Chapter 4 Fractured Vows

The moment he pulled out, his cum dripping down my thighs, I reached for him. My fingers brushed his arm, trembling, needing...something.

Comfort.

A lie.

Anything to make this feel like less of a violation. But he recoiled like I’d burned him, his lip curling in disgust. His eyes, usually so cold, were alight with something worse: triumph.

Getting out of bed with the sheets draped around me, though the pain between my thighs made me wince with every moment.

"Grayson", I tried to reach for him, but he backed away.

“Don’t. Don’t say my name like it matters. You were always easy to believe, Evangeline. Always so desperate to be loved.”

His voice was a blade, slicing through the haze of endorphins and delusion. Eyes full of disgust, He laughed, short and sharp.

“You really thought this meant something, didn’t you?” His voice was calm. Too calm. Each word deliberate, like a verdict being read. “You’re just the trap you walked into.”

He wiped his cock on the sheet, smearing his cum across the silk like it was nothing. Like I was nothing. “I never loved you.”

“Chloe was the only one.” His voice dropped, low and venomous. “And you took her.”

The words hit like a physical blow. My breath stalled, my chest tightening as if his claws were wrapped around my heart. I tried to swallow, but my mouth was too dry, my pulse roaring in my ears.

Slowly, deliberately, he tucked himself back into his trousers, his movements precise as he fastened his belt.

“Remember this,” he said, his voice void of anything but cruelty. “You’re mine to use. To break. To discard. I married you for revenge, Evangeline. Nothing more.”

No. No, no, no......

“I’ll use you.” He stepped back, his gaze raking over me with clinical detachment, like I was a whore he’d paid for, not his wife, not his mate or Luna.

I”ll Fuck you. But love?” A humorless laugh. “Never.”

The carpet was plush beneath my bare feet as I stumbled back, my legs unsteady. The flickering candlelight cast long shadows across the walls, twisting Grayson’s form into something monstrous. He was already turning away, straightening his suit like he hadn’t just ruined me. Like he hadn’t just confirmed every fear I’d buried deep inside.

“Wait...” My voice cracked. I cleared my throat, forcing the words out. “Chloe wasn’t who you thought.”

He froze. Just for a second. Then his shoulders tensed, and he turned his head slightly, his profile sharp in the dim light. “What?”

My heart hammered against my ribs. This was it. The truth I’d never been allowed to speak. The secret had festered between us like an open wound. “She....”

I couldn’t form the next words…

He didn't turn but added, “You should rest,” he said. “Tomorrow, we’ll start pretending again. The city will expect a perfect Luna.”

The door slammed before I could finish.

The sound echoed through the suite, final as a gunshot.

I flinched, my fingers curling into the rumpled sheets, the silk slippery beneath my nails. The scent of him, of us, was everywhere, cloying, suffocating.

My thighs ached, my pussy sore and throbbing, his cum still leaking out of me. I should’ve hated it. Should’ve scrubbed myself raw in the bath until there was nothing left of him on my skin.

But I didn’t move.

The suite looked the same, the candles low, the silver drapes stirring in the air conditioning, but everything felt altered, wrong. The scent of roses, the soft hum of the city below, all of it pressing in on me like a reminder of how easily I’d been fooled.

He doesn’t love you.

The words circled like vultures, relentless, impatient. I tried to swallow them down, but they stuck in my throat.

I thought of my father, of the way his name had been dragged through the mud. Of how I had believed that marrying Grayson might finally bring peace to all of it, might make the world make sense again.

I had been wrong.

The city lights outside blinked through the curtains like indifferent stars. Somewhere out there, the pack celebrated, unaware that their perfect union had already fractured.

I exhaled shakily, my breath hitching. The mating bond pulsed between us, a taut, invisible thread, pulling at something deep in my chest.

It was supposed to be sacred. A connection between souls, between fated mates. But Grayson had turned it into a noose.

My fingers trembled as I touched my throat, where his teeth had marked me. The bruises would fade. The ache between my thighs would ease. But the way he’d looked at me, the sheer, unadulterated hatred, would linger. It would fester.

A tear slipped down my cheek, hot and traitorous. I dashed it away with the back of my hand, my nails digging into my palm hard enough to draw blood.

No. I wouldn’t cry. Not for him. Not for the way he’d used me, fucked me, then discarded me like garbage.

But the wound was already there, gaping and raw.

I never loved you.

I closed my eyes, another tear escaping. It wasn’t the words that hurt the most. It was the way he’d said them.

Like they were obvious.

Like I was a joke.

The silk walls seemed to press in around me, the air thick with the weight of unspoken truths. I should’ve told him everything. Should’ve screamed at him.

Chloe was a liar. She was the one who betrayed you. She was the one who....

But Grayson didn’t want the truth. He wanted his revenge. And I was just the tool he’d chosen to carve it with.

I let out a shaky breath, my body still humming from his touch, my skin marked by his claws. The mating bond thrummed between us, a cruel reminder of what could’ve been. Of what I’d foolishly hoped for, even for a second.

Love? Never.

I swallowed hard, the taste of blood still on my lips.

Fine.

If this were my punishment, I’d take it. If this was the price for my sins, for my father’s sins, I’d pay it.

But Grayson would learn the truth eventually.

And when he did, I’d be ready.

I looked at the moon, full and heavy above Silverbourne’s skyline, and for the first time, it felt like it was watching me with pity.

The night had begun with vows, with light, with hope.

Now all that was left was silence.

And somewhere in that silence, reality settled in:

Grayson Knight didn’t marry me out of love.

He married me to destroy me.

But I wasn’t broken yet.

If he wanted his Luna to break, he should have chosen someone weaker...