He intensely stared at her, breathing hard and fast.
Panting almost. She saw his eyes glow just for a moment, knowing what it meant.
“There is a big difference, Riannon!” The Alpha looked at her with a menace in his eyes, “Roxanne is my mate! I can’t help it!”
“And he was a Lycan King. I can’t help it either,” she said, “No one says no to him, Brayden. Not even you. Not to mention that MY wolf was in pain, and he helped to distract her and took care of both of us better than–_”
He gr0aned painfully, grabbed the whole massive desk, and threw it at the wall, clearing the space between them.
“You are my wife!” he growled, “You were supposed to come to me if you needed comfort!”
“Really, Brayden? After everything?” she c0cked her brow up at him, “It’s like you don’t know me at all!”
He closed his eyes, striving to steady his breathing.
Deep inside, he knew she was right, and he needed to fix this, not make it worse. Threatening her and forceful behaviour would never work with someone like Riannon as she was an Alpha herself. He knew far too well he was walking a thin line. This would only push her further away from him. Knowing she had been with another and … enjoyed that … that another man had been her consolation while he was too entranced with his omega mate drove him crazy mad.
His chest tightened. He couldn’t lose Riannon. His perfect wife. His perfect Luna.
She was his. He wanted her back. He wanted to fix all this and make her forget his mistakes and forget the other man who put the moves on her while he was distracted.
They had been together for years, and he knew everything she liked. They had many quarrels in the past, and he always found a way to appease her. He would find a way now too.
Starting with the obvious.
He walked a few steps in her direction. In turn, she stood up from her chair and strode to the window, avoiding the pieces of wood splintered off her broken desk, which lay scattered all over the floor. She knew he wanted to car3ss her, to try and seduce her, and make her forget about the mess he brought into their relationship. As if this was merely a small matter like a forgotten anniversary and not a betrayal of the most important vows they gave to each other.
Brayden slowly shifted in her direction, shifting to stand behind her, and wrapped his arms around her theway he always did in the past when things were different between when things were good. He traced his nose up the column of her neck, but instead of her relaxing into his arms, he felt her trying to struggle and get out of his hold.
“Ri, let’s finish all this,” he murmured in her ear, Yoú know I love you. You wear my mark. You are my wife, my Luna. I am sorry. For everything.”
She did not know how to get rid of him. The thought of him touching her repulsed her. Even being this close to him caused her to feel like she was betraying Gideon. She knew she would have to endure living with her husband a few more days, but sleeping with him was out of the question.
“Brayden.” She tried to remove his hands off her body, but he held tight, keeping her in place instead, “Let me go.”
“I missed you so much,” he murmured, ignoring her completely as he lifted her in his arms and walked in the direction of the bed, “We need to reconcile. I am not taking no for an answer.”
“You will have to!” she gasped, kicking him in the abdomen right as he threw her to the bed.
“Ril” he growled at her. Grasping her hands tightly, he yanked her whole body back up.
“l am serious, Brayden! I am not in the mood!” she yelled at him and prepared herself to hit him again if she had to. The bad news was that he was stronger than her.
At least she never considered him capable of taking a woman by force. She hoped she was right about this now more than ever.
“Ri” Brayden pulled her into a hug and tucked his head into her neck again, “What do we do now? How do we fix this?”
She sighed, knowing very well that right now as he inhaled her scent that it was still mixed with Gideon’s, which would probably only make him angrier.
“What do you want me to say?” she asked. Pushing him away, she distanced herself from him.
“Tell me what I can do to mend this. I will do anything! Whatever you want, Babe,” Brayden looked desperate at this point, but she did not buy into it.
Unfortunately for him, they had a similar conversation in the past when she initially spoke of their divorce after she realised she couldn’t tolerate Roxy anymore. But he was against it. He promised her many things. Things which he did not fulfil later. Then he dumped her off the cliff. Metaphorically, of course. It still hurt her all the same.
This was the reason she did not have any moral problems going along with their plan with Gideon.
Brayden had a huge part to play in it as well.
“I don’t know what could be done here, ” she sighed, “l guess I need time to forget. But also,.. No, never mind”
“No, tell me, Ri,” he coaxed, placing his palms on her shoulders.
“I want to be heard, Brayden! I want to be supported!” she blurted, noticing the relief in his eyes. Of course, the reasonable thing would be to demand him get rid of his mate. Yet, she did not go there.
