Chapter 13\u00a0<\/p>\n
His lip curled like he wasn\u2019t sure whether to laugh or explode. \u201cYou\u2019re serious?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy does everyone keep asking that? I have been the whole time\u201d I said, smiling with all my teeth. \u201cI want compensation. Call it hazard pay.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He shook his head in disbelief, then pulled out his phone. With a few taps, the funds were transferred. \u201cFine. Not like I need it. You better not be bluffing, Ellie. If this is some game to get my attention\u2014\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you flatter yourself,\u201d I snapped. \u201cYou think everything I do revolves around you. It doesn\u2019t. Not anymore.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He watched me like he still didn\u2019t recognize the woman standing in front of him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Good.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I picked up the confirmation message of the funds and gave him a cheerful wave. \u201cPleasure doing business with you, Alpha. I\u2019ll be spending this with my best friend Rae at the mall. Oh, and Nolan?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He raised an eyebrow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really do make a convincing villain. I\u2019ll give you that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then I walked away without looking back, already texting my best friend to meet me by the boutique with the overpriced boots and zero tolerance for pity. Three months as Luna? Fine. I could fake a smile. I could fake a lot of things.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But love?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Never again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Third\u2013Person\u2019s POV\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Ellie left, the office was too quiet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan sat there with the folder still half\u2013damp from the coffee spill, the edges curling from where the heat had hit the paper just right. The scent of scorched parchment lingered in the air, along with the faint, sugary perfume Ellie wore. It clung to the corners of the room like she\u2019d left some piece of herself behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He shook the thought away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was all just\u2026 strategy. Control. Timing. It had always been about power, about securing the future of the pack. His parents had drilled that into him since he could stand. Mates? Love? All that divine bond talk? Weakness. Felicity understood that. She\u2019d been with him before all this, before he bowed his head to the Moon Goddess and accepted what fate handed him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellie was the bond. The Moon\u2019s choice. Not his.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And what had that gotten him? A mate who went quiet when she was meant to speak. Who chased him with the wide\u2013eyed desperation of someone begging to be seen. A mate who, despite all that effort, couldn\u2019t even give him what he needed most: an heir.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 13\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
So no, he didn\u2019t love her. He couldn\u2019t. And if his chest ached a little every time she smirked at him lately, tossing his indifference back in his face, that was just frustration. Ego, maybe. Definitely not\u2026 anything else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The door creaked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t look up. \u201cIf it\u2019s not urgent, I don\u2019t want to hear it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Beta stepped in anyway, clearing his throat awkwardly. \u201cAlpha\u2026 I thought you should know. About Ellie.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan let out a long breath, leaning back. \u201cWhat about her now?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Beta hesitated. \u201cAre you\u2026 upset about her?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan scoffed. \u201cAbout Ellie?\u201d He gestured toward the damp folder on his desk. \u201cShe\u2019s leaving in three months. I married her because I thought she could bear my heir. Turns out, she\u2019s useless for even that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A beat passed. Something shifted in the Beta\u2019s expression. Then-\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you\u2026 Didn\u2019t you look at the test results?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan frowned. \u201cThey were soaked. She spilled coffee all over them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Beta\u2019s eyes widened. \u201cAlpha\u2026 that was the Healer\u2019s report. Your wife might already be pregnant.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 13 Chapter 13\u00a0 His lip curled like he wasn\u2019t sure whether to laugh or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-unremembered-mate-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23582\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}