Chapter 4

Elara Meadowes POV:

The heavy oak door of our apartment clicked shut behind us, the sound unnervingly loud in the tense silence. It sealed us in, away from prying eyes, but it also locked out any chance of warmth or escape.

Ryker ripped off his tie as if it were choking him and threw it onto the pristine cream sofa. He whirled on me, his flinty grey eyes narrowed with accusation.

"What did you do to anger the Alpha King?" he demanded.

The question caught me off guard. I shook my head, my hands twisting in the worn fabric of my dress. "I... I did nothing. I didn't say a word."

He let out a short, harsh laugh. "You don't have to. Your very existence is an inconvenience."

The words were a physical blow, stealing the air from my lungs. I dropped my head, staring at the scuffed toes of my simple flats, unable to look at the cold disgust on his face.

The sterile, quiet apartment felt like it was closing in on me, and my mind fled, seeking refuge in the past, back to a day that had once promised so much.

*One year ago. The union ceremony. I had stood in a borrowed white dress, my heart fluttering with a naive hope. The Moon Goddess had blessed me, pairing me with a powerful Gamma from the formidable Blood Moon Pack. It was an honor, a salvation for my dwindling family. I thought it was the beginning of my happiness.*

*But Ryker's face had been a mask of stone. His touch, when he'd taken my hand, had been ice-cold, a brief, dismissive brush of skin against skin that promised nothing.* *He'd spoken the vows, completed the ritual, but his soul had never reached for mine. That night, our first as a mated pair, he had taken the spare room. "This is an alliance, Elara," he'd said, his voice devoid of any emotion. "Don't expect anything more."*

I shuddered, the memory as cold as the marble floor beneath my feet. I looked up. Ryker was on his phone, his thumbs flying across the screen. A small, tender smile touched his lips, a smile I had never seen before, a smile that was not for me.

My wolf whimpered in my chest, a low, mournful sound. *He gives his heart to another.*

I had to know. I had to try, one last time. I found a sliver of courage deep inside me. "Ryker," I began, my voice barely a whisper. "Can we talk?"

"There's nothing to talk about," he said, not looking up.

"About us," I pressed on, my voice trembling. "Our bond. The Goddess chose us..."

He finally looked up, and the raw contempt in his eyes made me recoil. "The Goddess?" he sneered. "If she was so wise, she wouldn't have shackled me to a weak, pathetic Omega like you."

Weak. Pathetic. The words echoed the deepest fears of my heart. My pack, the Whispering Pines, had been losing territory for years. This marriage, this alliance, was their last desperate bid for survival, and I was the sacrificial lamb.

"I need a partner who can fight by my side," he continued, his voice like shards of glass. "Not a burden I have to carry."

Tears burned behind my eyes, hot and shameful, but I refused to let them fall. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. I looked at him, truly looked at him, and for the first time, I saw it clearly-not just indifference, but a deep, passionate longing for someone else.

He seemed to have had enough of the conversation. He grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair.

"Where are you going?" The question slipped out before I could stop it.

"Warrior training," he lied, his eyes sliding away from mine. "I won't be back tonight."

He was a terrible liar. The Gammas never personally supervised the late-night drills.

The door slammed shut, and the apartment was plunged back into silence. I walked to the window and watched his figure hurry across the courtyard, his path leading away from the training grounds, toward the private residences on the other side of the pack lands.

My knees gave out, and I slid to the floor, the cold seeping into my bones. But it was nothing compared to the iceberg that had formed in my chest. I was a mate, but I was not loved. I had a home, but it was just a gilded cage.

This gilded cage was my home, and my mate was the keeper who'd long since thrown away the key.