He Made Me Illegal, So I Returned a Queen

Chapter 3 The Empty Den

Two guards came rushing into the office a moment later. The sight of the silver cuffs sent my wolf into a frenzy. Natalie tucked herself into Gavin's arms like I really was some wild animal about to tear her apart.

"Professor Whitaker, should we initiate sedation protocol?" one guard asked.

"That won't be necessary." Gavin slipped back into his gentle, respectable facade. "Escort my wife out. She hasn't been herself lately. Don't let her disrupt the university."

How absurd.

When he needed to use me, I was his wife. When legal status and benefits were at stake, Natalie became his lawful spouse.

The instant the silver cuffs closed around my wrists, searing pain shot through my blood and into my wolf spirit. My vision went white. Somewhere far away, I seemed to hear Leo crying in distress.

Blood could carry fear between mother and child. A mating bond should have done the same.

Had Gavin been a werewolf, he would already have been suffering the same agony. Instead, he saw only the blood welling around my wrists and said impatiently, "Be gentle. She always exaggerates the slightest injury."

A werewolf's pain flowed through the bond to their mate.

But in our bond, I had always been the only one in pain.

As I passed him, he bent down and whispered in my ear, "We'll talk at home tonight. Be good. Stop acting willful."

I did not answer.

My phone had been recording since the moment I entered the building. Every word he had said—including his admission that Leo and I had no legal status—was saved.

This was the last chance I had given him.

And the evidence I needed to leave him for good.

After security escorted me out, I did not return to the apartment. I carried the recording, the fake marriage certificate, and the notice canceling Leo's enrollment back to the Human-Werewolf Affairs Bureau.

This time, I went to the emergency protection desk for werewolf pups.

The officer listened to the recording and studied the burns on my wrists. He was silent for a long time.

"The system identifies Professor Whitaker as the child's biological father. Ordinarily, you would need his written permission to take a minor hybrid across the border."

"He refused."

"I heard." The officer closed the file. "Under the Hybrid Pup Protection Act, you qualify for an emergency waiver." He slid a temporary travel pass across to me. "It's good for 24 hours. Take your kid and go."

I picked Leo up and went back to the apartment.

The new lock Gavin had put in was paper against a true Alpha's power. I set my palm against it and sent out a faint pulse from my wolf. With a soft click, the mechanism went dead. The door opened.

We had lived there for three years, yet Leo and I owned pitifully little. A few children's books, an old blanket from the Northlands, and the research manuscript I had buried long ago filled only two suitcases.

With his little backpack on, Leo looked up at me. "Mommy, will Daddy come to see us off?"

My hands paused over the clothes for a moment.

"No," I told him. "But Grandma and our pack will be waiting for us at the edge of the forest."

Leo was quiet for a moment. Then the wolf ears that had drooped atop his head all day slowly began to stand.

"Then let's go home."

"All right."

Before we left, I took out the fake marriage certificate Gavin had used to fool me, my mother, and our whole pack. Then I slowly tore it in half.

*****

Meanwhile, Gavin finished work and returned to the apartment alone.

Unease had followed him all afternoon, but he had dismissed it. Aya had loved him for years. She had left her pack and abandoned her career for him, yet she had never walked away, not even when she found herself penniless in Ravenport. No matter how dramatic her tantrum had been that day, she would still leave a light on for him.

He had even decided how he would soothe her.

He would explain that Natalie had needed the legal status more, then promise to complete Aya's paperwork once he earned tenure. She would understand eventually. She always did.

When he reached the apartment, he found the front door ajar.

"Why didn't she even lock the door?"

Gavin pushed it open. The apartment was pitch-black.

"Aya?"

No one answered.

"That's enough. Stop making a fuss. I can explain the dependent slot."

His voice echoed through the empty living room.

Frowning, he turned on the light—and went rigid.