Soren’s POV

All of the color drains from Celia’s face as soon as the last word leaves my mouth. I turned to look at her at the last second and I can feel my heart tremble inside of his chest.

“Do you…” Celia’s voice falters. She clears her throat, eyes on the check instead of me, her eyes now glossy. “Do you really hate me that much?”

I can feel her pain infect and bury itself into my chest. My throat feels as if barbed wire has wrapped itself around it, slowly tightening, making it hard to breathe.

I cannot bring myself to respond. All I can do is watch as Celia and I’s hearts break at the same time.

At least with Bianca, she can stitch mine back together. Bianca was right, yes. I do care for Celia as much as I tried to deny it whenever she tried to bring it up to me. I should have known that Bianca knows me better than I know myself.

As much as my heart yearns to reach out to Celia and to take care of her during this troublesome time, I know that my heart truly belongs with Bianca instead of her. We were lovers in a contract, not out of true love. To be with her is laughable especially for a man of my stature.

“I love you, Soren,” Celia’s voice is strong yet I can sense a weakness in it. A frailty to her that I have never seen before. “I have fallen in love with you—”

“No, Celia,” I shake my head. My hands grip the wheel, knuckles turning white. “I cannot return your feelings. I don’t feel the same way about you. You were Bianca’s substitute, okay? She’s here now. You may go off and live your life now.”

I may have had feelings for her in the past due to my close proximity with her, but I have to sever them now that Bianca is back in my life…my chosen mate.

I reach over and pull out a contact from the passenger side door. I place it in Celia’s lap and open it to a page that she has never seen before.

“Once you follow the contact and leave the pack, you will receive various compensations from me. Once you complete my mother’s treatment, you will also receive even more compensation if it is successful.” My eyes drift to Celia.

She stares at the words on the papers. Tears flood her eyes. It pains me not to reach out and wipe them away, to console her in her time of need.

It’s not my job to protect her.

She picks up the contract from her lap. She shuffles through the various pages. An uncomfortable silence settles between us while I watch her read over the legal information and clauses that have been added.

Her breathing has slowly calmed down. Her scent fills my nose and I have to turn my head away before I do anything that I might regret. She wipes her eyes and turns to me right as I move to look at her.

“Do you have a pen?” her voice is meek, quiet. The light she once had in her soul, which I could feel in her voice and could see in her pretty eyes, has been snuffed out because of me.

I reach behind me, my hand swatting around to find the pen I once used earlier, and hand it out to her. She doesn’t even mumble a thank you like she usually does and flips through the pages, quickly signing each clause and placing her initials where they need to go.

The check crumbles in her hand and she opens up the car door, dipping out without another word. I watch as she goes, feeling a burning sensation rip at the bottom of my hairline.

No! Do not let her get away! You are making the biggest mistake of your life!

My wolf is restless inside of my mind. He claws at the inside of my skull, growling to be let out. I groan and hold my head.

You are going to regret this!

Celia‘s POV

My feet aimlessly carry me back to the expensive boutique that Lily dragged me too. Tears stain my cheeks, now dried from the winds. I enter and head to the back of the store. I weave through the lines of clothes, unable to breathe properly.

“Celia?” Lily calls out from the back of the store where the dressing rooms sit. I slowly blink at her, approaching her and Ethan. “Are you okay?”

I can barely muster up the energy to nod at her. My hands reach for the back of the dress, fumbling with the zipper.

“Celia? How do you know the Alpha King?” Ethan asks me. A scoff mixed with a laugh emits from my mouth.

Maybe I am still in denial about what just happened. Maybe Soren didn’t just ask me to leave his pack. I refuse to believe that he doesn’t see me as anything other than a substitute lover.

“What is your relationship with him?” Ethan follows up. Lily guides me to the dressing room. I can feel her hands grab at the zipper and fabric, trying her best to pull the small piece of metal down the plastic line of zipper.

I turn to Ethan. My limbs feel heavy, wanting to sink below the surface of the earth and never return. A small, forced, yet disingenuous, smile spreads across my face. My shoulders perk up and I lick my dry, cracked lips.

“I once admired him.”

I push Lily’s hands off of me and enter the shelter of the dressing room. As soon as I close the door behind me, my hand flies to cover my mouth. My sob is muffled through my hand.

I will never love Soren ever again. I will never think of another positive thought about him ever again. He will never, ever, have a hold on me. I refuse to be a pawn that he gets to push around his chessboard.

I am my own person. I will not be defined with labels by those who wish to force them upon me. I will no longer tolerate people telling me what to do.

After this contract is over and once I am out of Soren’s pack, I can finally be free from society’s rules and expectations of me.

I gasp and clutch my chest. My heart beats slow and yet it feels like I am moving a mile a minute. From deep within my soul, my body shakes. It starts off as a slight tremor but quickly turns into whole body tremors. I cling to the wall for support, feeling sharp claws dig at the inside of my chest, making its way all the way up to my mind.

Celia…

The voice is deep. I don’t know if I should be scared of her sultry tone or if I should run towards her, to jump in her embrace and accept the love from her that I deserve, not the love from an Alpha King who can be so easily swayed by a woman’s words.

Is this it? Has my wolf finally awakened?

All it took was for the Alpha King, a man I once loved and admired, to push me away once and for all. To reject and leave me in a trembling pile of humiliation.

I don’t need him anymore. I now have my wolf to protect me. I feel…whole again. Complete. It’s a sensation that I cannot get enough of!

Come at me, world! I’m ready for anything that you have to throw at me!