Chapter 2

　　Eva's POV

　　Julian was on his feet the moment the door swung open.

　　He released Cynthia and stood, moving toward me with his hands slightly raised like he was approaching something fragile. Or dangerous, maybe both.

　　I stood in the doorway and looked past him at the room.

　　The way Cynthia's body still held the shape of leaning into him, as he had only just been pulled away.

　　An hour ago, I was at the altar. An hour ago, he was whispering forever against my lips.

　　Cynthia looked extremely calm for someone who had just been caught.

　　I furrowed my brow as I watched her straighten slowly. She folded her hands in her lap and looked at Julian with calm eyes.

　　Those were certainly not the eyes of a woman who had tried to take her life.

　　"Bring her in," she said quietly. "Julian, bring her inside. The ceremony doesn't have to be over. We can explain everything and continue afterward."

　　I looked at her for a long moment. She looked back at me with an expression so composed that something cold moved through me.

　　This was not grief, nor was it guilt. She had orchestrated my coming here, I realized.

　　"Eva." Julian stepped closer. "Please. Just let me talk to you."

　　I didn't answer. I stepped inside and let the door fall shut behind me.

　　Before Julian could say another word, something hit me hard from the side.

　　The boy had been sitting in the corner chair, and I hadn't seen him. He came at me with both hands and shoved with everything his small body had.

　　"You're not taking my daddy away!"

　　I caught myself against the wall. The impact jolted through my shoulder, and I straightened slowly, looking down at him. He was trembling, his small fists still clenched at his sides, his face red and wet.

　　Julian moved toward him immediately. "Hey. That's enough. You don't push people, do you hear me?"

　　"She was going to take you!" The boy's voice broke on the words, spilling over into something raw and uncontrolled.

　　"Daddy, you promised we'd leave together with Mummy, and you always brought me toys whenever you visited. But Mummy was always so afraid of her." He rambled on, pointing at me accusingly.

　　"Stop." Cynthia was off the bed, reaching for him. "Baby, stop talking right now."

　　But the damage was already done.

　　The whole time, he had been with them! Making visits and promises. Telling me he loved me while running to another.

　　While I planned a wedding.

　　My newly formed bond stirred uneasily, as though my wolf couldn't make sense of the truth the little boy had just spoken.

　　Cynthia pulled at the boy's arm, and in the struggle, her bandaged wrist twisted. The white gauze darkened red as blood spread across it, and she let out a small cry.

　　Julian was across the room before I could blink. His hand closed gently around her wrist, steadying it, his whole body angled toward her with the kind of care that felt familiar.

　　I watched it happen.

　　I had seen Julian move fast before, in training, in moments that required quick decisions. I had never seen him move like that for me.

　　He'd always approached me carefully, like I was broken glass, and I had always thought he was just too precise to be led by instinct.

　　But he wasn't careful with her; his whole body just moved.

　　My wolf drove painful claws into me, digging deep until I gasped.

　　Mine, mine, she paced frantically.

　　The pull of the bond was relentless, cruel.

　　"Get out."

　　My voice came out so quiet that for a moment I wasn't sure I had spoken at all. Julian looked up from Cynthia's wrist.

　　"Eva…"

　　"Get out of this room." I kept my voice calm. "I want the bond broken. Tonight."

　　"I am not breaking our bond." He straightened, releasing Cynthia's arm carefully, turning to face me fully. "Eva, I need you to listen to me. Please."

　　"That's all I've been doing." The words came out flat. "I listened to your vows an hour ago. I listened to you say forever."

　　Something crossed his face. He looked down briefly, then back at me.

　　"One night, I had too much to drink, and I made a mistake. I swear to you, I didn't know she was pregnant. Her mother kept it from me, and I only found out I had a son last year."

　　I said nothing. The silence pressed on him, and he kept going.

　　"After I found out, Cynthia was in an accident. She was protecting me, and she was hit by a car and left paralyzed." His voice tightened.

　　"What was I supposed to do, Eva? Walk away from my son? Leave her with nothing after everything that happened to her?"

　　"So you chose to lie to me instead."

　　"I was trying to handle it without hurting you. I was trying to do right by everyone."

　　"By everyone," I said. "Everyone except me."

　　"You are the only person I love. That has never changed, not for a single day."

　　The bond pulsed once beneath my skin, almost as though it wanted me to believe him.

　　I looked at him. This man I had loved since I was a girl. This man whose face I had memorized without meaning to, whose hands I had reached for without thinking for more years than I could count.

　　I always understood him without trying too hard, but why couldn't I right now?

　　"You went back to them," I said. "This whole time you looked me in the eye, and you went back to them, and you said nothing."

　　"I was trying to protect—"

　　"Don't." The word cut through whatever he was about to say, and he stopped. "Don't tell me what you were trying to do for me."

　　Cynthia had settled back against the bed, the boy tucked against her side, her expression returning to that same careful calmness.

　　She wasn't defending herself or begging or falling apart. She was just watching, her eyes moving between us slowly, like she was in no hurry at all. Like she already knew how this would end.

　　Something in her eyes made my skin crawl.

　　My phone buzzed in my pocket just then.

　　I didn't move immediately. I stood there another moment looking at Julian, at the guilt on his face, the way his body was still somehow turned toward Cynthia even though he was looking at me.

　　I swallowed and checked my phone.

　　It was my mother.

　　"Come back to the pack house. Now. Maeve is here. She is suggesting you take custody of the child."

　　I read it once. Then again, unable to believe what I was reading.

　　They were negotiating already. Take the child and continue with the bond like nothing ever happened.

　　Like, I was supposed to be grateful for the offer.

　　I put my phone away.

　　Julian was still watching me, waiting for something I certainly wouldn't give him.

　　I picked up my bag.

　　"Eva, we are not done—"

　　"I know," I said. It was my mistake coming here, still in my wedding dress. Like an abandoned bride, which I probably was.

　　Without a second look at him, I walked out of the room.