He Used Me 8 Years, I Chose His Rival Alpha

Chapter 1

"Car's downstairs. Don't keep Sunfang waiting."

I dragged the red dress off the hanger and felt the cheap fabric scratch my fingertips. Liam was leaning in the doorway, a cigarette trailing smoke between his fingers, the haze softening his face into something I almost recognized.

I said nothing. I shut the door and changed.

The dress was short enough to be an insult and cut low enough to be a message. It was exactly the kind of thing I hated. There had been a time when he'd thrown his coat over my shoulders the moment my collarbone showed at a pack gathering, growling that I belonged to him and no one else got to look. I'd leaned into him then and called it love.

Now I understood. A man only marks what he owns.

The black sedan idled at the curb. The driver opened the door without lifting his eyes to me, and we drove for almost three hours before the gates of the Shadowfang estate finally appeared, wrought-iron and tall, swinging open with a long iron groan.

The house was silent in a way that felt deliberate. In the front room a single floor lamp burned. Kael sat in his wheelchair with his back to me. I crossed the rug and stopped three paces from him.

"Alpha Kael," I said. "I'm Elena. I'm here in Clara's place. Do with me what you will."

He turned the chair.

His face was harder than the rumors had prepared me for,high brow, deep-set eyes, lips so pale they looked as though they'd never been kissed warm. He looked me over once. His gaze grazed the cheap red of my dress and moved on. His long fingers traced the rim of the wheelchair's armrest.

"If you've come this far," he said, "you'll keep my rules."

Beta Rowan stepped forward and handed me a contract. The terms were spare. After bonding I was not to interfere in his private affairs. In public I would carry the title of Luna. He would provide for me in return.

I lifted the pen and signed.

The nib touched the paper, my name unfurled across the line, and I felt a long breath leave me. Whatever waited inside this house,knives, fire, ice, anything,would still be cleaner than the rot I was walking out of.

He looked at my name. His fingertip rested on the E of Elena for the space of a heartbeat, and then he turned the chair toward the corridor.

"The room at the end of the second-floor hall is yours. Tell Rowan if you need anything."

"Kael," I said, and he stopped. "I won't cause you trouble. But if anyone comes for me, I won't bow my head."

He glanced back. His face gave away nothing.

"Suit yourself," he said, and disappeared into the study.