Scarlett’s POV
"What?" Ethan rasped, his voice rough, heavy with alcohol. He didn’t let go of my wrists. Instead, he pinned them above my head. "Can’t I touch you? I bought you, rember?"
My heart slamd against my ribs. I frowned, searching his face for any trace of the man who had defended downstairs.
"Ethan, you’re drunk," I whispered, my voice trembling. "You don’t know what you’re saying."
He stared at for a long, agonizing mont, his thumb brushing lightly over the pulse at my wrist. The raw power radiating from him made it difficult to breathe. Even like this, intoxicated, he was still an Alpha.
Fear tightened around my throat.
Then, he suddenly scoffed. The intensity vanished as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by a bitter, dark humor.
"Relax, Scarlett," he muttered, the iron grip on my wrists loosening. He rolled off , the bed creaking under his weight as he flopped onto his back. "I was joking. I don’t take what isn’t offered, and I certainly don’t take things that belong to my pathetic cousins."
I sat up quickly, gasping for air and pulling down my clothes. My hands were still shaking. I watched him as he reached down, blindly grabbing the edge of the heavy duvet and pulling it over his chest.
"Go to sleep," he grumbled, his eyes already drifting shut. "The couch is comfortable enough. Or stay on the floor. I don’t care. Just stay in this room until the maid cos for you in the morning."
Within seconds, his breathing leveled out into the deep, heavy rhythm of sleep.
As if nothing had happened.
I stayed perched on the edge of the mattress, my mind racing. I grabbed a spare pillow and a small throw blanket from the armchair. I didn’t want to be anywhere near him, but I was too terrified to leave the room. I settled onto the plush rug at the foot of the bed, curling into a ball.
Sleep didn’t co easily.
Every creak of the mansion sounded like footsteps. Every gust of wind against the balcony doors felt like soone whispering my na.
The morning sun was barely peeking through the heavy velvet curtains when a soft tapping on the door woke . I jolted upright, my neck stiff and my head throbbing.
Ethan was still passed out on the bed, his arm flung over his face.
"Scarlett?" a hushed voice called from the hallway. "It’s Mara. I’ve been sent to take you to your new quarters before the Alphas wake for breakfast."
I scrambled to my feet, shaking out my skirt. This was my chance to get away from the suffocating tension of this suite. I unbolted the door, finding Mara waiting for . She was one of those maids who didn’t mock or step on ; she clearly just avoided .
"Please," I whispered. "Lead the way."
We hurried down the hall, but as we passed the library, the door swung open.
Leon stood there. Unlike his brothers, he didn’t look angry. He looked devastated. His clothes were rumpled as if he hadn’t slept.
"Scarlett," he choked out, ignoring Mara entirely. "Wait. Please."
"I can’t, Leon," I whispered, my voice trembling as I glanced nervously at Mara. The last thing I needed was to be caught in another secret confrontation. "I have to go with her."
But Leon didn’t listen. He reached out, his fingers brushing against my forearm. Before I could protest again, he pulled into the library and shut the heavy doors, leaving a confused Mara standing alone in the hallway.
"Leon, what are you doing?" I snapped, backing away from him as he turned around. "You can’t just snatch into rooms. If your father or Ethan sees this—"
"I don’t care," he choked out. He looked like a man who had spent the night staring into an abyss. His eyes were bloodshot, and the usual pristine Alpha-in-waiting air about him had completely evaporated. "I need to speak to you."
I frowned. "About what exactly?"
Leon stood there, his chest heaving as if he’d just run a marathon. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words ca out. He looked absolutely lost, his fingers twitching at his sides as the silence in the library stretched, becoming more painful with every passing second.
I waited, my heart hamring against my ribs, but his silence was the sa silence I’d lived with for two years.
"Exactly," I said, a bitter, hollow sound escaping my throat. I shook my head and turned toward the door. "You don’t even know what you want to say, Leon. You just didn’t want Ethan to have , but you don’t actually want for yourself either. Not if it costs you anything."
I reached for the heavy handle, but Leon was faster. He stepped forward, his hand slamming against the wood above my head to keep the door shut.
"Scarlett, please," he breathed, his forehead dropping to rest against the back of his hand on the door. "Just... give so ti. Please."
I spun around to face him, my back pressed against the hard wood. "Ti for what, Leon?" I demanded, my voice rising in frustration. "Ti for you to find a way to keep in the servant quarters without your father noticing? Ti for you to wait until Ethan leaves so you can go back to ignoring in the hallways?"
"No!" he snapped, finally looking at . The devastation in his eyes was replaced by a flickering, desperate spark. "Ti to figure out how to announce our bond to everyone. Ti to talk to Liam and Leo, to my father, to tell them that we are mates."
My eyes widened; my wolf purred excitedly inside .
A single, bitter tear escaped and tracked a hot path down my cheek. My wolf, Zoe, was howling with joy at his words, her tail wagging so hard it felt like my own heart was shaking. But I wasn’t happy. I felt like I was being suffocated by a lie.
"You... you want to tell your father?" I whispered, my voice thick with disbelief. "You want to tell the world that the traitor’s daughter is your mate?"
"Yes, Scarlett," Leon breathed, reaching out as if to cup my face, though he stopped inches away. "I want to accept this bond. I want this... but you have to please give so ti. Just a little more ti to prepare for the fallout."
I looked at him—really looked at him. At the rumpled clothes, the bloodshot eyes, and the desperation in his eyes.
"Why now, Leon?" I asked, my voice suddenly flat. The excitent in my chest died as quickly as it had sparked.
He stumbled over his words. "I—I just realized how much I was losing. Seeing you with him..."
"Exactly," I cut him off, a sharp, humorless laugh escaping . "It’s because Alpha Ethan is claiming , isn’t it? It’s not that you finally found your courage, it’s that your pride is stinging. You didn’t care when I was sleeping on a thin mattress in the servants’ wing, but now that another Alpha has put his mark on my life, you’re suddenly ready to claim ."
"No!" Leon snapped, his face flushing. "It’s not just that!"
"Then prove it," I challenged, stepping closer until our chests almost touched. I looked up into his devastated eyes, my heart hardening. "I’m tired of ’plans’ and ’ti,’ Leon."
Leon flinched, his hand dropping from the door.
"I’ll give you until the end of today," I challenged. "One day. If by the end of today you haven’t stood in front of this pack—in front of your father and Ethan—and announced that I am your mate, then don’t ever speak that word to again."
Leon’s breath hitched. "Scarlett, one day is..."
"One day is more than the two years you’ve already had," I snapped. I turned the handle, and this ti, he didn’t stop . "If you can’t do it," I said without turning back, "then wait for the three months to end so we can reject each other. Until then... stay away from ."
I walked out of the library without looking back. Mara was still there, her eyes fixed firmly on the floor. My head was spinning, and my heart was bruised. I had given him an ultimatum, but deep down, a part of —the part that had been crushed over and over again—knew exactly how this would end.
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