Chapter 60 60
Denzel’s POV
“Why are you saying all these things?” she demanded. “Of course I love you. I respect you. I only wanted that girl gone so I could keep you.”
Tears pooled in her eyes, spilling over.
“I’ve loved you for a long time. Ever since she arrived, you changed. You don’t look at me the way you used to. You don’t touch me the way you used to. How do you expect me to feel?” Her voice cracked. “People are starting to notice you favor the healer over me. How do you expect me to feel about that? So yes I schemed. I schemed until she was out of our lives.”
She wiped her tears, lifting her chin.
“Then what, Jalisa?” I asked quietly. “After she’s gone what comes next?”
“Then we’ll go back to how we were,” she said.
I laughed.
“And how exactly were we?” I asked.
She frowned, confusion flickering across her face.
“Will going back mean you’ll respect me?” I pressed. “Will it mean you’ll care about my pride my reputation? Will it mean you’ll stop fucking Tyrell?”
Shock ripped through her expression.
“Yes,” I said calmly. “I know. I’ve known for a while. That’s why I stopped touching you.”
It was a lie I had only found out recently but I needed the truth from her own mouth.
“I heard the two of you in the abandoned wing of the service quarters,” I added.
Her eyes widened, terror flashing through them.
“I kept hoping you’d come clean,” I said. “That you’d tell me the truth.”
Tears slid down her cheeks.
“I beat Tyrell nearly to death because he was sleeping with my wife,” I continued, voice steady. “And then he helped set up my mate. It seems the two of you were determined to leave me with nothing.”
She began to sob.
“He forced himself on me,” she said between tears. “And after that… he became the only way I could find release.”
I laughed a sharp, bitter sound.
“Oh, stop,” I said. “You’ve been fucking for a year.”
I guessed.
She didn’t deny it.
The realization hit harder than any blow, but I kept my face impassive.
“Do you know how exhausting it was,” I asked quietly, “keeping up the pretense?”
She said nothing.
“What were you thinking?” I went on. “That I’d be fine sharing you with Tyrell? That you’d live out some twisted two-mates fantasy?”
My voice hardened.
“If you had come to me honestly told me you had feelings for my best friend I would have wished you both well. Love happens, even when it’s wrong or ugly or inconvenient. But instead, you chose deceit. You chose to humiliate me. You chose to conspire against the only chance I had at something real.”
I swallowed.
“The only chance I had at true love.”
She broke down completely.
“If that isn’t cruelty, Jalisa, I don’t know what is.”
I stood.
“I’m filing for divorce tomorrow. I won’t humiliate you unless you force my hand. If you do, I’ll make sure the world knows exactly what you and Tyrell have been doing.” I paused. “As for the child if it’s mine, I’ll take responsibility.”
She stared at me, stunned.
I walked to the wardrobe and pulled out clothes.
“Where are you going?” she asked quietly, still reeling.
“I will never share a room with you again,” I said. “This is the last time we stand in the same space. I’m done.”
She said nothing.
I gathered what I needed and moved into another room.
I stayed composed until the door closed behind me.
Then I collapsed onto the bed.
Tears burned my eyes, spilling freely. A year. They had been together for a year. I felt like a fool.
I had restrained myself around Venessa accepted her rejection, buried my feelings, never pursued her because I believed it would be unfair to Jalisa. I punished my heart and my wolf in the name of loyalty.
And all the while, she hadn’t cared at all.
I sobbed because I should have ended the lie the moment I found Venessa. I should have accepted her. Claimed her.
Now there was a chance I would never see her again.
I wept because I had failed my mate.
I accepted her refusal and turned her into a servant. I let others order her around, mistreat her, scheme against her. She should have been Luna and I kept her rankless.
She was taken because she was doing her duty as a healer.
I felt sick.
I treated my mate like nothing for a wife who was sleeping with my best friend. My life felt like a cheap cliché. Something I’d read about, mocked even. I never thought it would happen to me.
“Denzel.”
Rayon’s voice echoed through the mind-link. It was nearly four in the morning.
“Yes?” I replied hoarsely. “What is it?”
“Venessa is back,” he said. “I’ve put her in my room.”
I was on my feet before the link ended.
The Goddess had answered my prayers.