I tried to shake my head, but his grip tightened, almost breaking my jaw.

“Don’t do this. Where will my parents go?”

He released my jaw with a dark laugh. He looked maniacal, as if possessed. He looked far more dangerous than he had when we married.

I assumed the truth had driven him to this; he'd been fine until he knew the truth.

He sipped his drink and turned. I watched his back. Another mark—my claws—was visible a few inches below his upper shoulder blade. I remembered clawing him in the forest when he was helping me.

Adrian walked to the bed, grabbed a cigarette packet, placed his glass on the nightstand, lit the cigarette, and inhaled deeply.

Turning back to me, he asked, "So you're an Alpha? All this time you pretended to be a weak Omega? I'm amazed by my own acting skills."

I stared at him silently. He had won. There was nothing I could say. He held all the power.

His eyes grew gloomier when he noticed my silence. I looked away and began to speak.

“I’m sorry I misunderstood you during the war. I thought you’d declared war on us, so I—”

“So you were ready to kill me?”

His interruption made me look at him again. I shook my head. “It wasn’t my intention. I thought you wanted to kill my brother.”

“And you chose your brother over me?”

I frowned. “Of course I did. I always will. Why would I choose you over my family? Who are you to me? No one. So don't—"

My anger erupted. I blurted out what was on my mind.

His eyes flashed red with anger, and I realized I'd said too much.

In an instant, he grabbed my neck.

My eyes widened in shock. He dropped his cigarette and glared at me.

“How dare you talk to your Head Alpha like that? Perhaps you weren't informed about what happened during the war. When your brother was afraid—"

Though my neck ached, I glared back. “My brother would never do that, not to save his life. If he were a coward, he wouldn't have gone to war.”

“Still so arrogant? Should I break it again?” he muttered, leaning close.

My throat tightened. He was strangling me. Did he want to kill me? I could hardly argue; I had tried to kill him in the war.

“There’s only one thing I can’t forgive: betrayal. For all these years, you’ve been a traitor to me, Natalia Hansley. How—"

I understood: he was talking about my children.

I felt something wet on my neck—blood from the unhealed wound Adrian had helped me with.

“You lied to me about my children. How could you?” he asked furiously.

My eyes turned blue as I tried to break free. I pushed him on his chest wound, making him stumble back in pain.

The moment he released me, I coughed and gasped for air. After a deep breath, I growled at him.

“They are my children.”

He glared, then said something that shattered me.

“You don’t deserve them. From now on, they’ll live with me, with their father.”

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