He Used Me 8 Years, I Chose His Rival Alpha

Chapter 2

Three days after I signed my name to Shadowfang, an invitation arrived from Sunfang Pack. A formal dinner. My presence was required.

I almost laughed. They were afraid I'd change my mind. They wanted to announce me as Kael's mate in front of every pack that mattered so that the bond would be impossible to walk back.

I changed into a plain black dress and meant to go alone. I was at the entryway, pulling on my coat, when Rowan wheeled Kael out of the study.

"The driver will take you," Kael said. The flatness of it almost made me believe it was nothing.

I didn't argue. I nodded, slipped into the car, and let the night swallow us.

The Sunfang ballroom was all crystal and burning gold, packed with the kind of people who whispered behind cupped hands. I had barely stepped inside when I saw Liam on the dais, Clara's hand looped through his arm, the two of them accepting toasts and applause like a couple in a magazine. He wore a tailored suit. His smile was practiced. He looked like a man who had finally arrived where he believed he belonged.

When he saw me, something glittered behind his eyes,amusement, anticipation. He said a word in Clara's ear, lifted his glass, and walked over.

"Elena," he murmured, leaning close enough that I could smell the liquor on him. "You showed up after all. Dressed like that,what is this, mourning attire for that cripple Kael?"

He held out a glass of something strong.

"Drink it. You always do as you're told."

People had begun to turn. Their eyes were greedy, hungry for a scene. He had chosen the moment carefully. He wanted them to watch me drink. He wanted the room to know that even now, marked or not, I was still his toy.

I didn't move. I lifted my eyes to his.

"I won't."

The smile died on his mouth. His hand drew back and I knew he meant to throw the drink in my face.

His hand never came down.

The doors at the back of the ballroom swung open. Rowan rolled Kael forward, slow and quiet, and the room went silent the way a forest does when something dangerous walks into it.

Kael wore black, tailored to within a centimeter. His face could have been cut from stone. His eyes followed the line of Liam's raised hand and stopped there. When he spoke, his voice was low enough to feel like a draft on the back of your neck.

"You'd raise a hand to my mate?"

Liam's hand froze in midair. His complexion drained, replaced by something the color of cold milk.

"Alpha Kael,Elena and I were only joking."

"Joking." Kael lifted two fingers. "Guards. Show him out."

Two men moved before the word was finished. They had Liam under the arms, dragging him backward through the silent crowd. He twisted in their grip and snarled my name across the room.

"Elena! You'll let him do this to me? You'll regret this,you'll regret it!"

The doors closed on him. No one spoke.

Kael rolled the chair to me. From beneath a fold of the cashmere blanket on his lap he pulled out another, smaller throw,warm, faintly scented with cedar,and laid it over my arm.

"No one forces you to do anything again," he said quietly. "Remember. You're the Luna of Shadowfang."

I stood there, the warm fabric in my hands, and stared at the cool, severe line of his profile. My heart hit my ribs once, hard.

Eight years. In eight years no one had ever stepped between me and a humiliation. Not once.

In the car my hands were still cold. Kael pressed a small handwarmer into my palm without a word, then turned his face to the window.

"Next time you come to one of those," he said, "dress warmer."

I closed my fingers around the heat. It spread up my wrist and into my chest, soft and unstoppable. The streetlights ran past in long streaks, and I thought, for the first time, that perhaps mating with Alpha Kael had not been the worst thing in the world.