Chapter 41: Tell Me What To Do

He kept looking at her and breathing hard. Panting almost. And she saw his eyes

glowing just for a moment there, knowing what it meant.

“There is a big difference, Riannon!” the Alpha looked at her with menace in her

eyes,“ Roxanne is my mate! I can’t help it!”

“And he was a lycan king. I can’t help it either,” she said, “No one says no to him,

Brayden. Not even you. Not to mention that MY wolf was in pain, and he helped

to distract her and took care of both of us better than...”

He groaned painfully and then grabbed the whole massive desk and threw it at

the wall, clearing the space between them.

“You are my wife!” he growled, “You were supposed to come to me if you needed

comfort!”

“Really, Brayden? After everything?” she cocked her brow up at him, “It’s like you

don’t know me at all!”

He closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. Deep inside he knew that she

was right and that he needed to fix that, not make it worse. Threatening and force

would never work with someone like Riannon as she was an Alpha herself. He

knew that far too well. This would only push her further away from him. And now,

knowing that she had been with another and... enjoyed that.., that another man

had been her consolation while he was too entranced into his omega mate, was

making him crazy mad.

His chest tightened. He couldn’t be losing Riannon. His perfect wife. His perfect

Luna.

She was his. He wanted her back. He wanted to fix all that and make her forget

about his mistakes and about that other man who was making moves while he

was distracted.

They had been together for years and he knew everything that she liked. They

had many quarrels in the past and he always found a way to appease her. He

would find such a way now too.

Starting with the obvious...

He had made just a few steps in her direction, but she stood up from her chair

and walked to the window, trying to avoid the pieces of her broken desk scattered

all over the floor. She knew that he wanted to caress her, to try and seduce her

and make her forget about everything. As if he forgot about one of their

anniversaries and not betrayed the bond that they both chose.

Brayden slowly shifted in her direction, standing behind her and wrapping his

arms instead of her relaxing into his arms, he felt her trying to struggle and get

out.

“Ri, let’s finish all this,” he murmured in her ear, “You know I love you. You wear

my mark. You are my wife, my Luna... I am sorry. For everything.”

She did not know how to get rid of him. Just the thought of him touching her

repulsed her. Even being this close she felt like she was betraying Gideon. She

knew she would have to endure living with her husband a few more days, but

sleeping with him was out of the question.

“Brayden,” she tried to remove his hands but he attempted to keep her in place

instead,“ Let me go.”

“I missed you so much,” he ignored her completely as he lifted her in his arms

and went in the direction of the bed, “We need to reconcile. And I am not taking

no for an answer.”

“You will have to!” she gasped and kicked him in the abdomen right as he threw

her to the bed.

“Ri!” he growled at her and grasped her hands tightly, yanking her whole body

back up.

“I am serious, Brayden! I am not in the mood!” she yelled at him and prepared to

hit him again if she had to. The bad news was that he was stronger than her. But

at least she never considered him capable of taking a woman by force. She

hoped that she was right about this now more than ever.

“Ri,” he pulled her into a hug and tucked his head into her neck again, “What do

we do now? How do we fix this?”

She sighed, knowing very well that right now he was inhaling her scent that was

still mixed with Gideon’s. And it probably only made him angrier.

“What do you want me to say?” she pushed him away and distanced herself from

him.

“Tell me what I can do to mend this. I will do anything! Whatever you want, babe,”

Brayden looked desperate at this point but she did not buy it.

Unfortunately for him, they already had a similar conversation in the past when

she spoke of their divorce for the first time after she couldn’t tolerate Roxy

anymore. But he was against it. He promised her things. Things that he did not

fulfill later. And then he dumped her off the cliff... Metaphorically, of course. But it

still hurt the same.

This was why she did not have any moral problem going on with their plan with

Gideon. Brayden had a part to play in it as well.

“I don’t know what could be done here,” she sighed, “I guess I need time to

forget. But...”

“No, tell me, Ri,” he placed his palms onto her shoulders.

