Chapter 48

Silver’s POV

I wasn’t expecting to see Shirley standing in the middle of the palace foyer, especially so late at night. I looked around, expecting to see Elliot as well before my eyes shifted back to Shirley’s. She watched me like I was her prey, making me uncomfortable.

My heart was hammering in my chest and there was a large part of me that wanted to take a step out of the front door and not look back. But another part of me wanted to show her that she couldn’t bully me. I had come to welcome this place as my home, and I was exhausted. I just wanted to go to bed. The sooner I can get Shirley out of here, the better.

I kept stealing glances around, hoping Elliot would just appear so I could slip away. But no such luck.

“If you are looking for Elliot, he isn’t here,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. It was the first time she had spoken since I arrived and that felt like forever ago. “But he told me he’ll be back.”

My stomach knotted; so, Elliot knew Shirley was here and he was returning to her. Did he want me to sleep elsewhere tonight so he could sleep with his girlfriend? The thought made me nauseated. He hadn’t mentioned anything to be about it, nor has he tried to reach me since I’ve spoken to him this morning.

I decided to just play nice and plaster a smile on my lips.

“Can I help you with something, Shirley?” I asked with the most upbeat tone I could muster.

She smirked.

“Yes, actually. I was hoping we could chat. Just us girls,” she said with her own fake upbeat tone.

“Chat about what exactly?”

“Come into the parlor with me. I’ll have one of the maids get us some wine and we can talk.” She didn’t wait for me to respond; she spun around on her heel and started to walk toward the parlor.

I sighed and followed after her. By the time I reached the parlor, she was already seated and speaking to one of the maids.

“Right away, Alpha. I’ll bring the wine to you in just a moment,” the maid said, bowing before retreating from the room.

Shirly looked at me and then motioned for the loveseat beside the couch she was sitting on. Clearly, she didn’t want to sit near me; or maybe she thought I didn’t want to sit near her. Either or, I wasn’t going to complain.

We sat in awkward silence until the maid returned with the wine. Without saying, “Thank you,” Shirley dismissed her with just her hand. I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes at her. I took a sip of the wine and sat back in the seat, trying to steady my racing heart and keep my indifferent composure.

“So, what would you like to talk about?” I finally asked after what felt like an eternity of silence and wine-sipping.

She took another sip of her wine and swished it around her mouth before swallowing. Then she placed the wine glass on a coaster and leaned forward and toward me, unsettling me.

“Divorce Elliot.”

I was stunned by her bluntness. My mouth nearly dropped open.

“Excuse me?”

She smirked.

“You aren’t good enough for him. You aren’t good together. Elliot and I have a long history, as you know, I’m sure. It was always our plan to one day get married and join our two packs together. We are powerful and as a couple, we would be unstoppable. You can’t deny the facts, Silver.”

My chest constricted from her words, but I tried to make it seem as if they didn’t bother me. I glanced downward and swallowed the lump in my throat.

“And if I didn’t want to get a divorce?” I boldly asked.

She scoffed at my question and narrowed her eyes.

“Then, you would be making a huge mistake. Do you want Elliot to be miserable?”

“He married me by his own choice. I did not force his hand, despite what you might think. Elliot was the one who showed up at the church and insisted we got married,” I blurted.

From the shocked look on Shirley’s face, I knew I had told her too much information. As far as everyone else was concerned, Elliot and I had a short relationship and then decided to get married. But I made it sound like Elliot arrived at random and proposed upon meeting me. In a way, that was what kind of happened. Except it was me who proposed to him; I meant it as a drunk joke, so I was shocked when Elliot actually showed up.

But Shirley, out of all people, didn’t need to know that.

“Are you saying you aren’t in love with him?” She asked, her perfectly trimmed brows knitting together.

I fiddled with my fingers, feeling the blush creeping along my cheeks.

“I didn’t say that,” I murmured.

Truth be told, I had fallen in love with Elliot. I knew the feeling wasn’t mutual and I’m not even sure when exactly it happened. But he was so kind and tender behind closed doors; he treated me better than anyone has in my entire life. I loved the way I felt wrapped up in his arms after we made love; I loved the way I felt every time he kissed me, whether it was a deep and lingering kiss or a feather across my lips, it made my heart skip a beat every time.

I was in love with Elliot and all I was to him was a contract. It was convenient because for some reason I cured his insomnia, which made little to no sense to me.

“So, you are in love with him?” Shirley asked, raising her brows.

“I didn’t say that either,” I said quickly, trying to recover myself.

I could feel tears burning in the back of my eyes; I wasn’t going to cry in front of her though. I refused to let Shirley see me that weak.

“Look, you have to think about the future, Silver. What about your children?” She asked, making me almost choke on the wine I just took a sip of.

“Our children?”

She nodded.

“You haven’t even thought of that, have you?” She asked, raising her brows. “There is a chance that your children won’t have a wolf because you don’t have a wolf. Elliot’s heir needs to be strong; they need to have wolves. If I had children with Elliot, they would be the strongest wolves in the world. Are you really going to deny him a strong heir?”

I felt numb from her words because the truth of that matter was… she was right. Elliot deserved strong children and I couldn’t guarantee that. I stared down at my hands, feeling my eyes pooling with tears.

Shirly reached out and patted my hand.

“It’s alright,” she said with fake compassion. “I know it’s a tough pill to swallow. But you must know it’s for the best in the long run. You’ll all be happier once you divorce and take a step back. You’ll see it from the outside prospect. Elliot and I just make sense. I’m sure he has fun with you, but he could never love you. Not like he loves me at least. He knows it and his wolf knows it…”

“His wolf?” I asked, snapping my eyes back up to her.

Her eyes grew large, and she bit her lower lip.

“Oh, I’ve already said too much. Forget I said that last part,” she said. “But seriously… you think about the future and think about how Elliot’s feeling.”

I drank the rest of the wine in one gulp before I stood up.

“I’ll think about it,” I managed to say. I was feeling numb, and my eyes were burning with unshed tears. I needed to get out of this room and just go to bed.

I turned around and started to walk towards the parlor door, but it swung open. Elliot stood in front of him, his eyes filled with concern as he looked between Shirley and me. His eyes lingered on me while he asked, “What happened? Are you okay?”

I nodded, not realizing a couple of stray tears escaped. I quickly wiped at them, hoping Elliot hadn’t noticed but he grabbed my face and held my head so I couldn’t turn away from him.

“Silver, what happened?” He demanded to know.

I shook my head; not wanting to relay my conversation with Shirley.

“I’m just tired, Elliot,” I whispered. “Please, let me go to bed.”

He stared at me for a long while; his eyes searching my face before he reluctantly released me.

“Okay, we will talk tomorrow though,” he said it like a statement, not a question.

I nodded my head once and glanced over my shoulder at Shirley who only smirked at me.

“Goodnight, Miss Shirley.”

“Goodnight, Silver,” replied.

On that note, I turned and walked out of the parlor with a heavy heart. By the time I reached my bedroom, I was sobbing. I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I figured Elliot would be talking to Shirley for a while, so I didn’t need to mask my pain right away. I let myself go and just sobbed until there was nothing left to cry.

I curled up in bed with the lights off and the blanket over my head as my body trembled.

I hadn’t even thought about Elliot’s future children, but the truth of the matter was that Shirley was right. He did need a strong heir and I don’t think I was able to give him that. Plus, children weren’t part of our agreement. At what point did he want the contract to end? Was he planning on marrying Shirley once it did end so that he could have that strong heir?

What was I going to do?