“Ryan, you’re so bad—don’t mess it up…” she teased, her voice cloyingly sweet.
Their eyes locked, the space between them shrinking until their breaths grew uneven.
Then, suddenly, Ryan’s gaze snapped to me, as if he’d just remembered I was sitting across from them.
When he saw me calmly gazing out the window, his expression faltered, darkening inexplicably. He rapped his knuckles sharply against the glass, as though trying to draw my attention.
As the Ferris wheel neared the end of its rotation, I prepared to disembark, but Ryan unexpectedly grabbed my arm again.
He shoved a bracelet into my hand, his tone dismissive.
“Alright, stop pretending you don’t care. It’s not a good look. Consider this bracelet my engagement gift to you. As long as you behave, I’ll give you the wedding you want. At least officially, the wolf pack will acknowledge you as my wife.”
I laughed coldly, meeting his gaze head-on. “And who are you planning to establish the mate bond with? Willow?”
Ryan’s expression darkened instantly. Then he smiled smugly.
“I knew you were just pretending,” he sneered, stepping closer. In a low, warning tone, he added, “Let me make this clear—you’d better not breathe a word of this to either of our families. You can’t even imagine what Willow and I share! She’s pure and kind, nothing like you with your underhanded little schemes. If you so much as hurt her, I’ll call off the wedding entirely.”
I stayed silent for a moment, then smiled. The irony wasn’t lost on me—it was his own cowardice that kept him from telling my family the truth. He couldn’t bear to part with my bloodline, yet he had the audacity to twist it as though I were the one creating trouble.
Without another word, I turned and left.
As soon as I stepped through the door, a message from Willow popped up on my phone. It was a video.
In the footage, Ryan was carefully clasping a necklace around her neck.
I recognized the brand of the necklace immediately, and with it came the realization that the bracelet Ryan had given me earlier was nothing more than a promotional gift included with the necklace.
Toward the end of the video, Ryan pinned Willow against the Ferris wheel window, kissing her fanatically. Willow’s expression was one of pure ecstasy, her soft moans filling the tiny cabin and amplifying in the enclosed space.
Attached to the video was a text message. [Alice, Ryan and I did it so close to the moon tonight—it was thrilling and romantic beyond words. Has he told you yet? The wedding is just for show. When it comes to the real ceremony under the Moon Goddess’s witness, it’ll be me he establishes the mate bond with. This time, it’s my turn to be the leader’s wife.]
