CIAN
I heard the word "no" and something in my chest went cold.
The driver’s hands jerked on the wheel. Just a twitch, but I noticed. The whole car noticed. You didn’t say no to me. Not in Skollrend. Not in Silver Creek where I’d just collected my unwanted bride. Not anywhere that mattered.
The air in the limo changed. Got heavier. Thicker. Like the oxygen had been sucked out and replaced with something that made it hard to breathe.
Fia’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror. The driver stared back at her for half a second before remembering himself and dropping his gaze. Smart man. He knew what happened when I got angry. He’d seen it before. One too many times.
I picked up the tablet from where it had landed on the floor. The screen had a crack running through it now, splitting the contract in half. Fitting. This whole situation was broken anyway.
I set it on the seat beside me. Right in the space between us. Close enough that she could reach it if she wanted to. Far enough that she’d have to make the choice to take it.
"If you want to enter my pack territory," I said, "you will sign this."
My voice came out flat. Matter of fact. Like I was discussing the weather instead of her entire future.
She stared at the tablet. At the cracked screen. At the words that would bind her to me in ways that went beyond whatever the goddess had decided to do with that bond.
"You will not strip me of my dignity."
Her voice shook when she said it. Not from fear though. From rage. This girl was furious, and part of me almost respected that. Almost.
"You had no dignity when you did what you did."
I let the words hang there. Watched her face twist with something that looked like pain. It felt good to see in real time. She should hurt. She’d hurt her sister. Attacked her own blood. Schemed and manipulated her way into my life, and now she wanted to act like the victim.
"I did have bad ideas," I continued. "About what I wanted to do to you."
That got her attention. Her eyes snapped to mine, and I saw the fear there underneath all that anger. She was scared. She should be.
"But then there’s that bond." I gestured vaguely at the space between us. At the invisible thread the goddess had decided to tie us together with. "And of course, the rumors about the kind of man I am."
I’d heard them all. The brutal Alpha. The one who ruled with an iron fist. Who showed no mercy to those who crossed him. Most of the rumors were true. Some were exaggerated. All of them served their purpose.
"I do not want to go overboard."
Fia’s hands curled into fists in her lap. Her whole body was rigid with tension. Like a bowstring pulled too tight.
"There is nothing you can do to me if I do not allow it."
The words came out defiant. Challenging. Like she actually believed them.
My knuckles cracked when I clenched my fists. The sound was loud in the quiet of the limo. I looked at her sitting there with her chin raised and her eyes blazing and I wondered how the hell I was supposed to present this woman to my mother. To my pack. To anyone who mattered.
She was supposed to be a Luna. A leader. Someone worthy of standing beside me. Instead I got this stubborn Omega who couldn’t even follow simple instructions.
"Stop the car."
The driver hit the brakes immediately. We slowed to a stop on the side of the road. Trees lined both sides of the path, their branches creating shadows that fell across the windshield.
I turned to the sentinel sitting in the front passenger seat. Garrett. Good man. Loyal. Did what he was told without asking questions most of the time
"Get this woman out of my car."
Garrett turned around in his seat. His eyes went wide. "Alpha Cian—"
"Perhaps a little sun on her head and some time alone would do her good," I said. My voice stayed calm. Reasonable even. "While she reconciles her situation and comes to her senses."
Garrett looked out the window. Then back at me. I could see the conflict on his face. The war between following orders and whatever misguided sense of honor he had about how to treat women.
"This is private territory, Alpha Cian." His voice was careful. "And there is still plenty of ground to cover. Is it not unsafe—"
"I do not remember asking for your opinion."
The temperature in the car dropped another ten degrees. Garrett’s face went pale. He knew he’d overstepped.
"My apologies, Alpha."
He turned to Fia. Reached for her arm.
"You do not have to be civil to an Omega," I said. More for his benefit than hers. Garrett was too soft sometimes. Too worried about doing things the right way. "Toss. Her. Out."
I reached for the whiskey. Poured myself two fingers of the amber liquid. The bottle was crystal. Expensive. The whiskey was older than the entitled omega probably was. I took a sip and let it burn down my throat.
Garrett grabbed Fia’s arm. Tried to pull her toward the door.
She moved faster than I expected. Flipped his hand off her wrist with a twist of her body that looked practiced. Trained. She pressed herself against the opposite door and stared out the window.
I followed her gaze.
Private territory stretched in every direction. Miles and miles of land that belonged to Skollrend. Trees and hills and nothing else for as far as you could see. The road we were on cut through it like a scar. It would take hours to walk back to Silver Creek from here. Almost a day maybe, depending on how fast she moved. Though I doubt that should be a place on her mind. Given that she was practically banished.
And she was an Omega. She couldn’t shift. Couldn’t run faster than human speed. Couldn’t defend herself if something decided she looked like prey.
No one was allowed on this land except my pack members. No one would give her a ride. No one would help her. She’d be alone out there with nothing but her anger and her pride to keep her company.
I watched her face. Saw the moment she realized all of that. Saw the fear creep in around the edges of her rage. She looked cornered. Trapped. Like an animal that had finally run out of places to run.
I relished it.