MY CONTRACT WITH THE COLD LYCAN KING

CHAPTER 1

Aurora's POV

My heels clicked into the living me, carrying me into the living room towards an unsavory sight.

“What the hell is going on here?” I yelled at my mate and my stepmother loudly.

Jake had his arm thrown over my stepmother Natalie’s shoulder; she was cuddling towards his chest, smiling like a Cheshire cat.

“What does this look like to you, Aurora? I'm tired of pretending like I'm happy in this marriage,” Jake responded without looking at me.

I looked at the man who was sweating like someone had poured water on his body. Suddenly, he paused, stretching his hand and opening the drawer. He pulled out the necessary paperwork and said, “Aurora, let's get a divorce.” Jake threw the divorce papers on my face with one hand, as he cuddled my step mother Natalie with the other, wearing a self-assured grin.

The papers were flying on the ground, as I stood on shaking legs.

“You already have the papers ready.” He said. I shook my head, looking at my husband, who was busy kissing my step mother on my matrimonial bed.

Five years of marriage, all it took was only my signature and his, on a piece of paper to end it all? To shatter the bond I thought I would cherish forever?

It's half a decade now since my father had disappeared into the void, it was unheard of for an Alpha to abandon his seat without so much as a word of explanation. Weeks of searching were fruitless, and he didn't bother to reach out either.

Eventually, I gave up and accepted my fate, having all of his responsibilities thrust on my shoulders. The pack was a mess; I had not been privy to the expenditure and expenses of the pack before I became a Luna, but along with inheriting the title came a wave of debt.

Back then, I was alone, desperate for anyone to reach out and hold me in his arms, and when that person was my father's Omega chauffeur, I hardly minded.

“So this is why you seduced me?” I asked, my voice remaining unnaturally calm. “To snatch the Alpha title and throw me out when you think I have no more use for you?”

“Does he really have to spell it out for you?” My stepmother said and hissed.

She shamelessly smiled as she caressed his bare chest, probably thinking it would provoke me to jealousy.

But I wasn't jealous of their shameless behaviour. Why should I be jealous of someone who is not even a perfect mate? I was just incredibly tired. Having my blood, my sweat, and my tears I had poured into this man and this pack, going several sleepless nights, doing nothing but worrying about him and the members of my pack, but not anymore.

He looked at me, a glint of amusement in his eye; he probably expected that I would fall to my knees and beg again; I cringed inward, remembering in the past, when all it took from him was a single word that resembled a divorce. And I was down on my knees holding his leg, begging him not to let me go.

But I wasn't that woman anymore; in the place of love that had claimed my heart for years, all I felt was emptiness and betrayal.

I grabbed the pen from the table next to the paper, I signed everything in a single breath, and dropped the pen on the paper.

“You can have everything," I said.

Jake straightened up on the couch, then almost pushed Natalia aside as he grabbed the paper, holding it up to his face.

“I know you're expecting me to tear up the divorce papers, right?”

He was trying to sound confident, but I could hear the tone of fear hidden beneath his voice. Why should I be expecting you to tear the signing papers?

“I don't expect you to tear up anything, I've signed it, and now we're nothing to each other, so I…” I took a deep breath, “I, Aurora Nightbane, of the pack, reject you, Jake. As my mate."

At that moment, I could sense a brief splitting pain hit my heart, bringing a bitter-sweet break from the numbness that soon returned afterward in a moment.

Jake fully stood up from the couch.

“So you are going ahead with this?”

I blinked my eyes at him, genuinely confused. I wondered about the stupid question coming from his mouth, and how could I stay and manage dirty behavior with him and my stepmother?

“Isn't that what you wanted?” I asked him with a grin. “Now you have it all, the pack, the title, and a woman you will probably treat like trash when you get bored of her."

And also a huge debt that I had not paid, a debt that he would know about if he ever helped me instead of just adding to it. I'm tired of hiding the truth; now is the time for him to face reality.

Natalie was offended by my words; she stood up, grabbing Jake's hand in my presence. Oh, my God. What is she doing? I asked myself silently.

“Believe what you see, you jealous b*tch. I'm the one he chose, not you. Maybe this will be a lesson for you to learn how to keep a man,” my stepmother said, smiling at Jake's face.

What is she talking about? Does she know what I was going through with him? “Are you out of your senses? I learned a lesson, right?” But it was quite the opposite of what she was saying.

“Both of you really deserve each other,” I said, letting the venom drip from my words, and then I went to pack my things.

Packing up my belongings, I returned back. It was only Natalie in the living room, tenderly stroking her belly. She pretended to just notice my presence, even though she had already heard my footsteps earlier before unless she had grown deaf in a few seconds. I didn't see her.

“Oh, I didn't see you, dear…” She said, and added bad acting as another reason for me to resent her, even though I already had plenty. “I guess I wasn't really planning to keep it a secret anyway, but just so you know, I'm already pregnant for Jake,”

“That's none of my concern,” I told her bluntly.

I was not a fool; it was clear what she was trying to hint at by rubbing her belly, but I didn't have either the time or the energy to entertain her, which annoyed her as she stood in front of me while I was dragging my luggage.

“Are you planning to remain bitter forever?” She said and paused. Lucky for her, that there was an innocent child in her womb; if not, I would have just shoved her to the side and kept walking without a sliver of guilt.

“Aren't you at least going to congratulate me?” I was imagining how she was yelling unnecessarily as someone who didn't have anything else to handle.

“For what?” I asked, “Should I congratulate you for sleeping with your son-in-law?” I yelled back at her.

Her face grew red, and before she could think of a retort, I was out of the door, taking a cab that drove me straight to the airport.

After boarding my flight, I called my mother immediately.

“Mom, things didn't work out well with Jake. I want you to arrange another marriage for me.”