Chapter 0026
Aria’s POV
I looked down at my dress, unsure what was wrong with it. Yes, it was more revealing than the conservative dresses I’d usually worn since our marriage, but I wasn’t sure that warranted a look as fierce as the one Lucian was giving me now.
Did he think I was embarrassing him? Was I embarrassing him?
Grabbing my arm, he pulled me away from Jasper.
“Hey,” Jasper started to say, but was silenced the moment that furious glare left me to look at Jasper instead. Swallowing hard, Jasper closed his mouth and let Lucian drag me away.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“To the bedroom so you can change,” Lucian said.
Planting my out of the socket or stop along with me.
feet. I forced him to either pull my a
“I’m not changing,” I said with more confidence than I felt. As Aria, I would typically never go against Lucian’s wishes. Perhaps my Dr. A side was seeping into the rest of me, allowing me to show more courage and strength than I had in the past. “I like this dress.”
Lucian glowered at me, his expression dark. “People can see you.”
I glanced down at myself. All of my private areas were covered. The only thing people could really see was one shoulder, my arms, and my legs. None of which, to my knowledge, was all that bad to show off.
Also, as Lucian was soon to be my ex–husband, I didn’t see why any of this was his concern. Already, he’d frightened off my date for the night. Now he wanted me to change out of my favorite dress as well?
No. I refused. My days of letting his every whim be my command were over and through.
“Please let go of me,” I said, gesturing to where he had a tight grip on my upper arm.
“Why?” he asked.
“So I can get a drink and enjoy the party,” I replied.
As his frown deepened, I had to force myself not to immediately take back the words. For three years, I’d shifted all of my opinions and desires solely to compliment his. Speaking for myself and for my own wants felt alien to
even with Dr. A’s confidence pulsing through me.
me,
I wanted to take it back and be the good little housewife I’d always been, but I wouldn’t let myself fall back on those old habits. Being the dutiful homemaker hadn’t made Lucian love me before, so it certainly wouldn’t now.
Not that I needed him to love me anymore. My mind had been made up. I was going to get my divorce and then leave the pack, putting this entire chapter behind me.
As soon as I earned enough money.
For a moment, Lucian and I stared at each other. He probally expected me to back down first. When I didn’t, he seemed confused, and, reluctantly, released his hold on my arm.
Thank you,” I said and walked around him, toward the house.
The party was mainly in the back around the pool, so I bypassed entering the house at all by walking around the lawn to the back gate. I’d been at this house many times before in the past three years, and knew my way around.
+25 BONUS
Chapter 0026
Opening the latch to the gate, I slipped into the pool area. I was about to close it behind me again, when a hand caught the gate and kept me from closing it.
Lucian was right behind me. Pushing through the gate behind me, he then closed it once he was also inside.
Odd. I had thought he would have gone into the house with the rest of the guests. Instead, it seemed as if he was following me.
That couldn’t be right.
In the past, whenever we had attended an event, we would arrive in the same car, but then immediately split apart. Lucian, as Alpha King, had mingled throughout the room, while I always found a nice quiet corner to wait patiently. As no one really liked me, I had found it was better to stay out of the way.
