Chapter 21
The room was so silent, you could hear a pin drop.
No one expected me to stay standing–let alone stay composed.
They were all waiting for me to cry, to scream, to beg Alpha Zach to come back to
- me.
But I didn’t shed a single tear.
And that seemed to unsettle him more than anything else.
The charming smirk that Alpha Zach had worn just seconds ago cracked like thin ice.
“Juliet,” he scoffed, “stop putting on a show.
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You really think you can get my attention again with this petty drama?”
He said it with a smirk, then reached over and lifted Callie’s hair, inhaling her scent.
The stinging behind my eyes was sharp, but I forced it back with a deep breath.
“Seems like Alpha Zach is too giddy with joy to hear clearly, I said calmly, “so let me repeat myself loud and clear.”
“I want my back pay, Alpha Zach. All of it. Every cent of the salary and commissions you owe me. If you don’t pay up, I’ll take it straight to the Werewolves‘ Labor Tribunal.”
Callie narrowed her eyes at me like I was something she scraped off her boot.
“Told you” she said, loud enough for
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everyone to hear. “She’s only after your money.“”
I ripped off the bottom half of my wedding gown,it had always been too frilly for me anyway,and strode forward.
“Callie, let’s be clear,” I said, locking eyes with her. “This isn’t charity. This is compensation for my labor. I earned it.”
I was never Alpha Zach’s pampered little songbird.
Outside, I was Beta of the Silver Claw Pack— his second–in–command, the one who fought by his side when the pack was on the brink of collapse. The one who helped drag Silver Claw from the ashes and into the top ten packs along the Mississippi.
Inside, I was his girlfriend–openly, officially.
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Everyone in the packhouse knew that.
I was the one who picked up the broken man his ex left behind and turned him into the Alpha he is today.
As I closed the distance, Callie lost her footing and stumbled into Zach’s arms.
I didn’t even blink.
My eyes stayed on Zach, even as I spoke to her.
“You should thank me, Callie. Personally and professionally. If it weren’t for me, there’d be nothing left for you to ‘seamlessly take over! I planted the tree you’re now lying under, enjoying the shade”
“Juliet, that’s enough!” Zach snapped, massaging the bridge of his nose with clear
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irritation.
“Stop embarrassing yourself.”
He turned away slightly and added, “You want money? Fine. I’ll have Kit transfer you a million. Just go.”
I stared at the man I had loved for ten long
years.
The same man who, just yesterday, had been sleeping beside me.
Now he was treating me like a stranger.
“Once I rebuild Silver Claw, I’ll give you the grandest wedding this pack has ever seen.”
That’s what he’d whispered to me on the mountaintop, holding my hand under the
stars.
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And now?
I looked around.
The fake aurora lights.
The sea of pink roses.
The glittering gowns.
The clinking of champagne glasses.
It was a grand wedding.
Just not mine.
Here I was, being dumped at my own
ceremony.
While my fiancé tried to marry his ex–girlfriend in my place–without even
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changing the venue.
What a display of power.
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