Danae’s POV
Cold swept through me at the sound of his voice.
I pulled on the robe from the bathroom door and stepped into the hall.
Eirwen stood near the entrance, pale-faced.
“It’s him,” she whispered.
As though there could be any doubt.
“I’ll deal with it.”
My steadiness surprised me.
Beneath the robe, my body still felt weak, but there had been a time when I handled my own problems.
Before Galen.
I needed to remember that woman.
“I used to manage things before I met him.
I have to start again.”
Eirwen touched my arm.
“Be careful.
He’s furious.”
I nodded and went toward the pounding.
Each blow rattled the hinges.
“Danae!
I know you’re there.
Open up!”
One breath.
Then I unlocked the door.
Galen pitched forward and caught the frame.
Fury and relief fought across his face.
His hair was in disarray, his eyes bloodshot, his normally immaculate clothes creased as though he’d slept in them.
“Where the hell were you?”
He reached for me.
I stepped out of range.
“Keep your hands off me.”
His nostrils flared.
Whatever he found in the air made his expression harden.
“We need to talk.
Let me inside.”
“No.
I don’t want you here.
Leave.”
“After last night, you’re going to refuse to see me?
You’ve got nerve.”
He pushed past without waiting.
Eirwen tried to intercept him, but he towered over her, and she reluctantly yielded the space.
“After what I did?” I stared at him.
“You have a mistress and a son you kept secret.
I saw your messages with Drusilla.
Your photographs.
You don’t get to pretend I imagined them.”
“None of that excuses you.” His voice had gone cold.
“I could smell another wolf on you from downstairs.
From the first floor, Danae.
You betrayed me.”
My laugh came out ugly.
“I betrayed you?
You’ve been sleeping with my bridesmaid for years.
You have a child together.”
He dismissed it with a change in tone.
“I’m a wolf.
Our needs are different.”
“So are your ideas about decency, apparently.
You were using me.
I saw the files on your laptop.
Once I’d done what you needed, you were going to throw me away.”
He came a step closer, a snarl roughening his words.
“You had no business opening those files.”
This time, I didn’t retreat.
“I gave your ring back.
Threw it in your face, remember?
From that moment, I was free to be with whoever I chose.”
A smirk pulled at his mouth.
It chilled me more than his shouting.
“That isn’t how a bond works.
There was no formal rejection. This story is hosted at novelping.com.
You’re still my mate.”
I lifted my chin.
“Then consider this formal.
I reject you, Galen.
We’re done.
I don’t want to see you again.”
He laughed at me.
Coldly.
Almost with enjoyment.
“You can say it all you want.
Rejection has rules.
You haven’t followed them, so you haven’t rejected anything.”
I looked at Eirwen.
Her small nod confirmed it, and the certainty I’d been holding began to drain away.
“What rules?”
My voice sounded smaller than I wanted.
Galen closed the distance between us.
“You’re my mate, little human.
You’ll stay that way until I’m Delta and you’ve given me an heir.
Then…”
He shrugged.
“I’ll reject you.”
For five years, I’d looked at this face and seen the man I trusted most.
How had I missed the person who could say that so casually?
How had all that calculation stayed hidden behind affection?
“I won’t marry you.”
My voice shook now, but the words remained clear.
“You can’t make me.”
His smile turned predatory.
“Can’t I?
You’ll come to the beach this afternoon.
I’ve added security around the whole area, so don’t imagine you can slip away.”
He held my gaze.
“There’s nowhere you can run, Danae.
I promise you that.”