SOLENE POV
I knew my marriage was ending the moment Hadrian ordered my favorite wine.
He never remembered what I liked. Five years together, and he still asked the waiter to recommend something "for the lady" like I was a stranger he was trying to impress. But tonight, he ordered the Pinot Noir I'd fallen in love with on our honeymoon without even looking at the menu.
Guilt wine. Break-up wine. The kind of wine you order when you're about to destroy someone.
"You look beautiful tonight," Hadrian said, his smile perfect and empty.
I'd worn the silver dress he bought me last Christmas—still had the tags on it until this morning. I'd thought maybe he wanted to reconnect. Maybe after months of late nights at the office and conversations that felt like talking to a wall, he'd finally remembered we used to be happy.
I was so stupid.
"Thank you," I said, watching him check his phone under the table. Third time since we sat down. His fingers moved fast, typing something that made him smile. Not the polite smile he gave me. A real one.
My wolf stirred uncomfortably in my chest. She'd been restless for months, whining like she knew something I refused to see.
The waiter brought our food. Hadrian cut his steak precisely, the way he did everything—controlled, measured, perfect. He was the Alpha's son. Future pack leader. He'd been taught that emotions were weaknesses and wives were accessories that made you look stable.
I'd been so honored when he chose me. Little Solene Thorne, the pack schoolteacher with silver-blonde hair and nothing special about her, caught the eye of Hadrian Crowe. Everyone said we were perfect together.
They were wrong.
"Solene, we need to talk." Hadrian set down his fork, finally looking at me. Really looking, like he was seeing me for the first time in months.
My heart started racing. "Okay."
"Our marriage..." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "It's not working anymore."
The restaurant noise faded. I heard my own heartbeat, loud and painful.
"What do you mean?" My voice came out steady. I was proud of that.
"I still care about you," he said quickly, like that made it better. "You're intelligent, kind, good with the pack kids. But the spark is gone. We both know it."
The spark he killed by ignoring me for months. The spark he drowned by choosing his secretary over me for every conversation, every laugh, every moment that mattered.
"So you want a divorce?" I asked.
"No." He leaned forward. "I want an open marriage. We stay together publicly—you're still my wife, I'm still your husband. But privately, we're free to see other people. No judgment. No guilt."
My wine glass trembled in my hand. "You want permission to cheat."
"It's not cheating if we both agree." His phone buzzed. He glanced at it, and that real smile flickered across his face again. "You could see other people too. Find someone who makes you happy."
"You made me happy," I whispered. "Once."
"Five years ago, maybe. But people change, Solene. We grew apart. This way, we can both find fulfillment while maintaining our pack standing. It's logical."
Logical. Like our marriage was a business arrangement that needed restructuring.
"Is there someone else?" I already knew. I just needed to hear him say it.
"That's not relevant—"
"Is there someone else, Hadrian?"
He sighed. "I've developed feelings for someone, yes. But I haven't acted on them. I wanted your permission first."
Liar. I'd smelled her perfume on him for weeks. Seen the texts he thought he hid. Watched him leave our bed to take calls from "the office" at midnight.
"Your secretary?" I asked.
He didn't deny it. Just looked annoyed that I'd figured it out.
"So let me understand," I said slowly. "You want me to smile and play the perfect wife while you sleep with her. And I'm supposed to be grateful you asked permission first?"
"You're twisting this—"
"Answer the question."
"I want us both to be happy!" His voice rose, then dropped when other diners looked over. "You're miserable, Solene. I can see it. This marriage is killing both of us slowly. At least this way, we can find joy elsewhere."
My wolf snarled. She wanted to shift, to tear into him, to make him hurt the way we hurt. But I pushed her down. I was good at that—pushing down feelings, pretending everything was fine.
"Okay," I heard myself say.
Hadrian blinked. "Okay?"
"You want an open marriage. Fine. We have an open marriage." I smiled, bright and fake. "I agree to your terms."
He looked relieved and surprised. "Really? Just like that?"
"Just like that." I stood, grabbing my purse. "I'm not hungry anymore. Enjoy your dinner."
"Solene, wait—"
"Oh, and Hadrian?" I leaned down, my voice sweet as poison. "If we're both free to see other people, don't be surprised when I actually do. You're not the only one who can find happiness elsewhere."
I walked out of that restaurant with my head high and my heart in pieces.
The drive home was a blur. I kept seeing his face—relieved, not regretful. He wanted this. Wanted her. Wanted freedom from the wife who'd loved him with everything she had.
I parked in our driveway and sat in the darkness, staring at our house. The home we'd built together. The life I thought would last forever.
Then I went inside, walked straight to the bathroom, and finally let myself break.
I cried until my throat was raw. Until my wolf was howling in my head. Until I couldn't breathe through the pain crushing my chest.
Five years. Five years of trying to be perfect enough, pretty enough, interesting enough to keep him. And it was never going to be enough because he'd already checked out.
My phone buzzed. A text from Hadrian: I know this is hard, but it's for the best. We can talk more tomorrow. I'm staying at the pack house tonight to give you space.
Translation: He was with her. Right now. The same night he asked permission.
I threw my phone across the bathroom. It hit the wall and clattered to the floor, screen cracked.
Good. Let it break. Everything else already had.
I caught my reflection in the mirror—smeared makeup, red eyes, the face of a woman who'd just lost everything.
No. Not everything. I still had my pride. My strength. My wolf.
And starting tomorrow, I'd find a way to survive this. To be more than Hadrian Crowe's convenient wife.
I washed my face, cleaned up the broken pieces of my phone, and went to bed in the guest room. Our bedroom smelled like him, and I couldn't stand it.
Sleep came eventually, restless and full of dreams where I was drowning.
I woke up to someone pounding on my front door.
Sunlight streamed through the windows. Morning already. The pounding continued, urgent and angry.
I stumbled downstairs in my robe, head aching from crying, and opened the door.
Tiberius Crowe stood there—Hadrian's younger brother, just back from warrior training. Six feet of muscle and fury, silver eyes blazing with something that looked like murder.
"Where is he?" Tiberius demanded.
"Who?"
"My bastard brother. I just heard what he did. Where is Hadrian?"
I blinked, confused and still half-asleep. "How did you—"
"Pack gossip travels fast. He told his father about the open marriage this morning. Bragged about it." Tiberius's hands clenched into fists. "Tell me where he is, Solene. I'm going to kill him."
Before I could answer, my phone—which I'd managed to partially fix—buzzed with a message from my brother Finnian: Emergency. Elara's in the hospital. Her boyfriend Kade beat her badly. Come now.
My sister. My baby sister was hurt.
I looked up at Tiberius, this man I barely knew who looked ready to go to war for me, and something cracked open in my chest.
"Forget Hadrian," I said, my voice strange and distant. "I need to get to the hospital. My sister..."
I couldn't finish. Couldn't breathe. Everything was falling apart at once.
Tiberius's expression shifted from rage to concern. "I'll drive you. Come on."
As I rushed to get dressed, I heard him on the phone: "Lazarus, Cael—meet me at the hospital. Now. It's Elara. And bring whatever you need to track down a man named Kade. We're going hunting."
I didn't know it then, but that moment—Tiberius standing in my doorway, ready to fight my battles—was when everything changed.
When my carefully broken life shattered into something I'd never expected.
Something dangerous.
Something that would either save me or destroy me completely.