Chapter 2
1018 Words
Freya’s POV
He stared at me, stunned, the checkbook still open in his hand. Then laughter ripped out of him…sharp, ugly, and completely devoid of humor. He snapped the book shut with a loud c***k that echoed through the empty parking lot.
“You’re joking, right?” He raised an eyebrow, still chuckling like I was some pathetic clown performing for his entertainment.
I didn’t smile. I didn’t flinch. My blood was boiling so hot I could barely feel the tears drying on my cheeks. “I’m not joking. Twelve million credits. Or the second I walk out of here, I’ll release a statement telling the entire pack exactly who their golden boy Alpha really is. How you treated me behind closed doors. How you rejected the pup we made without a second thought.”
His laughter died instantly. A deep frown carved into his face as he stepped closer, eyes narrowing. “You disgust me. Chloe was right about you. You only ever wanted my money. I pulled you out of the gutters, Summer. I gave you shelter when you had nothing, loved you when no one else would look at you, fed you when you were starving. And this is how you repay me?”
His voice rose with every word, thick with betrayal that felt like a sick mockery of my own pain. Before I could respond, he grabbed my arms without warning. His claws sank into my skin, sharp and burning. Blood welled up instantly, warm and slick, soaking through my sleeves. I gasped at the pain, but I forced myself to hold his gaze.
“Give me one good reason,” he snarled, leaning in so close our foreheads nearly touched, “why I shouldn’t sink my fangs into your neck right now and end this. You’re delusional if you think you’re worth even a single credit. I’m being decent, offering you money when I could have killed you for what you said back there.”
His irises burned crimson, glowing with the beast barely contained beneath his skin. The scent of my own blood filled the air between us.
I looked up at him through the haze of pain, jaw clenched. “Because it wouldn’t do you any good. If you kill me, you’ll only prove to everyone that you’re an incompetent Alpha who can’t handle the truth. One who murders people for speaking freely. And if anything happens to me…” I swallowed hard, ignoring the way my arms screamed, “…everyone will receive an anonymous video. The one that shows exactly how you tried to kill me with wolfsbane.”
His eyes widened, shock flashing raw and unguarded across his face for the first time tonight.
“You didn’t think I knew about that, did you?” My voice was quiet but steady, laced with months of buried hurt. “I’ve been waiting for this moment, Leon. I’ve known for a while that you’d abandon me eventually.”
The memories flooded in, bitter and vivid. For weeks, he had been pulling away. Moody and distant whenever we were together. The compliments had stopped. Instead, he told me how ugly I was, how I made him feel like he was sleeping with a woman three times his age. He hated almost everything about me…my laugh, my clothes, the way I moved, except my voice and my eyes. Those, he said, were the only things still tolerable.
We weren’t even married, but he had made me move into his penthouse anyway, promising I’d be his Luna soon. Then the nights alone started. He’d disappear for days, coming back smelling like another woman’s perfume, offering nothing but a tired “I’m exhausted” before shutting me out.
One afternoon, while he was in the shower, I went through his phone. The texts were there, months of them. Chloe, his ex from the Wolf Academy. They’d reconnected at a restaurant and never stopped. The messages grew heated, explicit. They’d slept together more than once. When I saw the photo she sent him, my stomach had dropped. It was her. The same woman he’d just kissed in front of the entire pack.
“You can kill me,” I whispered now, blood still trickling down my arms, “but you’ll regret it.”
For a moment, he looked almost helpless, like the powerful Alpha had no idea what to do with the woman he’d once claimed to love.
Then a voice sliced through the tension.
“I knew it!” Chloe stormed toward us, heels clicking sharply against the concrete. “I knew you were nothing but a f*****g leech.” Her triumphant smile was sharp as a blade. “All that crying inside, playing the victim, and here you are blackmailing him? What a talented little actress.”
She closed the distance and glared at me with pure hatred before turning to Leon. She leaned into him, rising on her toes to kiss him possessively. Her fingers traced slow circles on his chest.
“Babe, let’s just go back inside,” she purred. “We have security. They can drag her out… or kill her. My father owns the media companies. She’s nobody. No one will care if she disappears, and my family will make sure it never makes the news.”
Leon grabbed her wrist, his expression tightening. I watched them communicate through the mind-link, their eyes locked. Chloe’s face twisted with fresh rage as she slowly turned back to me.
“You f*****g b***h!” she screamed, raising her hand to slap me.
I caught her wrist mid-air, my grip surprisingly strong despite the pain in my arms. For a second, everything went still.
“You have no right to raise your f*****g hand at me, bitch.” I said, voice low and trembling with every shattered piece of my heart.
Then I slapped her. Hard.
The sound cracked through the silence like thunder. Chloe stumbled backward and crashed to the ground, clutching her cheek in shock.
“Stay down!” I hissed, breathing heavily, blood and tears mixing on my skin.
- Writer
