I almost slipped—almost blurted out that I wanted to sever our bond entirely. But I caught myself just in time. After all, what did our so-called mateship even mean? It had been nothing more than a rushed ceremony, a mere formality. We weren’t truly married, nor had we ever built a real life together. There had been no love, no deep connection—only the bare minimum of what a bond should be. A hollow tie that had never truly been forged in the first place.
Ronan didn’t even bother to glance up, his full attention still on Adeline as if I were nothing more than an unwelcome disruption in his carefully crafted world. "What now? Changing your tactics?" His voice was as cold as ever, laced with mockery. "You think, now that you can’t use your son to manipulate me anymore, you’ll try using yourself instead?"
His words struck me like a physical blow, stealing the breath from my lungs. A year ago, Kieran had been diagnosed with an untreatable illness. His frail heart, his inability to heal—everything had pointed to a grim fate. He was just a child, too weak to shift, too fragile to connect with his wolf. Every day, his life had hung by a thread while I watched in helpless agony, knowing he was slipping further away. And throughout it all, he had only asked for one thing—to see his father.
Ronan had never visited him, never shown the slightest concern. In his mind, I had only ever used Kieran to gain sympathy, to guilt-trip him into caring. And now, after ten years together, that was all I was to him—a manipulative woman desperate for attention.
I blinked away the sting of tears, refusing to let him see me break. "Believe whatever you want, Alpha. I'm leaving."
With that, I turned on my heel, dragging my suitcase toward the door. But before I could make it out, Adeline’s voice cut through the silence, feigning innocence. "Alpha, didn’t you plan to take Kieran to the ocean? You didn’t cancel that just for the mountain trip with me, did you? Anastasia’s upset..."
Ronan’s voice was gentle, almost soothing—a stark contrast to the cold indifference he always reserved for me. "Don’t worry, I know my priorities. We can visit the ocean anytime, but once the snow melts in the mountains, it'll be a long time before we can see it again."