Six: Cold Night, Cold Hearts

SAGE

I woke to the soft creak of the door, which was barely audible in the stillness of the night. My eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the faint light spilling in from the hallway. The scent hit me first—woodsmoke and something darker, something primal. Alpha Ethan.

My husband.

I turned slightly, careful not to make too much noise, and watched as he entered the room. He moved with a predatory grace, his broad shoulders spreading long shadows against the dim walls. The air seemed to thicken with his presence, his power filling the room like a dense fog. My heart beat faster, unsure if it was from fear or anticipation.

He didn’t say a word, didn’t even glance in my direction as he removed his jacket, draping it over the back of a nearby chair. His movements were precise and methodical, but there was an underlying tension in the way he carried himself. Anger. It clung to him like a second skin, suffocating the already strained atmosphere between us.

I sat up slowly, the cool sheets falling away from me. “Alpha Ethan,” I said softly, my voice thick with sleep. “You’re back.”

He didn’t respond. His silence wasn’t just indifference—it was a warning. I swallowed, forcing myself to speak again. “Is everything alright? Can I help you with anything?

He finally turned, his gaze icy and unreadable as it settled on me. “Why are you awake?” His tone was curt as if my presence in the room annoyed him. I knew it did, but I guess, we were both duty-bound to this union.

Well, I knew why my stepfather got rid of me, but I did not know why he felt it obligatory to marry someone like me. 

Surely, a man like himself would not have to work too hard to get a girl. In fact, women would die to be with someone like him. 

“I heard you come in,” I replied, trying to keep my voice steady. “I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

His expression didn’t change, but something in his orbs darkened. “You don’t need to concern yourself with my well-being. That’s not your role here.”

I flinched at his words, though I tried not to let it show. “I wasn’t trying to… I just thought—” I cut myself off, unsure of how to continue. What had I thought? That he might welcome me? That he might be kinder, less distant?

He moved across the room, his steps deliberate and controlled. He kept his distance from me like I was some object he had to tolerate but couldn’t bring himself to get close to. 

“Don’t assume things, Sage,” he said coldly. “You’re here because I need a Luna. A position, not a companion.”

The sting of his words was sharp, but I forced myself to push through it. I couldn’t afford to crumble, not now. Not in front of him. “I’m your wife, Alpha Ethan,” I dared, my voice quiet but firm. “I may not be the wife you wanted, but I’m still here.”

For a moment, something flickered in his eyes—something I couldn’t place. But just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, replaced by the same impenetrable coldness. “You’re here because I allowed it. That’s all.”

I bit my lip, the taste of frustration and hurt rising in my throat. He wasn’t even looking at me now and his gaze was focused somewhere else…somewhere far away. “You don’t have to keep your distance,” I whispered, the vulnerability in my voice surprising even me. “I’m not your enemy.”

He let a laugh that was bitter, a low, harsh sound that sent a chill down my spine. “You don’t know what you are to me.” His eyes finally met mine, and the intensity in them was almost unbearable. “But make no mistake, Sage, you are not here for comfort. Not mine, and certainly not yours.”

I felt the tears prick at the corners of my eyes, but I blinked them away. Crying wouldn’t help. It never had. “Then why are you here?” I asked, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to keep it steady. “Why come to my room at all if you don’t want to be near me?”

For a long moment, he didn’t answer, and the silence between us grew thicker and heavier.

“I’m here because I’m obligated to be,” he finally said in a clipped tone. “You’re the Luna of this pack. That comes with responsibilities, ones I can’t ignore, no matter how little I want to be in this room.”

“Get ready,” he said, his voice a low growl. “We need to discuss the terms of this marriage.”

I blinked, momentarily stunned. “The… terms?” I echoed in a weak voice. 

His jaw tightened as he closed in. The air seemed to grow colder as if his very presence sucked the warmth from this space. “There are expectations that come with this union,” he said, each word carefully measured. “One of which is providing me with an heir.”

I stared at him, the weight of his words sinking in slowly, painfully. “An heir?” I repeated, disbelief creeping into my voice.

Ethan nodded, his gaze never leaving mine. “It’s one of the stipulations of our marriage. I am sure you are aware of it. You are to bear me a child within the first year. It’s not negotiable.”

The room spun for a moment, and I had to force myself to breathe. Of all the things I had imagined, this wasn’t one of them. “You never told me that,” I whispered, my voice shaky. “No one told me that.”

“It was assumed you understood even if you were not told,” he said, his tone clipped and impatient, as if this conversation were nothing more than an inconvenience.

I shook my head, trying to process the information. “You… you don’t even want me here,” I stammered, my voice barely audible. “How can you expect me to give you an heir?”

