95- The Breaking Point
POV Edric Eldoria:
I had reached my limit with the female. Her behavior, her excessive jealousy, her defiance of my orders. It was a buildup of actions that stripped away all the respect I once had for her.
I brought the axe down, the wind howling through the sudden movement as more splinters of wood burst in every direction, flying far.
I placed the object on the ground and rested my arm on the handle, releasing a heavy sigh. I looked around, facing the white carpet that surrounded me, covering all the shades of green we used to have during the other seasons of the year.
Winter had its beauty, though I preferred summer.
“Edric,” called the female voice from my right side.
I kept my eyes on the landscape, ignoring her. Her scent dominated the place, and there was something sweeter about it. She was going into heat.
Although Aldren made the suppressant freely available, Thalira sometimes forced it. I didn’t know her true intent, other than to beg me to fuck her and satisfy the insatiable craving it caused. She could never bear a child of mine, yet she kept going into heat and opening her womb.
“I’m busy,” I cut her off.
She walked closer, crushing the snow beneath her feet and leaving the marks of her footprints. She stopped in front of me, forcing me to look at her. Her brown eyes shimmered with unshed tears; they were swollen and red. Her hair, usually neat, was now a mess of tangled brown strands.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, lips trembling from the tears she held back.
Her expression was a mask of sorrow and desolation that stirred a faint twinge of guilt in me.
“I told you not to go near Lunara,” I snarled through clenched teeth. “I made it perfectly clear at Ruda’s funeral, after you handed that dress to her, that you were never to provoke or sabotage her again. Those were your alpha’s orders, well expressed. But you have no limits—never had. You disobeyed at the first opportunity.”
She clenched her hands so tightly at her sides that her knuckles turned white. She was stiff, as if she’d reached her breaking point.
“She provoked me!”
I stared at her, bored, almost giving in to the urge to roll my eyes.
“I saw every second of that night, Thalira. Lunara was with her friends, minding her own business. You were the one who approached her and started the fight, even after my explicit command to stay away from the girl.” I ran a hand through my hair, damp from the fine snow drifting around us. “You crossed the line when you ruined the cakes she made for the pups and when you handed her Catalina’s dress…” I shook my head.
“And you took everything I had of hers from me, forbade me from touching Catalina’s things. You burned them and got rid of it all!”
I nodded.
“You were using her things—her memories—for your own purpose, not to remember who she was.”
Right after I saw Lunara wearing that dress and later found it, clean, on my bed two days later, I retrieved it and went to Thalira’s house, forcing her to hand over everything she had that once belonged to Catalina.
Then I gave every item to Anton and Andrei, ordering them to burn every piece of clothing she’d kept over the past fifty years.
She threw up her arms in frustration, tears streaming down her face.
“I saw you two at the lake!” she accused, sobbing. “You’ve changed, Edric. You broke your promise.”
“What promise?”
“That you would carry Catalina forever, as I would too. You got rid of all her memories and…” Her voice faltered. “You threw away the only thing I wanted to keep—her ashes.” I swallowed hard. “You fucked that bitch in the lake where Catalina was killed!” she continued, raising her voice. “I saw how you fucked her in the water, as if… as if you liked her, as if you felt something for her.”
“That’s none of your business,” I hissed.
“Yes, it is!” She took a step closer to me. “We are bound by the link of mourning. And you are staining Catalina’s image, putting another in her place.” A broken sob escaped her lips. “You never wanted to mate with her, even after she begged you so many times, pleaded for you to mark her. But you did that with a she-wolf you barely knew, who didn’t even belong to the pack. With a mongrel!” She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Catalina would be so… disappointed. You not only moved on, purged everything that reminded you of her, but you also fucked another female in the place where she was murdered.”
“Shut up!” I roared.
“No! You’re going to hear everything I have to say,” she snapped, lifting her chin defiantly. “How dare you? How could you have the nerve to do all this—to tarnish the image of the only female who loved you? The one who gave herself to you, who died for your—”
I grabbed her arm hard and leaned in, aligning our faces.
“Who died because of me?” I laughed bitterly. “Now explain to me how that makes sense.”
“She died because she loved you. Cosmin killed her because she didn’t return his feelings—because he wanted her, but she belonged to you. And you know that very well.”
“And since when does that mean it was my fault?” I pressed, provoking her.
She fell silent for a moment.
“You know damn well why. You refused to mark her, refused to tie your life to hers—but you did that with the first bitch who stepped into your territory, as if Catalina meant nothing. And even after everything I did to keep her memory alive and force the pack to honor her and despise Lunara, you went and did the exact opposite.” She roared, full of hatred and scorn. “You never took me to those waters, never even went near that lake when you were with me—but you fucked her like a damn dog, in the middle of the lake, in the waters where Catalina’s blood was spilled.” She rubbed her face, spreading tears as more fell. “You’re a disgrace! As an alpha and as a mate!” she screamed.
She only wanted to… reinforce my pain, reclaim my grief. How long had she been doing that without me noticing?
That was my limit.