A Second Bite At The Cherry

REJECTION

TWO

PENELOPE

The hours flew by in the time I hung around thinking of what exactly to do.

Left to me, I would have pretended I didn't see the damn message and move on.

But not Petra.

Not my wolf.

She was livid inside of me, screaming and pleading to be let out of me.

Petra couldn't believe that our mate could do something like this to us.

She wouldn't let me sit still and I ended up outside with my car keys in my hand.

I drove too fast the whole way there with both of my hands unsteady on the wheel.

But my mind was somewhere else.

My brain was busy with running over words to bring this up to Duke and then throwing them out just to start again.

I did not turn on the radio.

I did not need sound.

I needed to think in the silence.

Composure was far from me by the time I pulled into the parking lot of his office.

Even with that, I had already decided that I was going to be calm no matter what.

I couldn't let Duke rile me.

I was going to walk into his office, show him the phone, and let him explain it all.

There had to be an explanation for this.

Maybe his quest for a child.

Or Thalia had blackmailed him?

Seemed like something she could do anyways, that stupid b***h.

There had to be something I had missed.

Anything.

I almost believed that as I rode the elevator to the sixth floor where he would be.

His secretary, Miriam, stood up the moment she saw me come into the space.

Her eyes went wide.

She nearly stumbled over her own feet in an attempt to come up to me.

"Mrs Salvatore," she said.

Her voice was shaking like a broken record, as if she was guilty of something.

"Where's my husband?" I demanded.

Her face wrinkled fast.

"Didn't you hear me?" I asked when she tried to speak but said nothing.

She swallowed.

Her eyes darted helplessly as she shifted nervously on her right foot.

"Mrs. Salvatore, he is in a meeting right now. You really can not go in without—"

"Oh please," I interrupted her.

My voice was harsher than I intended.

"Don't give me that forking crap," I scolded her with a painfully loud hiss.

Her breath quickened.

"But ma'am he said—"

I gently shoved her aside.

"Move, Miriam."

She followed after me, trembling.

And I wondered why.

If he was in a meeting, I would just interrupt and be out in a bit.

Why was she being so stuck up?

"Mrs. Blackwood, please," she started. "I am asking you to wait," she continued.

For some reason best known to her, her voice broke heavily on the last sentence that she managed to utter.

But I did not stop walking.

I didn't care.

If only I had known.

I would have listened to her.

For when I pushed the door to the office open, words instantly failed me.

My mouth fell agape.

The sound reached me before my eyes made sense of what I was seeing.

Low sounds.

Rhythmic skin meet and greet.

The sounds were familiar in a way that immediately made my stomach churn.

My eyes widened in disbelief.

Though it shouldn't have done so because this was the exact reason I was here.

Mayhap my brain had refused to believe the video I had seen before now.

But now, I doubt it could.

The evidence was vivid before me.

Thalia was bent over his desk with her dress pushed up and Duke was behind her.

His pants were pooled around his legs with his hands steady on her waist.

His eyes were closed tightly as he thrusted in and out of her moaning figure.

Neither of them heard me come in.

And I stood there for one long second numb before I muttered his name.

"Duke?"

His eyes flew open and landed on me.

He did not even jump back.

He did not look ashamed.

He wasn't even surprised.

He was just looking at me in the same manner one would look at someone who had walked into a place at a bad time.

"Penelope."

His voice was steady.

Mildly irritated even.

Nothing more.

"Your wife?" Thalia asked as she turned her head to size me up from head to toe.

"Yes, my wife," Duke continued to say as he

stepped back slowly from her.

His hard d**k hung between him and her ass, glistening with her p***y juice.

"What are you doing here?" Thalia asked with a disappointed groan.

"I don't know," Duke answered her question as he quietly fixed his trousers.

"She's always spoiling the fun," she grumbled in a low voice underneath her breath.

"I beg your pardon," I snapped at her, warmth rising inside of me.

How dare she?

She rolled her eyes at my word.

"Honey, you don't need to beg me for anything. I won't give," she explained.

