Divorcing My Alpha Husband For His Uncle

Confusion

Why was I breathing this way?

I'd been standing on this balcony for I don't know how long, gripping the railing with both hands, and staring out at nothing while my mind replayed the same thing over and over and over again like it was punishing me for something.

How his hands gripped her hips. The sound of it. The way he hadn't even flinched when he saw me standing there.

He just looked at me, holding my gaze like it was nothing, like I was nothing, while he…

I gulped, pressing my fingers to my temples.

Stop it, Althea.

I scolded, but my body wasn't listening to me tonight, clearly, because my face was still hot and my pulse was racing embarrassingly, and every time I tried to think about something else, my brain just dragged me right back to that room.

Back to him and to the way the muscles in his back moved when he—

Stop!

I exhaled hard, dropping my head on the cold metal.

What was wrong with me? I didn't care. I didn't have feelings for this man; we had a contract, a piece of paper, that was it. What he did in his own room was his business, and I had absolutely no reason to be standing out here in the dark feeling like this…

Like what, exactly?

I sighed, running a hand through my hair, when I heard a sound behind me and spun around so fast I nearly lost my footing, stumbling back against the railing with my heart in my throat.

It was Alaric. He just stood there, a few feet away, watching me with that dark, unreadable expression, except it wasn't completely unreadable tonight because something was sitting at the corner of his mouth that looked dangerously close to a smirk.

My eyes moved against my will downward, and I noticed immediately that he had no shirt on.

His chest was broad, his stomach cut and defined, that line running down from his abdomen disappearing into the waistband of his trousers, and I swallowed thickly.

Fuck this.

My eyes snapped back up to his face so fast I nearly gave myself a whiplash.

Do not, Althea. I warned internally, but it was already too late for that now. My face was already on fire, and the scene from his room chose that exact moment to replay itself in vivid, unwanted detail in the back of my mind. I pressed my lips together tightly and told my brain to behave itself.

Alaric pushed himself off the doorway, stepping closer to where I stood, that almost smirk settling fully onto his face now. "Did you enjoy the view?"

I put my hand out immediately, palm flat against the air between us. "Stop. Right there."

He stopped mid-step, eyes dropping to my hand briefly, then back up to my face with a look of amusement mixed with something else I didn't want to examine.

I pulled my robe tighter around myself, crossing my arms over it like that would solve anything, and lifted my chin.

"What exactly was that?" I shot at him, my voice coming out steadier than I expected, which was honestly impressive given the current state of my insides.

His expression changed immediately, that almost smirk dissolving into a cold, closed-off look.

"I know this isn't real," I pointed out, before he could say anything. "I know what we signed. I'm not confused about what this is." I held his gaze. "But I will not be disrespected like that. Not again. Never again."

A look crossed his eyes at that last part, but I didn't stop there.

"You acting like that, now wonder if I were to go find another man," I crossed my arms tighter around me, and even as the words left my mouth, I felt how strange and uncomfortable they were, and how odd it was to be saying this to him of all people, "and you walked in and found him…" I gestured vaguely, heat crawling up my neck, "...doing to me what you just did to that woman—"

A loud growl cut me off, and it took me a minute to realize it came from him.

The sound was low and sudden, coming from somewhere deep in his chest, and it made me frown in confusion.

I blinked at him, watching as he caught himself almost immediately, jaw tightening, and his shoulders pulling back together. Like he'd surprised himself too and wasn't happy about it.

I stood there lost for words. Why did he growl? I tilted my head a little, staring at him with my mind lost in thoughts.

Then he made a move to get closer, and I raised my hand again, mostly because I needed something to do with it. "Don't."

His eyes dropped to my hand again, a huge frown settling between his brows, then slowly, deliberately, moved back to my face. The muscle in his jaw ticking.

"Even if you need to," I continued, finding my voice again, "be discreet about it. I didn't need to see any of that. I certainly don't need to know about it. And I will not walk into something like that in my own home." I let that sit between us, the memories of Nolan threatening to cloud my mind, but I pushed them back where they came from. "Are we clear?"

He said nothing, just stood there looking at me, and I wish I could explain what his stare felt like, but I don't have the right words for it. It wasn't the way Nolan used to look at me, cold and assessing, measuring my usefulness.

This was something else entirely. It was heavy and direct, like he was looking at me and actually seeing something, and the longer it went on, the harder it became to hold my ground without my knees doing something stupid.

Suddenly, my chest felt tight. The space between us felt tighter, and I could feel the warmth coming off him from here.

I hated that I noticed it, hated that my body was noting details about him that my brain had specifically told it to ignore.

I cleared my throat, looking away, "I have better things to do," I told him, and turned to leave, but before I could take three steps away from him, his hand shot out, closing around my wrist.