bChapter /bb65 /b

Aria’s Pov

The next morning, I was the first one to wake up.

He was lying behind me, his warm chest pressed tightly against my back, one arm wrapped around my waist.

The soreness between my legs was impossible to ignore.

I let out a silent breath, staring at the corner of the room.

That whole rule about how I bwasn’t /bballowed /bon this floor was like bullshit now. I couldn’t even remember the

“What are you thinking about?” came his raspy voice beside my ear. He was awake

I shifted a little, but bhe /bonly held me tighter. Our bodies werepletely tangled beneath the sheets.

“Tell me,” he binsisted/b.

The more I got to know him, the more I realized just how possessive he really was.

“I’m thinking how you forced me topletely betray everything I believed in,” I said quietly.

He gave a soft scoff. “That no sex rule was stupid anyway.”

frowned. “Your first love was from Frostpine Pack too. bWould /byou bsay /bher beliefs were stupid?”

He propped himself up and flipped me over to face him. His expression was cold in the dim light.

Let me guess. Zane told you that again?”

I shrugged. “We had a lot of time to kill while we were on the run.”

st time I’d bslept /bin my own bed.

He exhaled sharply, clearly trying to keep his temper down. “Frostpine Pack puts a lot of weight on bloodline purity. That’s why toyal members- especially women–are forbidden from having sex before marriage. So they don’t end up with bastards. But you’re not royalty, Aria. You don’t need to follow that rule,”

bOf /bcourse I knew that

Honestly, I didn’t even know why my mom insisted I follow it in the first ce. It’s not like anyone would’ve cared if Thad been sleeping around since was a teenager or had a kid in high school.

But still…it was a principle I’d clung to for over 20 years.

And he was the one who bmade /bbme /bbbreak /bit

I guess what pissed me off even more than losing my virginity…was how little he seemed to care.

“Besides,” he murmured huskily in my ear, “you did enjoy the sex.”

His hand slid from my waist down between my legs, circling my clit. My back arched as I gasped for air. My body was already getting ready for another

hard fuck.

b“/bYou’re so sensitive, babe. We’re perfect together,” he whispered, ribbling my earlobe. “Don’t let that stupid rule ruin something this good.”

b“/bAnd w

what if I ask you to marry me?” I asked suddenly.

His hand froze.

bJust /blike that, all the heat and spark in the dir vanished.

“You’re asking?” he echoed, hit vairo dropping dangerously tow

“yeah, You think that rule is stupid, but I don’t. So now I’m asking the guy who took my virginity to marry me

He actuallyughed like I’d just said something ridiculous.

“Don’t be silly,” he said lightly.

I scoffed and pushed him off, jumping out of bed. His cous fromst night was still diding down my thigh–sticky and gross. Feeded a shower,

“You can

nask me for anything. Except mariage,” he said from behind me, his tone like he was warning me not to get gready

I didn’t reply. I just headed straight into the bathroom.

The hot water helped a lot. I could finally breathe again. Think straight

He probably wouldn’t let me go back to work anymore.

So what now? Was I supposed to just stay locked up in this gilded cage, waiting for the day he got bored of me? Or until he found some properdy to marry?

bI /bhad no idea.

After I finished my shower, I stepped out with a towel around my hair. He wasn’t in the bedroom anymore. A few maids were tidying bup /bthe sheetsb. /b

The moment they saw me, they dropped what they were doing band /bbowed

“Lady Collins,” one of them said nervously. “Alpha basked /bthat you go to his study after you’ve freshened

I nodded and started heading toward the door. bBut /bthen I paused and turned back to them.

“Don’t call me ‘Lady.” I’m not one.”

Everyone kept reminding me bhow /blowborn I was. There was no poigt pretending otherwise.

The maids exchanged a nervous nce. One of them mumbled, “Y–yes… understood…mydy.”

I sighed and walked bout /bof the room.

His study used to be off–limits to me too. But just like his bedroom, that rule had blong /bgone out the window.

I reached the study and bknacked/b, then opened the door and walked in,

Then I immediately froze.

I’d thought he would be alone.

But no. There were at least 20 people inside. All of them bdressed /bin expensive suits, elegant, powerful–looking. They all turned to stare at me atonce

And I was wearing… a bathrobe. My hair was still damp.

“Sorry to interrupt,” I blurtedb, /bhastily trying to back out.

“Come in, Aria

Grayson bwas /bsitting right in the center of the room on a plush anta, fully dressed, looking like a damni kes

He reached a hand out to me and held my gaze steadily

Was he out of his fucking minut? i shook my head hard at hen,

“Come,” he repeated

Left with no choice, I sighed and quietly shut the door behind me, and walked toward him–under everyone’s shocked stares.

He pulled me straight into his. Then he just buried his face in my neck, inhaling deeply.

There were gasps all around us.

“Alpha Grayson, with all due respect, this meeting is incredibly important…” middle aged man said respectfully. But his eyes were ring at me ket was some filthy rats

“You may continue,” Grayson saidzily.

He started ying with a strand of my hair like it was the only thing he cared about

“I’m afraid the matters of thepany and pack are top secret. We can’t discuss them freely…especially with outsiders present

Grayson’s hand stilled.

His cold p

gray eyes locked on the

on them. And he gave a strange, bsharp /bugh.

“Outsider?” he repeated, “That’s fucking ridiculous. Aria is someone I trustpletely. Meanwhile, Jace Carter–who’s a real outsider—you had no problem sharing all your secrets with.”

Everyone stiffened in their seats.

“W–we’re so sorry, Alpha. But Mr. Carter is Lady Delh’s husband……..

“I had him sign a prenup. He’s cut off from thepany. That bastard doesn’t deserve t seconds and you ball hurry /bbto /bwee him onboard…That is betrayal

ve to touch myp

mypany nor my pack. Yet took my eyes off for 5

He didn’t yell.

But his voice was sharp and bdangerous/b.

It made my skin crawl. I was pretty sure everyone in this room felt the same way.

Grayson’s gaze shifted to one man in the room.

“Speaking of betrayal…Beta Harold.”

A man shot up from his chair, his face paleb, /bforehead drenched in sweat.

bWait/b, I knew that name.

May told me he was the one who led people to the hospital and locked up my grandmother!

“Beta Harold, have you ever betrayed me?” Grayson asked coldly.

“O–of course

not! I’m your Beta–I’d never

“Yet you went behind my back and hurt Aria’s family. Who gave you that order?”

Theld my breath

bWalt/b–behind bly back?

Did that mean the really had nothing to do with it

Harold looked like he was about to pass out from the tension. After a long, heavy pause, he said their orders were the same as yours –

“Give me a name.b” /b

mea

Harold’s teeth were chattering. “Lady Delhb… /band your mother.”

I pped my hand over my mouth, eyes wide with shock and fury.

e stammared, “1.……. I didn’t have a choice, they told me th

Before I could fully register everything, Grayson suddenly led me off hisp and ced me on the couch

In the next second, he was in front of Harold.

He seized Harold’s neck with one hand and easily lifted the six–foot man off the ground!

Everybody screamed. Harold let out a strangled cry, kicking and thrashing for air.

“Aria.”

Grayson stared at the Harold’s purple face, his eyes gleaming coldly. “What do you think we should do with him?”

I gripped the edge of the couch, half–standing. “…I get to decide?”

“Of course. I told you. You can ask me for anything”

AD

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