Chapter 1
The moment we truly saw each other for who we were came five years after I became his mate.
My mate, Alpha Lucas, roared at me in a fury, “Emily, can you stop clinging to me every damn day? Do you even know what a Platonic relationship is?”
I opened my eyes, realizing I had fallen asleep in the bathtub, my body utterly drained.
Before I could even speak, Lucas had already dressed, yanked my naked body from the tub, and dragged me out into the yard. With a cold sneer, he said, “You like being naked,
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He ignored my pleas, the biting cold wind, even called over the maids from the packhouse to watch me. It wasn’t until I collapsed, feverish and unconscious, that he finally stopped.
I woke up in a daze, struggling to get to the living room to find fever medication, but then I heard heavy breathing coming from Lucas’s study.
Through the crack of the door, I saw him tangled in the sheets with my widowed sister–in–law.
So this was his idea of “Platonic love“?
Staggering back to my room, I dialed my mother–in–law, Amy. “Mom, do you remember when you suggested Lucas ‘balance‘ two
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There was a brief silence on the other end before she practically screamed with excitement. “Emily, are you serious? You really want to share Lucas with Sophia? You’re not just trying to make an old woman like me happy, are you? Tell me, I’ll agree to anything!”
I lay back on the bed, silent tears slipping down my face.
The first time she suggested this absurd idea–to have my mate marry his dead brother’s mate “for the sake of Alpha’s bloodline“-I was so furious I shattered the
cup in my hand.
She wanted me to give up my mate just so that widow could stay in this pack?
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they’d been cheating on me all along, what difference did it make whether I agreed or not?
The man who once claimed to love me, the one who swore we’d seek a spiritual connection…
He had long since tarnished everything.
How ironic. The same man who dragged my naked body into the freezing yard to “punish” me had the nerve to accuse me of tainting his love.
The whole pack believed we were soulmates, and I had once believed it too–that even without physical intimacy, our love would remain pure and beautiful.
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study echoed in my ears. The sound wasn’t loud, but it was unmistakable.
I gave a bitter smile, speaking softly into the phone with my mother–in–law, “I’m not just trying to please you, I’m serious. I agree. But Lucas has to sign an agreement.”
Amy was practically shaking with excitement. “Of course, of course! I knew you were a sensible Luna! I’ll talk to Lucas first thing in the morning. Sophia just wants a child. You and Lucas are still the perfect mate in everyone’s eyes!”
I hung up the phone and curled up, feeling utterly defeated.
Even with the air conditioning cranked to the highest setting and several blankets piled on
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the other side of the wall.
They didn’t stop until dawn. Every gasp, every creak of the bed felt like dull knives slowly carving into my chest.
Five years of marriage. Five years of so–called “soul love.”
It was nothing but a cold, cruel joke.
The first time I met Lucas was in the university library. He was still just one of the Alpha heirs back then, with an older brother stronger than him. He sat by the window, sunlight streaming in and casting a golden glow around him, as if the entire world had been illuminated by his presence.
He was deeply engrossed in reading The
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to stop for a few seconds, the air thick with an unspoken tension and attraction. It wasn’t just ordinary attraction; it was something deeper, irresistible, as if every inch of my skin was responding to him. Even my wolf silently growled within me. It knew -this was the one, the mate it had been searching for.
“Do you like Plato too?” I asked.
Lucas looked up, and for a moment, his eyes seemed to glow. I could never have imagined that this simple question would become the chain that bound me for five years.
Before we married, he was so controlled yet gentle with me, and I thought it was because he loved me deeply, loved me with caution, with reverence.
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bed with me.
He didn’t answer right away, instead gently caressing my face. His touch was warm and firm, as though trying to dissolve my anxiety and pain with every motion of his hand. His gaze was tender, almost sacred, as if, in that moment, he wasn’t just looking at me, but seeing into my very soul.
“Emily,” he whispered, “true love should transcend the physical.”
His voice was like a soft breeze–gentle yet filled with power.
“We should strive for a higher level–a soul connection.”
