Page 140 of Never Submit

Would I have changed the situation if possible? Absolutely.

But to have her so blithely throw it back in my face, to callously talk about any pups I may have with Ren?—

Catarina is no longer the good-looking woman I’ve always considered her to be. The way she’s staring at me now, she’s cruel, vicious. The expensive clothing and experthair and makeup are an effort to disguise her absolute apathy for anyone or anything.

“Listen to me.” Catarina steps forward, adjusting my jacket for me as though I’ve missed a step. “We will go through with this relationship because the details have been finalized and our terms set in stone.” She smiles, mercifully. Doing me a favor. “If you’d like to keep fucking this Ren woman, then by all means do what you need to do. Goodness knows I’d rather not fuck you, Torin.”

My anger flares. But I need the help from her pack. We don’t have the Moonstone anymore. Whatever assistance she and the Briars will be able to offer, I’m in no position to turn down.

“I’ve known you were hard-hearted, but I didn’t expect you to turn it on me,” I admit.

She pats me much too hard on the chest before stepping away again and putting some much needed distance between us while I pull myself together.

“You have thick skin,” she says. “You’ll be fine. Now, do you have a legitimate reason for bursting into my office in a tizzy? Or did you come thinking you’d pour your heart out regarding this affair?”

She laughs then, and it feels like my thick skin is nowhere to be found.

“You have been blowing up my phone. Perhaps you’d like me to tell you the reason why I haven’t answered?”

Her gaze snaps back to me, and she’s pissed once again, evident by the imperious lift of one meticulously groomed eyebrow. “You have a lot of explaining to do on that front,my love.”

She’d rather see me dead. I know it in an instant. A part of me balks once again. But my instinct as an alpha keepsme in this horrible office with no personality, no life. There is only a wall of windows and the door at my back, the majority of the space taken up by her desk. And her ego.

Standing in the same room with her is a lesson in endurance. It’s not that I wanted Catarina to love me. I’d resigned myself to a future with a wife who may never see me as more than a business partner, or at the very best a friend. But to see her open loathing, the dismissive way she talks about affairs?—

Fucking bullshit.

“If you must know, I’ve been working closely with Mathis and the Grey Valley pack. Not only have we managed to avoid a war between our packs, but we’ve successfully negotiated a peace treaty.”

Now a second eyebrow shoots up to join the first. “Excuse me?” Her lips thin into taut lines.

I don't like the way she’s looking at me. The way it seems to shock her to her core that I’ve made peace with Mathis.

“The terms are in place,” I tell Catarina, clenching my jaw. “Our packs are unified.”

“Is that where you disappeared to? You took off, ignored me, tounify your packs.”

She spits out the words.

“It’s a matter of duty to our people. You know about duty, don’t you? It’s a shame you’re unwilling to do yours to me. You promised me a wedding night,” I remind her to cut her back down to size.

“And you’ll get your wedding night. I won’t go back on my word,” she continues ruthlessly.

Except neither of us wants our union to be physical. Separate lives. Lives without love, without even liking eachother. Business rather than family. This is duty, one hundred percent, and the only thing that stirs to life any desire in me is the thought of Ren. Of tasting her the way I did only hours ago.

I’ve mocked Mathis for his family-centered crap in the past and how his refusal to modernize has kept him stagnant. But I’ve also seen him with his people. I’ve seen the way they respond to him, out of love rather than responsibility. Even that little omega of his, Flora. So different from any of my omegas…

I would never let them get so friendly.

Does Mathis have a point? He has a mate. He has happiness.

I’ve been pushing that aside, and fuck, I’m still empty inside. My self-interests reflect back nothing but bleak cold.

Catarina snaps her fingers in front of my face. “Anything else you need to confess? I’ve had a long day.”

I drag my hand over my stubbled jaw. I’m exhausted and worn down. “I was hoping we could…spend some time together. Tonight.”

She gawks at me. “You’re not serious.”

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