“I want to be heard, Brayden! I want to be supported!” she said and noticed the

relief in his eyes. Of course, the reasonable thing would be to demand him get rid

of his mate. Yet she did not go there.

“Okay,” the Alpha nodded simply, “I am ready to give you that.”

“Then let me finish my work on that women rights law I‘ve been working with king

Gid...”

“No!” he snapped in less than a second, “Don’t even say his name!”

“Very well,” she rolled her eyes, “But you do realize that He Who Shall Not Be

Named wouldn’t abandon that project. He likes it and he needs it as he is trying

to change the image of lycans. From ruthless to at least civilized. He would want

to finish it and propose it at the next Alpha summit. And for that he needs me. As

I do the heavy lifting here.”

He did not say anything this time and it got her worried, so she continued.

“You don’t even care...”, she tried to walk away, but the Alpha caught her and

held her close to him.

“How sure are you in this project of yours?” Brayden asked. In his mind, he was

calculating ways to use all that to his advantage.

“Don’t insult me at least!” she snorted, “It is my project from top to bottom! I have

no doubts about it!”

“Then I will make sure it gets approved, Ri. I swear to you, you wouldn’t have to

go to that lycan ever again!” the werewolf in front of her now looked very excited.

He loved to be the star of the summits. He sure as hell would be one soon.

“Very well,” his wife shrugged her shoulders, “At least that’s some kind of a start

for us.”

“See?” he smiled at her,

“We are still a team. Still, a force to be reckoned with.”

“That we are,” she agreed and his grasp on her became tighter, his breathing

ragged. She distanced herself at once to avoid any kind of confusion. “I will need

to speak to quite a few alphas to explain to them the law.”

“We will take a few each,” Brayden suggested, “To save time.”

“Good idea,” she praised him. This was turning out better than she hoped.

“So,” he smiled at her, “Am I forgiven?”

“Of course, not!” she rolled her eyes, “This is just step one, Bray. After this is

done – then we talk about what’s next.” support as I can.” He was still slightly

unsatisfied that he didn’t get her to fall into his hands, but at least there wasn’t a

rift between them anymore. He addressed the issue and dealt with

Just a little bit more time and effort, and he would get her back in his bed too.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Don’t thank me yet, Ri,” he smirked, “I have a condition.” Every muscle in her

body got tense.

“What is it?” she quirked her brow up.

“A kiss,” now he simply looked smug and she wanted to facepalm, but she knew

that too much was at stake.

“A kiss?” she repeated.

“Yes,” the Alpha brushed his thumb over her lower lip, “A kiss. Just one kiss...

Unless you wouldn’t want to stop afterwards.”

Brayden was sure that as soon as she gave in, he would find his way back into

her heart. And bed.

“Fine! Deal!” she decided to go with it, “Bun until then keep your distance! I am

serious, Bray. I want to see how serious are you about it.”

“I am very serious,” this time he caught her hand and brought it to his lips without

breaking their eye contact, “You’ll see.”

“I sure hope so,” she sighed and took her hand away, “And now give me some

space. There are a lot of things I need to think about. Too many...”

“Fine,” he had to agree with her. Even though he did not want to leave so soon.

But Brayden knew that she needed time. He needed some too. There was no

hurry.

He prepared to leave when he turned to face her again.

“Ri, I need to read that law of yours,” he said firmly and this was something she

was ready for.

“Of course,” she agreed with ease, “I will send you the file. As soon as I get all of

this sorted.”

She gestured at the mess he made and he felt guilty. But not too much. However,

this was when Ash mind linked him about something important and he had to

leave.

Riannon sighed as the door closed behind him. Phase one was done. broken

desk. It was getting late and she was surprised that when she walked out of the

bathroom, wearing nothing but a flimsy silk robe, her bedroom was dark. She

looked for a switch but when she pressed it, it did not work.

“What the hell?!” she muttered under her breath and wanted to go and get her

phone to use the build-in torch, when she noticed an unfamiliar figure standing at

the entrance to her balcony with curtains blown by the wind, covering his face

from her.But she knew exactly who that was...