“Okay,” the Alpha nodded, “l am ready to give you that.”
“Then let me finish my work on the Women’s Rights law I’ve been working on with King Gid”
“No!” he snapped in less than a second, “Don’t even say his name!”
“Very well,” she agreed, rolling her eyes,
Nevertheless, you do realise that He Who Shall Not Be Named wouldn’t abandon this project. He both likes it and needs it as he is trying to change the image of lycans in the shifter’s world. From ruthless to at least civilised. He would want to finish it and propose ít at the, next Alpha summit. A Gideon needs me to complete it.
As I do the heavy lifting here.”
He did not say anything this time, which had her worried, so she continued.
“You don’t even care-” she continued, trying to walk away, but the Alpha caught her and held her close to him.
“How sure are you in this project of yours?” Brayden asked. In his mind, he was calculating ways to use all this information to his advantage.
“Don’t insult me!” she snorted, “It is my project from top to bottom! I have no doubts about it!”
“Then, I will make sure it gets approved, Ri. I swear to you, you wouldn’t have to go to that Lycan ever again!”
The werewolf in her presence now looked very excited.
He loved to be the star of the summits. He sure as hell would be one soon.
“Very well,” his wife shrugged her shoulders, “At least that’s some kind of a start for us.”
“See?” He smiled at her.”We are still a team. Still a force to be reckoned with.”
“That we are,” she agreed, and his grasp on her became tighter, his breathing ragged. She distanced herself at once to avoid any kind of confusion. “I will need to speak to quite a few alphas to explain my motion for the new law to them.”
“We will take a few each,” Brayden suggested, “To save time.”
“Good idea,” she praised him. This was turning out better than she had hoped.
“So,” he smiled at her, “Am I forgiven?”
“Of course not!” She rolled her eyes. “This is just step one, Bray. After this is done, we talk about what’s next.”
“Fair enough,” he agreed and nodded, “I’ll start talking to people about it and will ensure you receive as much support as l can gather.” He was still slightly unsatisfied that he didn’t get her to fall into his hands, but at least there wasn’t a rift between them anymore.
He addressed the issue and dealt with it. Just a little bit more time and effort on his part, and he would get her back in his bed soon enough.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Don’t thank me yet, Ri,” he smirked, “l have a condition.”
Every muscle in her body tensed at his request.
“What is it?” She quirked her brow in both curiosity and trepidation.
“A k!ss,” he simply requested, looking smug. She wanted to facepalm herself with a gr0an, but she knew too much was at stake.
“A k!ss?” she repeated.
“Yes.” The Alpha brushed his thumb over her lower lip, “A k!ss. Just one k!ss. Unless you wouldn’t want to stop after one.”
Brayden was sure that as soon as she gave in to a k!ss with him, he would find his way back into her heart.
And her bed.
“Fine! Deal!” She decided to go with it. “But, until then, keep your distance! l am serious, Bray. I want to see how serious you are about it.”
“I am very serious.” This time he caught her hand and brought it to his lips without breaking eye contact, You’ll see.”
“I sure hope so.” Ria sighed and took her hand away from his, “Now, give me some space. There are a lot of things I need to think about. Too many-“
“Fine,” he agreed with her. Even though he did not want to leave so soon, Brayden knew she needed time.
He needed some time too. There was no hurry.
He was prepared to leave when he turned to face her again.
“Ri, I need to read that law of yours,” he said firmly, which was something she was ready for.
“0f course,” she agreed with ease, “1 will send you the file. As soon as I get all of this sorted.”
She gestured at the mess he made, and he felt guilty: Though not too much more than usual.
He was interrupted when Ash mind linked him about something important which he had to leave for.
Riannon sighed as the door closed behind him.
Phase one was done.
She took a nice long leisurely bath while the omegas cleaned the pieces of the broken desk from her room. It was getting late when she walked out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a flimsy silk robe and was surprised that her bedroom was dark. She looked for a switch, but when she pressed it, it did not work.
“What the hell?” she muttered under her breath.
Wanting to go and get her phone to utilise the built-in torch application, she shifted and noticed an unfamiliar figure standing at the entrance to her balcony. The curtains blown by the wind covered his face from her.
Still, he knew exactly who that was.