Aria’s POV
The pregnancy test felt like a bomb in my pocket.
Two days had passed since I found my pregnancy and left that divorce requirents. Two days of waiting for Finn to co ho and see them.
He hadn’t.
I was folding laundry in the living room when I heard the front door open. Finn’s voice carried through the hallway. And another voice. Sharp. Familiar.
Irene.
My hands froze on Lilith’s tiny shirt.
They walked in together. Finn looked annoyed. His mother looked furious.
"There she is." Irene’s lips curled. "The broken incubator."
I straightened. The test burned against my thigh through the thin pocket fabric.
Five years of trying to be perfect. To be enough. To make him love . But the mate bond was just chains to him. An obligation he resented every day.
Irene circled like a predator. "Two days, Aria. Two days since ovulation. Please tell you didn’t waste another month."
"Mother—" Finn started.
My hand moved to my pocket. To the proof. To the two pink lines.
"Still no boy?" Irene’s laugh was acid. "Of course not. Shadow Moon trash can only produce more trash. It’s in your defective blood."
Her finger jabbed toward my face. "You’ve been married to my son for five years. FIVE. And what have you given this family? A useless daughter. No heir. No value."
The words should have hurt. Maybe they did. But I felt numb.
"You know what your problem is?" Irene stepped closer. Her expensive perfu choked . "Your womb is as worthless as your bloodline. Finn should have rejected you the mont he sensed that pathetic mate bond."
I looked at Finn. Waited for him to defend . To say anything.
He wouldn’t et my eyes.
"Maybe we should consider other options," Irene continued. Her voice turned calculating. "There are fertility treatnts. Doctors who specialize in defective Ogas. Or—" she paused "—we could find soone else to carry the Nightfang heir. Soone with better breeding."
My stomach turned. Before, I would’ve stayed silent. Would’ve apologized. Would’ve begged forgiveness for daring to speak.
Not today.
"The baby’s gender isn’t sothing I control alone," I said. My voice ca out steady. Clear.
The room went still.
Irene stood slowly. Her face twisted. "What did you just say?"
"I said—"
The slap ca fast. Hard. My head snapped to the side. Pain exploded across my cheek.
"Kneel!" Irene’s pheromones crashed over . Pure Beta rage. "How dare you talk back to !"
My knees shook. Artemis whimpered in my mind. But I didn’t kneel.
I raised my hand. Ready to slap back. Ready to finally fight.
A large hand caught my wrist. Squeezed until bones ground together.
"Aria." Finn’s voice ca from right behind . Cold. Dead. "Do you really want to make this worse?"
I turned. t his amber eyes. Looked for sothing. Anything. Any trace of the man I’d married.
Nothing.
He looked at like I was a stranger. No—worse than a stranger. Like I was an insect. Sothing beneath notice.
"I don’t have ti for this today." He released my wrist. Helped his mother stand. "I’ll co back next month."
"Finn, I need to talk to you. I want to—"
His phone rang. He pulled it out. His whole face changed. Softened.
"Celestia? I’m coming right now."
He walked toward the door. Didn’t look back. Didn’t wait for to finish.
My words died in my throat.
He was gone before I could say the word. Divorce.
I stood in the empty living room. My cheek still burning. My wrist still aching.
I couldn’t even get him to stay long enough to hear one sentence. That’s how little I mattered.
That night, I sat at the kitchen table. Pulled out the papers I’d printed at work. Mate bond dissolution forms. Divorce papers.
My hand trembled as I signed my na.
I needed to ask my daughter Lilith if she wants to leave with although she was already so clear about her preferences.
She likes Celestia, likes the expensive perfu over my moonflower scent, likes the woman who gave her candy and toys over the mother who gave her life.
The next day, exhaustion pulled at every muscle. But I went to work anyway. Had to.
If I wanted the divorce. If I wanted to escape here. If I wanted to survive.
I needed money.
Moonlit Velvet was packed. I smiled. Served drinks. Dodged wandering hands. Counted down the hours.
By closing ti, my feet scread. My back ached. But my tips were decent. Seventy dollars. Not much. But it was mine.
The bus stop sat at the edge of Blood Crown territory. Where the streetlights got dimr. Where the pavent cracked.
I pulled my jacket tighter. The night air bit through the thin fabric.
I didn’t want to go ho. But I didn’t want to go to my mother’s house either.
An engine roared. Loud. Close.
I looked up.
A black sports car pulled to the curb. Sleek. Expensive. The kind of car that cost more than I’d make in ten years.
The headlights blinded . I raised my hand to shield my eyes.
The driver’s door opened.
A tall figure stepped out. Moonlight carved shadows across his face. Sharp jaw. High cheekbones. Black hair that looked like it had been touched by careless hands.
He straightened. The movent was liquid. Predatory.
My breath caught.
Kael Blood Crown leaned against his car like he owned the entire street. Maybe he did. His black suit jacket hung open. White shirt underneath. Top two buttons undone. I could see the edge of his collarbone. The hollow of his throat.
His black-gold eyes caught the streetlight. They practically glowed. Burned.
"Hey, Shadow Moon."
His voice hit like whiskey. Smooth. Dark. Dangerous.
My mouth went dry. My brain shut down completely.
Every nerve ending in my body suddenly woke up. Scread. My skin felt too tight. Too hot.
"You... you’re talking to ?"
He pushed off the car. Started walking toward .
Each step was deliberate. Controlled. Like a wolf stalking prey.
His pheromones rolled over in waves. Ebony and frost and sothing else. Sothing wild and dark that made my knees weak.
He stopped right in front of . So close I could feel the heat radiating from his body. So close I had to tilt my head back to see his face.
My heart hamred. I couldn’t breathe properly. Couldn’t think.
He was tall. So much taller than I’d realized. Broad shoulders that blocked out the streetlight behind him. Muscles that shifted under his shirt with each small movent.
"Go on a date with ."
I blinked. Shook my head. Tried to make my brain work. "What?"
His eyes dragged down my body. Slow. Thorough. Like he was cataloging every detail. Every curve.
When he t my gaze again, sothing burned in those black-gold depths.
"I said—" he leaned in closer, voice dropping lower "—go on a date with ."
His hand ca up. Braced against the bus stop wall beside my head. Caging in.
"How much do you cost, little Oga?"
"I don’t... what?"
"How much money do you want? Na your price."
My brain finally caught up. "You want to pay to go on a date with you?"
"Obviously."
Heat flooded my face. Anger. Sha. Confusion.
"No."
His eyebrows rose. Like that was a word he’d never heard before.
"No?"
"No." I gripped my bag strap. Hard. "I’m not... I don’t do that. I refuse."
Kael tilted his head. Studied . His pheromones pressed harder. Made it difficult to breathe. Difficult to think.
"You’re married, right?" He said it casually. Like he was comnting on the weather. "How much does your husband give you? I’ll triple it."
"This isn’t about money—"
"Everything’s about money for wolves like you." He stepped closer. "Shadow Moon trash working at a Blood Crown establishnt. Married to new money trying to buy respectability. You think I don’t know exactly what you are?"
Each word cut. But I’d heard worse. Been called worse.
"I said no."
Kael’s smirk widened. "Three dates. Five thousand each. Co with to the mating ceremony as my date. That’s another ten thousand." He paused. Let the numbers sink in. "Twenty-five thousand total. Think about it carefully, little Oga."
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