CIAN
I picked up the tablet again. Held it out to her.
"Do you accept my terms?"
Her hands shook. Just slightly, but I noticed. The fear was winning now. Reality was setting in. She was stuck here with me whether she liked it or not, and the sooner she accepted that, the easier this would be.
For both of us.
She stared at the tablet. At the cracked screen. At the contract that would define the rest of her life.
Then she looked at the window again. At the miles of empty land waiting for her.
I could see her breaking. Could see the exact moment when her resolve started to crack. Her shoulders sagged. Her breathing got faster. Her eyes went glassy with tears she was too proud to shed.
She was going to sign it. I was sure of it.
"I will leave."
The words came out quiet. Defeated.
She reached for the door handle.
I blinked. Stared at her. Waited for her to change her mind. To bend that knee. To grab the tablet and sign the damn thing so we could move on with our lives.
She opened the door.
Sunlight flooded into the limo. Hot and bright and unforgiving. The temperature outside had to be pushing ninety. The kind of heat that made the air shimmer above the road.
Fia stepped out.
She stood there on the side of the road in her wedding dress. That white gown that had been meant for her sister. It was already dirty at the hem from where she'd been kneeling at the altar. Her hair was falling out of whatever style it had been in. She looked small out there. Fragile.
Stubborn.
I stared at her through the open door. Tried to make sense of what was happening. This girl who had supposedly schemed and manipulated and done everything in her power to end up married to me was now choosing to walk away. To face certain danger and possible death rather than sign a contract that would give her some safety and security despite the fact that she deserved none of that.
It didn't make sense.
For someone who put so much effort toward ensuring she ended up with me, she sure did protest a lot.
I'd been certain she would bend over backwards for me. That she'd submit the second I pushed back. That all this defiance was just an act she'd drop once she realized she was not losing what she had plotted for.
But she was standing outside my car. In the middle of nowhere. With nothing but the clothes on her back and her pride.
Garrett looked at me. His expression was uncertain. Waiting for orders.
I leaned back into my seat, let the leather cushions support my weight. Took another sip of whiskey.
This was a ploy. It had to be. She was playing some kind of game. Trying to make me feel guilty. Trying to manipulate me into treating her better by acting like she didn't care.
Rather than act like the obsessed Omega she was, she was playing a different angle.
I smiled.
Fine. If she wanted to play games, we'd play games.
I could be patient. I could wait her out. She'd come crawling back within the hour, begging me to let her back in the car. Begging me to take her to Skollrend where she'd be safe and fed and protected.
And when she did, I'd make sure she understood exactly what her little stunt had cost her.
I took another drink. The whiskey was smooth. Perfect. I savored it while I watched Fia standing there in the sun.
"Lock the door and drive."
Garrett's head snapped around. "Alpha—"
"Did I stutter?"
"No, Alpha."
He reached for the door. Started to pull it closed.
I saw the exact moment Fia realized what was happening. Her eyes went wide. Her mouth opened like she was going to say something. Probably to take it all back. To beg me to stop.
I smiled at her. Made sure she could see it. Made sure she understood that I knew exactly what game she was playing.
The door clicked shut.
Garrett hit the lock button. The sound echoed in the quiet of the limo.
"Drive."
The driver put the car in gear. We started moving forward.
I watched Fia through the tinted window. Watched her take a step toward the car like she was going to chase us. Then stop. Like she'd remembered her pride.
She stood there in the middle of the road. Getting smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror. Her white dress was bright against the dark pavement and the green trees.
Garrett turned around in his seat. His face was pale. Worried.
"Alpha, she's an Omega. She cannot—"
"I know exactly what she is."
My voice came out cold enough that Garrett flinched. He turned back around and didn't say another word.
I finished my whiskey. Set the glass down in the cup holder. The ice clinked against the crystal.
In the distance, Fia was just a white speck now. Still standing there. Still too stubborn to run after us like she should have.
Part of me expected to feel something. Guilt maybe. Or concern. She was my chosen mate after all, even if I didn't want her. The bond was supposed to make me protective. Supposed to make me care about her wellbeing.
But I felt nothing.
Just a cold satisfaction that she'd finally understand what it meant to defy me. What it cost to say no when I expected compliance.
She'd learn.
One way or another, she'd learn.
And if she didn't make it back to civilization? If something happened to her out there in the heat and the wilderness?
Well. That would solve a lot of my problems, wouldn't it.
The limo picked up speed. The road stretched out ahead of us, leading toward Skollrend. Leading home.
I poured myself another whiskey and tried not to think about the girl in the white dress standing alone in the sun.
At least, that's what I told myself.
Because the moment the glass touched my lips, something shifted. A faint pressure at the edge of my mind—the mate bond, the one I'd been pretending didn't matter—flickered. One heartbeat it was there, faint but steady, the irritating hum of her presence. The next heartbeat, nothing. Like someone had cut a cord clean through my chest.
I blinked and sat up straighter. My hand tightened around the glass. Cold whiskey sloshed over my knuckles, but I didn't feel it. I reached inward again, instinctively, to the bond. Still nothing. Just a strange emptiness where she should be.
"She's shielding," I muttered. The words came out lower than I meant them to, almost to myself. "Little Omega thinks she can still play games."
But my stomach didn't believe me. It clenched hard, cold and tight. What if that wasn't a shield? What if that wasn't a sulk. What if this was…gone.
I snapped my head toward Garrett. "Stop the car."
He twisted in his seat, eyes wide. "Alpha?"
"I said stop the car!" My voice cracked like a whip. The whiskey glass hit the floor, spilling dark amber across the carpet. "Now!"
The driver jumped at the sound. The limo screeched as it slowed, tires crunching gravel on the edge of the road. Garrett fumbled for the lock button, but I'd already leaned forward and hit it myself.
The door clicked open. Hot air flooded in, carrying the smell of sun-baked asphalt and pine.
I shoved out of the seat, scanning the road behind us. It curved out of sight between the trees, empty except for shimmering heat.
"Alpha," Garrett said carefully, "you told me to drive. We're miles out already."
I ignored him. My pulse pounded against my throat, loud enough to drown out the engine's idle. The mate bond still wasn't there. Not even a whisper. Just dead space.
She should have been a speck on the horizon by now, but I couldn't see her. No white dress. No movement. Nothing.
I grabbed Garrett by the collar, dragging him halfway out of his seat. "Turn the car around," I said, each word slow and precise. "Now."
He swallowed hard and nodded. "Yes, Alpha."
The limo swung in a sharp U-turn, tires spitting gravel. My eyes stayed fixed on the road ahead, hunting for any glimpse of her. The sun glared off the windshield, making my vision blur, but I didn't blink.
All I could think was, She shouldn't be able to shield like that. Not her. Not an Omega.
And if it wasn't shielding…