- ARIA
The tension in the study didn’t just break; it detonated.
Luca’s hand dropped from my neck as if I’d burned him. He paced the length of the mahogany desk, his shadow stretching long and jagged against the book-lined walls. He looked like a wolf circling a trap.
"Equal?" he repeated, the word sounding like a curse. "Aria, let’s be real. You’re not doing this for 'self-fulfillment' or 'personality.' You’re doing this because you’re terrified that if you stay here, people will say you’re just another girl who got lucky with an Alpha. You’re obsessed with saving face."
The words hit me like a slap. "Saving face? Is that what you think this is?"
"I know it is," he snapped, turning to face me, his amber eyes glowing with a blunt, cruel honesty. "You’d rather kill yourself
