Remarried, I Cheated For Revenge

When I remarried Alpha Liam Ashford, I made only one request: we would not re-establish the mate bond. He agreed. A month later, I cheated on him. Liam wrecked the room like a man gone mad, his face twisted with barely restrained fury. "Are you doing this to get back at me?" This time I was the calm one. "I was just curious how thrilling cheating could be, since you went back to Sofia Vance again and again." His eyes burned red as he forced out a smile through clenched teeth. "Is this what satisfies you? Revenge?" I gave a small laugh. I was already dying. Where would I find the energy for revenge? "If your body and your heart can be kept separate, why can't mine?" I sat up on the edge of the bed and pulled my clothes on carelessly. The room was a wreck, the air still thick with the suggestive scent of what had happened, and Liam stood in the dark with blood dripping from his fingers. The man who had been pinning me down moments ago now knelt trembling at his feet. "Get out!" Liam ground out, and the man scrambled up and bolted. The room emptied until only the two of us remained, staring at each other. Then, without warning, his face went blank and he strode toward me, seized my arm, and dragged me toward the bathroom. "Don't touch me! Let go!" He threw me into the tub, stripped away the clothes I had barely pulled on, and yanked down the showerhead. Cold water hit my skin in a hard spray. "Mia, just this once." His voice was gentle even as his hands were brutal. He held me down as I struggled, his fingers shaking as he scrubbed roughly at the kiss marks along my throat. A wave of humiliation rose up and drowned me. "Get off me, don't touch me!" I shoved him hard and grabbed the metal showerhead, swinging it at his face. Liam did not dodge. Blood ran down from his temple as his gaze settled on me, heavy and dark. The Alpha aura rolled off him in a suffocating wave, and I shrank back trembling, only for him to catch me by the throat and crush a furious kiss against my mouth. "You want me to get off you? Then who do you want? That worthless man from a minute ago? Mia, I could kill you for this." Pain bloomed across my lips, and the taste of blood flooded my mouth. A violent wave of dizziness and nausea followed it, the wolfsbane in my body churning everywhere at once. I shoved him away, ignored his bloodshot eyes, and bent over the side of the tub, retching. "You find me disgusting?" His voice came out hoarse and shaking, full of disbelief. I had no strength to answer. The wolfsbane scorched through my veins, and the pain shook me so badly that my claws slid out on their own. "Mia, you destroyed everything! I already cut things off with her. What more do you want from me? Fine, from now on we each do as we please. Don't you dare come crying to me later!" The door slammed shut with a deafening crash, and the room fell into a dead silence. A long time later, I dragged myself out of the tub and noticed a gift box sitting on the sofa. I opened it. Inside lay a necklace, a deep sapphire pendant on a platinum chain. It was the sapphire necklace I had mentioned offhandedly a few days ago, the one that had gone for 20 million at Wexley's to an unknown bidder. So that bidder had been Liam. In a daze, I remembered the bag he had been carrying when he walked in. After we remarried, Liam had tried to be the man he used to be. He pushed aside every obligation to spend his time with me. He paid attention to every preference of mine, and a camera lens I had glanced at twice would be at home that same night. Time, money, love, he gave me all of it. But I had changed. When he scrolled through his phone, I imagined he was messaging Sofia. When he opened i********:, I was certain he was looking at her photos. Sofia was nowhere near me, and yet she was everywhere I looked. The wolfsbane and the two of them together were driving me out of my mind. I had had enough. So I cheated. I was just too curious—whether someone else could really be that good, good enough for Liam to give up our seven-year relationship back then. I picked up the card tucked inside the gift box. Mia, happy seventh wedding anniversary. It felt as though someone had drawn a blade across my chest, the wind howling through the open wound. My phone buzzed with an i********: friend request: Thank you for pushing him back into my arms. I recognized the avatar at once. Sofia.