Her comeback hit me square in the face.

My throat began to burn.

Heat crawled throughout my body and neatly consumed my common sense.

But I recalled my promise in the car.

I would be calm.

I won't blow my top here.

It wasn't worth it.

"Let her be," Duke cautioned her.

"I hear you."

"Get dressed," he added while playfully slapping her ass in front of me.

I drew in a sharp breath.

"Stop it," she cooed.

The w***e!

Thalia straightened up and pulled her dress down without even flinching too.

Hot tears gathered at the corner of my eyes and threatened to spill down my cheeks.

I angrily blinked them away.

"How long?" I asked.

The words left my mouth smaller than I actually thought they'll be.

"How long has this been going on between the both of you?" I demanded.

But my voice was too tiny.

And I hated it.

"Does it matter?"

The room began to spin.

Blur blur blurship!

Are you feeling good?

Rage permeated every corner of my body and filled my blood vessels.

"Answer me, Duke."

He picked up his jacket from the chair beside the desk and put it on.

"Long enough," he said. "Before you too if that is what you are asking."

My body began to tremble.

"Before me," I repeated.

The words sounded strange even though I had deduced that at home.

I had refused to believe them.

But I had to now.

It was glaring.

"Why?"

My voice was little.

"Why?!" I screamed.

My heart was breaking inside my ribcage.

"Why did you do it?!"

I was yelling at the top of my lungs at this point, warm tears blurring my vision.

"Because I needed your pack," he said plainly with a shrug. "I needed the merger and you were the easiest path to it."

My fists curled at my sides.

"That was what it was."

I looked at Thalia.

She was just standing there silently with her arms folded across her full bosom.

Her eyes beheld me like I was an inconvenience she had already grown bored of.

"And now?" I asked him.

He smirked.

"Now I have everything I need from you."

He started to button his jacket.

"You cannot give me children, Penelope. You have had two years to do that one thing and you could not manage it."

"But I am—"

He cut me off.

"Trying?"

I nodded.

"Yes. It's not that—"

"Thalia is already pregnant."

The air left my lungs.

My jaw dropped to the floor beneath me.

I felt the floor shift under me as I staggered backwards, unsteady on my feet.

"What did you say?"

He stepped forward.

"You are an infertile, useless woman and you were never fit to be my Luna."

His voice did not rise.

That was almost the worst part.

"I am denouncing the mate bond. I will file for divorce once the child is born."

Dred coiled in my stomach.

"No, no Duke, don't—"

He didn't let me finish.

"I, Duke Salvatore, herein reject you, Penelope Davenport as my mate."

My gaze rounded.

I felt it happen instantly.

Something brutal tore through me like it was being pulled cleanly from the root.

Petra cried out in excruciating pain, whimpering inside of me.

I instantly coughed up blood.

“Stop, noo,” she begged.

But I couldn't help her.

I was in anguish too.

And it was our mate, the one man who was supposed to protect us, who was delivering to us this torment.

My hands were pressed to my chest in anguish at the sudden scalding pain.

"No, you can't do this."

My chest was burning hot.

"Yes I can Penelope. You have made me into an impotent man all this while."

I shook my head.

The tears rushed down fast.

"You can't divorce me though. Everything I should have is in your name," I said.

It came out as a whisper.

"I gave up my career. I gave up my own pack. I built everything you have now."

"And I thank you for your service. I do not discredit your contribution."

The world went silent as the realization that I had been thoroughly used crashed over me.

If he divorced me, I would be left with nothing—no career, no pack.

Simply nothing.

"You may leave when you are better."

He sat down and opened his laptop.

His actions were unbelievable.

My eyes dropped to the tiled floor which was now stained with my blood.

It dawned on me that it was all over.

There was nothing left.

I turned and walked out.

Thankfully I made it to the parking lot before my legs stopped working properly.

I sat down on the concrete beside my car and I cried until my throat was raw.

Until both my eyes were swollen and I had nothing left inside me to give.