Chapter 326
Third Person’s POV
Trista met his gaze-a stare so intense it felt like it was physically burning her. She answered him one word at a time, each syllable heavy with the kind of finality that shreds a soul. “I want you to end the bond. Right now p>
Cassian’s grip tightened on her shoulders, his fingers digging into her skin as he forced her to look into his bloodshot eyes. His dark gold pupils were flickering into predatory slits.
“Trista,” he growled. “Who was it that cried under the moon during her first shift, begging me to mark her? Who swore we’d be together for lifetimes? What makes you think this soul-brand—something etched into your very marrow—is just a piece of scrap paper you can throw away p>
He had ripped open a memory she viewed as her greatest shame. Inside her, Frost her wolf-let out a jagged, pained whimper.
Even in the middle of this fight, Frost was still greedily drinking in the scent of his dominant, woody pheromones.
This betrayal by her own biology nearly broke Trista. She summoned every ounce of strength she had and shoved him back, her voice raspy with a feral edge. “I was blind back then, Cassian! I got my destiny wrong. I’m admitting it now—I regret it. I’d rather endure the agony of a forced severance than stay with you. Is that clear enough p>
“Regret?” Cassian looked like he’d been physically gutted. His hands hung in the air, trembling.
His arrogant Alpha wolf was screaming inside him, begging him to pin her down, bite the back of her neck, and mark her all over again. But his logic held him back.
He stood his ground, his voice turning icy. “You think ending a bond is just about paperwork? Our status is tied to the stability of the entire pack and the value of the corporation. Don’t be naive. You want the whole pack to go down with you p>
Trista tilted her head back, her eyes filled with a dead, steady resolve.
Her body was betraying her she could feel the sparks and the humming heat that came from eing this close to her mate-but her heart was ruin. “Cassian, you’re so high-status and so full of ‘responsibilities,’ yet that didn’t stop you from destroying our bond for Samantha. And now you have the nerve to sit there and talk to me about business? It’s pathetic. Every inch of your skin reaks of hypocrisy p>
The words felt like a physical blow to his chest. The backlash from the bond was making it hard for him to breathe.
He tried to release a wave of soothing, pleading pheromones. “I handled the situation with Samantha poorly. My wolf has already paid the price for that. I’ve been trying to fix us—can you stop this ‘self-destructive’ tantrum and just listen p>
Trista let out a sharp, bitter laugh. Tears pricked her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “You put your grandfather in the ER with a collapsing wolf soul just so you could keep that woman and her brat around, and you call that ‘fixing us’? I don’t want your leftovers, Cassian. I don’t want anything that smells like her p>
They stood in a deadlock, their scents swirling, clashing, and pulling at each other in the cramped space of the car.
Cassian stared her down, his gold eyes shaking with fury. “I have my reasons. I’m telling you now, I only kept her around because_”
“I don’t care if you have ten thousand reasons! Frost and I will never believe another word you say!” Trista cut him off, her voice a scream.
A suffocating silence followed. For thirty long seconds, the only sound was their heavy breathing.
Finally, Cassian forced the rage out
of his voice, shifting to a cold, professional tone. “Trista, do you have any idea what Elias’s hourly. rate is? That man has never touched a divorce case in his life the only does multi-national mergers. Do you really not see his angle here? He isn’t doing this out of the goodness of his heart p>
Trista fired back instantly. “Maybe I’m just a depreciating asset to you, Cassian, but that doesn’t mean I’m worthless to other Alphas. Elias is a good father. I healed his son, and he’s helping me break my chains as a thank-you if all you see is a shady angle,’ that’s because your own soul is full of rot p>
Cassian reached for her hand, but she recoiled as if he were made of acid.
He swallowed his anger and tried one last time, his voice softer.
“Trista… even if the bond is severed, do you really think you’ll find an Alpha in L.A. who is stronger than me p>
Trista looked him dead in the eye,
her voice as flat as a calm sea. “An Alpha isn’t the only thing a she wolf can rely on. And this disgusting. bond isn’t my whole life p>
The last bit of tenderness in Cassian’s eyes vanished.
He looked at her with a terrifying, calculated calm. “If you think one lawyer is enough
to help you escape my territory, you’re dead wrong p>
“With or without him, I’m done with you p>
Cassian let out a cold, sharp laugh and ordered the driver to move.
Trista fought it the whole way, but she was eventually forced back into the
suffocating Ironthorn villa.
Inside the house, Trista watched him like he was a predator that had just broken into her territory.
In all the years she’d known him, she’d never seen the untouchable Alpha so out of control. He looked dangerous. He looked unhinged.