Ethan’s gaze hardened, and he took a step closer, the tension in the room thickening. “Wanting you here and needing an heir are two different things, Sage. This pack needs a successor, and I need a child to secure my legacy. The Council needs to be assured. Whether you and I are comfortable with each other or not is irrelevant.”

His words were like a punch to the gut, cold and unfeeling. I wanted to protest, to tell him how unfair this was, but the look in his eyes told me it wouldn’t matter. He didn’t care how I felt about this. 

To him, I was nothing more than a means to an end.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “How can you expect me to share this life with you when you don’t even want to be in the same room as me?”

His gaze flickered with something—frustration, perhaps, or maybe even regret—but it was gone before I could fully grasp it. 

“I don’t want to share this room with you,” he admitted, his voice low and rough. “But I have no other choice. Our bond, as empty as it may be, comes with obligations. I will fulfil those obligations, and so will you.”

“You will lead a comfortable life here,” he continued. “Whatever you need, however expensive.” 

My breath caught in my throat as he moved closer, the heat of his body radiating in the small space between us. Despite everything—the coldness in his voice, the harshness of his words—I couldn’t stop the way my pulse quickened at his nearness. Alpha Ethan was impossibly handsome, his features chiseled and strong, the sharp lines of his jaw and the intense darkness of his eyes mesmerizing. His power, the sheer authority that radiated from him, was undeniable. Even now, when he was so cold and ruthless, there was a magnetic pull that I couldn’t ignore.

But that pull came with a price. A dangerous one.

He was everything I should have feared—a man capable of tearing someone apart with just a word, a glance. Yet, here I was, unable to look away from him. His physique was something out of a warrior’s legend—muscles taut and sculpted beneath his shirt, his presence commanding every inch of the room. 

But it was his eyes that held me captive, those dark, calculating eyes that saw everything and revealed nothing.

“I don’t want to force this, Sage,” he said quietly, though his tone held none of the warmth I longed for. “But you know what’s expected of you. The pack demands an heir, and I can’t delay this any longer.”

His words felt like chains wrapping around my heart, tightening with each passing second. I tried to keep my voice steady, but the fear and uncertainty were too much. 

“And what about after?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. “What happens when I give you this heir? Do I just… disappear from your life?”

Ethan’s expression didn’t change, but there was a flicker of something deep in his gaze—something dark and wounded. “We live as we were meant to live,” he said. “You’ll be Luna in name. Nothing more.”

I swallowed hard, my throat tight with unshed tears. “And that’s it? That’s all I am to you?”

He took a step back, his eyes cold and unreadable once again. “That’s all I need from you.

The finality in his words left no room for argument, no hope for anything more. He was as distant and unreachable as ever, and I knew, in that moment, that I would never truly have him. Not in the way I had hoped, not in the way that mattered.

The pain of his rejection cut deeper than I wanted to admit, but I refused to let him see how much his words affected me. “I know you did not choose me. I didn’t choose this either,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “But we’re both here, so maybe we could try…”

“Try what, exactly?” His voice was sudden and sharp, his gaze piercing into my skin. “To pretend this is something it isn’t? To play house like some delusional pair of fated mates?”

The mention of mates felt like a slap in the face, a cruel reminder of the bond I’d never have with him. Or with Asher, his Beta. Life indeed played a cruel joke on me. 

“I’m not asking for that,” I said quietly, though a part of me ached for it, despite everything. “I’m just asking for you to treat me like I matter.”

His expression softened for a split second before the hard lines of his face returned. “You matter to this pack,” he said in a voice that was less harsh. “But don’t mistake that for meaning you matter to me.”

With that, he turned away, his back to me as he made his way toward the door. 

“Alpha Ethan,” I called after him, my voice breaking slightly. “Will you ever let me in?”

He paused at the doorway, his hand resting on the frame, but he didn’t turn around. “Don’t expect what I can’t give, Sage,” he said, his voice low. “You’ll only end up disappointed.”

And then he was gone, leaving me alone in the cold silence of the room. I sat there for a long time, staring at the door, the weight of his words pressing down on me like a suffocating blanket.

I hadn’t expected love from him, but I had hoped for something more than this. Something less lonely. But it seemed even that was too much to ask.

Curling back under the covers, I tried to shake the cold that had settled deep into my bones. It would be a long night. And many more like it.

I watched him leave, my heart aching with the knowledge that I was trapped in a life I hadn’t chosen, bound to a man who would never care for me beyond what I could give him. 

I was also trapped in a place where my fated mate lived and breathed, one who did not waste a breath before rejecting me. 

The door closed softly behind Alpha Ethan, and the silence that followed was deafening.