace.

I gave her a three-minute head start before following her out into the night.

She stood near a stone balustrade, looking out over the sprawling, moonlit forests of the pack territory. The breeze caught the hem of her crimson dress, making it billow subtly around her ankles.

“If you came out here to gloat, spare me,” she bit out, not turning around as I approached.

I stopped right behind her. “I don’t gloat, Elena. I merely execute plans.”

She spun around, her eyes flashing with heat. “You paraded me around like a trophy! You used Elder Thomas’s toast to lock me deeper into your pack’s affairs, and you’re using me to play pathetic mind games with your wife! I want no part in whatever petty nonsense is going on between you and Biana.”

Her words stung, but I didn’t let the smile fade from my lips. Instead, I closed the distance between us, crowding her back until the back of her thighs pressed against the cold stone balustrade.

“Do you really think this is about Biana?” I asked, my voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl.

Elena held her breath, refusing to shrink back even as I closed the remaining distance between us.

“I don’t care about Biana,” I murmured, leaning down so my lips were inches from her ear. “I don’t care about the council’s opinion, and I certainly don’t care about the optics of a banquet. Everything I’ve done tonight was solely to put power in your hands. So no one in this pack can ever look down on you again.” I paused, then added, “Isn’t that why you left in the first place? Because of how everyone treated you back then?”

There was a small pause, before she responded, her posture stiffening. “I don’t need your protection, Raymond,” she snapped, placing both hands against my chest to push me away. “I am not the weak girl who left five years ago.”

“I know,” I whispered.

Instead of giving her space, I reached out. My fingers brushed against the soft skin of her bare forearm, tracing a slow, intoxicating path upward, over the curve of her shoulder, to her neckline. She shuddered beneath my touch, a tiny, betraying gasp escaping her lips as my thumb came up to gently cup her jawline.

Her skin was burning hot against my cool fingers. Her heart was hammering against her ribs.

“Fight me as hard as you like, Elena,” I murmured, my thumb tracing the swell of her bottom lip. “Wear red. Snub my gowns. Yell at me in front of my elders. But do not pretend you can escape me. Because I am never letting you go again.”

Elena swallowed hard, her eyes searching mine, no doubt desperate to find a sharp comeback to dismantle me. “You’re a married man, Alpha Raymond,” she murmured, her voice trembling slightly despite her best efforts. “You have a Luna. A family.”

I leaned in closer, my lips lightly brushing the shell of her ear as I declared the obvious.

“Biana is not my wife in any way that matters, Elena,” I breathed, feeling the violent freeze in her posture. “And that paper contract you call a marriage? It’s far closer to its expiration date than you think.”

I pulled back just enough to look into her eyes. Elena stared at me, panting slightly, her defenses shattered by the revelation as the moonlight caught the sudden, wild uncertainty in her gaze.

I gave her one last, gentle squeeze on her jaw, stepped back into the shadows of the terrace, and left her alone with the truth.

***

Elena’s POV.

The air outside was cold on my skin, but inside, I was burning.

Raymond’s words reverberated through my mind, over and over again. It’s far closer to its expiration date than you think.

I gripped on to the balustrade, my knuckles turning white as I stared out into the dark treeline of the estate. My skin still tingled where his fingers had touched me, a lingering ghost of warmth that made my heart hammer violently against my ribs.

No, I thought angrily, shaking my head to clear the haze. It’s a game. He is playing me to get revenge.

He was using his charm to distort the reality of his marriage, to coax me into lowering my guard. If I let myself believe for a single second that his union with Biana was merely an expiring contract, I would walk right into a trap, becoming nothing more than a mistress kept in the shadows. I would sink lower than the weak Omega I was years ago.

I refused to allow that to happen.

I was here to do my job, exercise my skills, and survive. I wouldn’t let his seductive promises drag me under.

"He's very persuasive, isn't he?" a high-pitched, grating voice purred from the shadows.

My blood ran cold. I spun around, my back slamming against the balustrade as Biana slipped out from behind the velvet curtains of the terrace doors, a glass of champagne resting in her hand and a murderous smile playing on her lips.

"Enjoy your little victory tonight, Omega," Biana sneered, her eyes glittering with malicious intent. "Because by tomorrow morning, I'm going to make sure you have nothing left to save."