Contracted to the Uncrowned King novel Chapter 1

Violet

I thought our marriage was perfect until I heard him say her name.

“Nora!”

Lucas darted away from me and across the room to a woman in a velvet blue dress. He swept her up into his arms. His face lit up with a joy that I’d never seen on his face before. He looked at her as if she were a gift from the moon, and I realized that there was this whole other side to Lucas I had never seen.

He loved her… more than he ever loved me.

The thought cut like a knife. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. He whirled her around with their cheeks pressed together, squeezing each other tight and whispering. It was written all over their body language that Nora held a place in his mind and heart that I never had, yet I was his fated mate.

I gripped the glass in my hand tightly, shattering it. A low, furious growl started to build in my chest. Who was she? How could he act like that with some other woman in front of me? Here? Now?

Like this?

The Alpha Gathering was just next door, and everyone I had invited was here. Tonight was supposed to be a celebration of our packs uniting under the Darkmoon banner, and the official merge of our packs, a symbol of how powerful our relationship was and the start of all the great heights we'd reach together.

And yet, my husband of seven years was in another woman's arms as if this night was the first night of the rest of their lives—not ours.

Lucas set Nora down, barely brushing his lips against her cheek and whispering something soft and intimate into her ear. She flushed and giggled. The sound of broken and fallen glass came from far away. My feet were moving, cutting through the crowd before I could stop myself.

I reached them quickly. They didn't even have the decency to pull away from each other. If anything, Nora drew closer. I looked at Lucas.

He lifted his chin arrogantly. "What is it?"

“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” I asked, meeting his gaze. He set his jaw. “Don’t you have something else to—”

I thrust my hand toward Nora.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Nora, was it? I’m Violet. His wife.”

Lucas shoved my hand down and stepped in between us. My chest grew tight at the obviously protective gesture. He was protecting her from me.

“How dare you?” he hissed. “Go manage the caterers or something. Leave me and Nora alone.”

“You expect me to just let you disrespect me?”

"You're the one who's disrespecting me," he hissed. "I'm your alpha. You don't question me. If you don't understand your place, leave."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. My anger turned cold and vicious. I clenched my fists at my side.

“Leave?” I asked. “You want to kick me out?”

"If you don't have the sense to behave the way you should."

"And how exactly should I behave?"

"You shouldn't even be showing your face for all the shame--"

"Shame? I have nothing to be--"

“What should a wife feel other than shame if she can't bear her husband's children?" He hissed. "A barren daughter of a breeder? Your father must have known you were defective. No wonder he was so happy to get you married off."

I let the words cut through me like a knife, but I didn't look away. I didn't flinch, but I didn't have to for him to know how deeply his words cut me. I had always wanted children desperately. He knew that. We both wanted children, but the Goddess had not blessed me with even a hope for a child.

Breeders were highly coveted in the werewolf world, known to be very fertile and bear the strongest werewolf children. I was proof of that in every way. My mother had been my father's fated mate, and he treated her like the stars were her eyes and she could do no wrong.

Lucas had been upset about it, but he had seemed content when his influence within his own pack started to grow. His father had stepped aside and ceded control to him earlier this year rather than his elder brother because we were married.

A sharp, throbbing pain started in my chest. I tried to fight through it, but my vision started to blur from how much it hurt. I excused myself to the staging area and sank into a chair just as my vision started to go black.

Was it just stress catching up to me? Had I not eaten enough? Then, I heard a woman's voice.

"Lucas, please…"

I could see Nora's face in my mind's eye. I saw Lucas's hand, still wearing our wedding band and the signet ring of Twining River on the wall beside her head. The dull ache turned to a stabbing bolt of pain. I couldn't breathe. I heard his breathless voice.

"Nora," he groaned. "Goddess, I've missed you. You feel like heaven." I sucked in a breath and clenched my jaw. My eyes burned. My throat felt tight, but I wouldn't cry a single tear.

He didn't deserve that from me.

"There hasn't been a day I haven't thought of you," he panted. "I should have never left you."

Our bond stretched and frayed. I relaxed my hold on it.

"It's okay. We can be together now, can't we?"

I shut my eyes, bracing for the pain I knew was coming. Regret hit me hard and fast. If I had just taken over the pack, my father’s feelings about my gender bedamned, I wouldn't be sitting here bracing for my mate bond to break while my husband slept with another woman.

"Of course, Nora. Yes. Always. I'll give you all the children we talked about… A son, first. A daughter…"

The bond broke. The pain rippled through my whole body. I swallowed the cry of pain and looked down, watching the mark of the unwanted surface around my wrist in deep black.