After I Left the Alpha at the Altar and Cut Our Bond

Chapter 2

At 4 a.m., Kane pushed open the bedroom door and came in.

I was curled into a corner of the bed. My silver wolf was in a frenzy, clawing at the tainted half mark under my collarbone. Cold sweat had soaked through my nightgown, and my nails had cut into my palms.

One look at my bloodless face, and Kane crossed the room in three strides. He crushed me to his chest.

"Eve! Where does it hurt? Tell me!" His voice shook uncontrollably. Nearly frantic with fear, he turned and roared through the door, "Get the doctor! Now!"

I let myself rest against his chest. But this time, I didn't smell only the crisp cedar scent that had once made me feel safe. Beneath it lingered the faint, cloying sweetness of gardenias.

Lia's scent.

A white wolf's body demanded absolute fidelity from its mate. The hint of gardenia beneath Kane's cedar hit me like poison, bringing a wave of nausea and violent coughing.

Summoning what strength I had left, I slowly pushed him away.

The family doctor rushed in. One touch to my burning skin and one look at the sickly purple-red mark below my collarbone, and his expression changed.

"Alpha! Eve's white-wolf blood is rejecting your mark!" The doctor stepped back, too frightened to meet Kane's eyes. "You smell like another Omega. To a white wolf, that scent means betrayal. Her body is treating the mark like poison. If this continues, it could damage her heart. We need to get her to the hospital now!"

Kane stiffened. Naked panic flashed across his face.

On the way to the hospital, he held me against his chest and tried to calm me with his Alpha pheromones. But the closer he held me, the harder my body fought the mark. I struggled without knowing it, my claws tearing his shoulder open.

He didn't pull away. He only held me tighter.

In the hospital room, he stayed beside me all night without sleeping.

At dawn, he carefully lifted a spoonful of warm broth to my lips. His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was raw with exhaustion.

"I was gone for seven days. How did you manage to do this to yourself? What would I do if something happened to you?"

I watched him in silence and let him feed me the warm broth.

I felt nothing. If anything, the whole thing seemed absurd.

Kane, was this another act, or had you managed to fool even yourself? In that hunting lodge, you had calmly plotted to make me the laughingstock of every territory. Now a little fever had you barefoot and red-eyed, begging me not to die.

Was your love for me a performance so elaborate that even you no longer knew whether it was real?

When he caught the cold in my eyes, he pulled me in, panicked. "I'm sorry, Eve. This is all my fault. The next nine days, I'm not going anywhere. I won't leave your side for a second. I'll make you the happiest Luna alive."

But the sharp sweetness of gardenias still clung stubbornly to the cedar scent surrounding me.

Instincts didn't lie. His black wolf recoiled from the deception, and his guilt bled through our bond.

Tears slipped down my cheeks as I rested my head on his shoulder. He wiped them away and reminded me of my last hospital stay, when he had shifted into a massive black wolf and held me for three days and three nights.

I listened to his murmurs and obediently closed my eyes.

Kane, do you think invoking the past will calm the wolf spirit made restless by your lies?

That only made it worse. How could the same Alpha nurse me with his own flesh and blood, then secretly delight in planning my destruction? What kind of twisted pride did that take?

My phone chimed on the table.

It vibrated, and Lia's message lit up the screen.

Lia: Kane, did last night's kiss really mean nothing to you? I waited for you all night.

Kane's arms locked around me.

Like a criminal caught in the act, he flipped the phone facedown and furtively avoided my gaze. Even his breathing turned ragged.

Pretending not to notice, I studied the unhealed cuts on my fingertips. "Kane, I accidentally cut the silver-thread wedding gown when I tried it on yesterday. Maybe... it was my instincts warning me. Maybe we should call off the ceremony for now."

All the blood vanished from his face.

He seized my shoulders so hard that his knuckles whitened. Near-mad terror and violence flashed in his eyes.

"Don't say that, Eve! Don't you dare cancel it! I won't let you!"

He was afraid.

He feared his five-year revenge would collapse before he could humiliate me. But beneath that, his black wolf carried a deeper terror: he couldn't bear to lose me.

That fear, at least, was real.

"I was only joking." I looked at him and smiled, meek but insincere.

His shoulders sagged with relief before he pulled me back into his arms. His heart hammered wildly.

Feeling that frantic heartbeat, I closed my eyes. The smile on my lips slowly went cold.

So a man could plot to wreck you with his own two hands and shake with terror at the thought of you leaving. Since you love playing the devoted mate so much, Kane, I'll play along till the ceremony. I only hope you don't take your final bow too soon.