The Billionaire Heiress Divorced Her Alpha Mate

Mariana

“I must go into hibernation,” Alice, my wolf, said. Her tone was weak within me; it tugged painfully at my heart. “After hibernation, I may not be able to return to protect you…”

“What?” I breathed, my body trembling as I stood from my bed. I hadn’t been able to get out of bed all day; my body was too weak to carry my own weight.

“I’m so sorry,” she breathed in return. “I never meant for it to come to this.”

“Please, don’t leave me,” I cried to her. “I can’t do this without you, Alice. I will die.”

“I must. I’m far too weak to carry on. The amount of blood we’ve lost has taken everything from us.” She paused for a moment. “It’s taken everything from me…”

“I’m so sorry,” I sobbed to her, my heart shattering around me as I fell to my knees. I buried my face in my hands and continued to sob.

“This isn’t your fault,” she whispered; I could hear the pain in her voice. “It’s mine. I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t good enough…”

“That isn’t true,” I shot back; my face growing red with fury as she spoke ill of herself. “You are more than enough, and you are more than strong enough.”

She was silent and for a moment, I thought I lost her completely. With each passing moment, she’s been getting quieter and weaker. I knew it was only a matter of time before she was gone completely.

“I wish that were true,” she finally said; she was just as broken as I was. “I’m sorry I let you down.”

“You didn’t let me down,” I told her another sob escaped my lips. “I let you down.”

“You could never let me down,” she said tiredly. “I love you.”

“I love you,” I whispered in return. “Please, don’t leave me…”

“Take care of yourself,” she said.

Her voice faded away, and soon; I could no longer feel her within me.

It left me sobbing even harder; my heart was broken, and I felt even more alone than ever. This was my fault; it was all my fault, and I lost my wolf because of it.

I stared down at the picture on my phone that was sent to me with no name and no message. Just a number I didn’t recognize. It was a picture of my husband, Joseph, and his longtime friend, Tina. She was half-bare and sleeping in his enclosed arms. I wish I could say the image saddened me, but it only made me feel sick to my stomach. This was the man I gave up everything for. The man I wanted so badly to love me and all he gave me was return was this pain and suffering.

If I didn’t agree to be Tina’s blood donor and volunteer to weaken my body, Alice would never have suffered this fate. It was my fault she was gone; it was my fault for not standing my ground.

But I did it for love. I loved Joseph and I wanted to be with him more than anything. The only way I could get him to be with me as if I agreed to be Tina’s blood donor. He told me if I did him this favor, he would marry me. I thought once we were married, I could get him to love me. I thought we would live a happy life together.

But I was wrong.

I was so very wrong, and I will forever regret this decision.

I coughed into my hand and saw blood seeping through my fingers. I stared at my reflection in my mirror; I was wasting away before my eyes. My skin was pale and pasty; my usual thick brown hair was thinning and flat against my round features. My hazel eyes have dark ringlets under them. I looked as if I had aged a thousand years in just the three years that I’d been married.

I grabbed the post-it note that was taped to my bedroom door, a separate bedroom from where Joseph slept.

Reading the note, it said: Hospital for blood transfusion at 2 pm.

I recognized the handwriting as Joseph’s assistant. I cringed at the thought of donating more blood. This would be the 5(th) time this month; they were draining me of everything that I had. At first, I didn’t mind it. I enjoyed being able to help Tina; she has a rare wolf disease where she loses certain proteins in her blood. It causes her to become frail.

I, on the other hand, have a rare and healing type of blood. Once Joseph realized that he asked me to donate my blood to save Tina’s life.

It’s been 3 years and Tina doesn’t seem to be getting any better; in fact, it almost seems like she’s only getting worse.

I balled up the post-it note and threw it across the room in aggravation. I sat on my bed where I left my phone. The picture of Tina and Joseph remained on the screen. I scoffed; they looked more like a couple than we ever have. He couldn’t even bother to sleep in the same room as me. I wasn’t anything to him and he made that perfectly clear with every passing day.

He never loved me, and I never had a chance at making him love me.

I didn’t have a choice anymore; I knew what I wanted, and I knew what I needed. I had to get out of his loveless marriage. I’ve known it for some time now; I’ve been sitting on these divorce papers, in secret, for weeks. I just didn’t have the nerve to sign them. But after losing Alice and seeing this picture, I knew my decision was the right one.

“I want a divorce,” I mindlinked Joseph. I knew he was already at the hospital with Tina. He was often there with her and considering he was expecting me there to donate more of my blood, I knew he was there waiting for me.

It took him a moment to respond, but once he did, he sounded annoyed and impatient.

“Don’t be stupid, Anna,” he muttered through our mindlink. “We are waiting on you at the hospital.”

“I’m serious, Joseph,” I told him firmly; I was trying hard to keep the pain and sorrow out of my tone.

“We had a deal,” he hissed. “I marry you in exchange for your blood donations.”

“I didn’t know it was going to be like this,” I said with tears running down my face. “I didn’t know what I was saying yes to. But I should have never agreed to this. It’s literally killing me. I can’t carry on any longer.”

“Come to the hospital and we can talk more about this,” he said, softening his tone.

He often spoke to me softly to get what he wanted out of me. If he sensed my hesitation, he would speak to me like a child. I always saw it as him being vulnerable and weak, and I would always cave to him. But I was done caving to him. It was a manipulation tactic, and I was done being a pawn in his games. I was done being his personal blood bank.

The thought of donating more blood to that woman sickened me. She wasn’t healing off my blood; she was just taking and taking. She was nothing more than a leach.

I touched my fingers to the back of my neck and rubbed across the mark he placed on me during our wedding. It was marked by his wolf’s teeth, making me officially his. As much as I was his, he was never mine.

I knew of the one person who would be able to rid me of this mark.

“There’s nothing more to discuss,” I told him. “I will provide you with more of my blood, but only if you grant me this divorce.”

“Anna…” he said in protest, but I stopped him before he could say anything more.

“I mean it, Joseph. Divorce me today, or she dies.”

I ended the mindlink. Tears continued to stream down my face as I buried my face in my hands. I hiccupped as I sobbed.

How did I get to this point in life? How did I become this broken? Why did I deserve such foul treatment from the man I loved so very much? I loved him from the moment he saved me. I knew he was the one I wanted to marry, even if he didn’t want to marry me. I thought I could get him to love me.

But I just looked like a fool.

I wiped my tears on the back of my sleeve as I grabbed the pen from my nightstand. I stared at the divorce papers for a long while before signing my name.