He kept looking at her and breathing hard. Panting almost. And she saw his eyes glowing just for a
moment there, knowing what it meant.
“There is a big difference, Riannon!” the Alpha looked at her with menace in her 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 groaned painfully and then 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 cocked her brow up at him, “It’s like you don’t know me at all!”
He closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. Deep inside he knew that she was right and that he
needed to fix that, not make it worse. Threatening and force would never work with someone like
Riannon as she was an Alpha herself. He knew that far too well. This would only push her further away
from him. And now, knowing that she had been with another and… enjoyed that.., that another man
had been her consolation while he was too entranced into his omega mate, was making him crazy
mad.
His chest tightened. He couldn’t be losing Riannon. His perfect wife. His perfect Luna.
She was his. He wanted her back. He wanted to fix all that and make her forget about his mistakes and
about that other man who was making moves while he was distracted.
They had been together for years and he knew everything that she liked. They had many quarrels in
the past and he always found a way to appease her. He would find such a way now too.
Starting with the obvious…
He had made just a few steps in her direction, but she stood up from her chair and walked to the
window, trying to avoid the pieces of her broken desk scattered all over the floor. She knew that he
wanted to caress her, to try and seduce her and make her forget about everything. As if he forgot about
one of their anniversaries and not betrayed the bond that they both chose.
Brayden slowly shifted in her direction, standing behind her and wrapping his arms instead of her
relaxing into his arms, he felt her trying to struggle and get out.
“Ri, let’s finish all this,” he murmured in her ear, “You 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. Just the thought of him touching her repulsed her. Even being
this close she felt 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 but he attempted to keep her in place instead,“ Let me go.”
“I missed you so much,” he ignored her completely as he lifted her in his arms and went in the direction
of the bed, “We need to reconcile. And I am not taking no for an answer.”
“You will have to!” she gasped and kicked him in the abdomen right as he threw her to the bed.
“Ri!” he growled at her and grasped her hands tightly, yanking her whole body back up.
“I am serious, Brayden! I am not in the mood!” she yelled at him and prepared to hit him again if she
had to. The bad news was that he was stronger than her. But at least she never considered him
capable of taking a woman by force. She hoped that she was right about this now more than ever.
“Ri,” he 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 he was inhaling her scent that was still mixed with
Gideon’s. And it probably only made him angrier.
“What do you want me to say?” she pushed him away and 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 it.
Unfortunately for him, they already had a similar conversation in the past when she spoke of their
divorce for the first time after she couldn’t tolerate Roxy anymore. But he was against it. He promised
her things. Things that he did not fulfill later. And then he dumped her off the cliff… Metaphorically, of
course. But it still hurt the same.
This was why she did not have any moral problem going on with their plan with Gideon. Brayden had a
part to play in it as well.
“I don’t know what could be done here,” she sighed, “I guess I need time to forget. But…”
“No, tell me, Ri,” he placed his palms onto her shoulders.
“I want to be heard, Brayden! I want to be supported!” she said and noticed 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 simply, “I am ready to give you that.”
“Then let me finish my work on that women rights law I‘ve been working with king Gid…”
“No!” he snapped in less than a second, “Don’t even say his name!”
“Very well,” she rolled her eyes, “But you do realize that He Who Shall Not Be Named wouldn’t
abandon that project. He likes it and he needs it as he is trying to change the image of lycans. From
ruthless to at least civilized. He would want to finish it and propose it at the next Alpha summit. And for
that he needs me. As I do the heavy lifting here.”
He did not say anything this time and it got her worried, so she continued.
“You don’t even care…”, she tried 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 that to his advantage.
“Don’t insult me at least!” 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 front of her 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 to
them the law.”
“We will take a few each,” Brayden suggested, “To save time.”
“Good idea,” she praised him. This was turning out better than she 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 – then we talk about
what’s next.” support as I can.” 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
Just a little bit more time and effort, and he would get her back in his bed too.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Don’t thank me yet, Ri,” he smirked, “I have a condition.” Every muscle in her body got tense.
“What is it?” she quirked her brow up.
“A kiss,” now he simply looked smug and she wanted to facepalm, but she knew that too much was at
stake.
“A kiss?” she repeated.
“Yes,” the Alpha brushed his thumb over her lower lip, “A kiss. Just one kiss… Unless you wouldn’t
want to stop afterwards.”
Brayden was sure that as soon as she gave in, he would find his way back into her heart. And bed.
“Fine! Deal!” she decided to go with it, “Bun until then keep your distance! I am serious, Bray. I want to
see how serious are you about it.”
“I am very serious,” this time he caught her hand and brought it to his lips without breaking their eye
contact, “You’ll see.”
“I sure hope so,” she sighed and took her hand away, “And now give me some space. There are a lot of
things I need to think about. Too many…”
“Fine,” he had to agree with her. Even though he did not want to leave so soon.
But Brayden knew that she needed time. He needed some too. There was no hurry.
He prepared to leave when he turned to face her again.
“Ri, I need to read that law of yours,” he said firmly and this was something she was ready for.
“Of course,” she agreed with ease, “I 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. But not too much. However, this was when Ash
mind linked him about something important and he had to leave.
Riannon sighed as the door closed behind him. Phase one was done. broken desk. It was getting late
and she was surprised that when she walked out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a flimsy silk
robe, 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 and wanted to go and get her phone to use the build-in
torch, when she noticed an unfamiliar figure standing at the entrance to her balcony with curtains blown
by the wind, covering his face from her.But she knew exactly who that was…
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