Free Web NovelChapter 4: Chapter 4 On Her Terms
_Rowena’s POV_
When Kaelen’s lips crashed against mine, I had only one thought: he has lost his mind.
Three years ago, on our wedding night, a kiss like this would have left me breathless. I would have blushed. I would have kissed him back—my husband, the man I had chosen.
But after everything that had happened tonight, I felt only revulsion.
Did he truly believe this was what I wanted? That my demand for a divorce was nothing more than a performance? That I was playing hard to get, desperate for his attention?
He had no idea who he was dealing with. I should never have let my mother convince me to seal my power away.
I fought him with everything I had. He answered with brute force, pinning me against him like I was something to be conquered.
"Rowena," he murmured against my mouth. His voice was soft—almost tender. A husband soothing his reluctant wife. It might have been convincing if he were not holding my wrists in an iron grip with one hand while the other tore at the fastenings of my dress.
His body pressed into mine, his heat seeping through the thin fabric of my chemise. I could feel what this was doing to him. Every nerve in my body screamed—not with desire, but with revulsion.
When his mouth tried to part my lips, I bit down. Hard.
He jerked back with a snarl, blood beading on his lower lip. "You bitch."
The moment his grip loosened, I shoved him with all the strength I had. He stumbled back into the shelf behind him. A vase shattered against the floor.
The door flew open.
"My Luna!" Grace and Velvet rushed inside, faces pale with alarm.
Kaelen straightened slowly, his jaw tight, his face dark as a thundercloud. Blood still welled from the cut on his lip.
"Leave us," he commanded. His voice carried the full weight of the Alpha—meant to crush any resistance.
"Stay." I clutched the torn edges of my dress together, my chest heaving, and met his glare with every ounce of defiance I had left.
His hands curled into fists. He took a step toward me.
Grace moved before I could speak. She planted herself between us, her small frame trembling, but her chin lifted.
"Alpha, please." Her voice shook, but she did not step aside. "Do not hurt her." frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Velvet stood frozen in the doorway, her face pale. But when her eyes met mine, something hardened in her expression. She straightened her shoulders.
"Alpha," she said, loud enough to carry down the hall, "if you continue, I will have no choice but to summon the elders. And your grandmother."
The threat hung in the air between them.
Kaelen stopped. For a long moment, no one moved. His chest rose and fell with each labored breath, his hands still clenched at his sides. The silence stretched until I thought it might snap.
Then he uncurled his fists.
"You will not divorce me, Rowena." His voice was low, controlled, each word a blade wrapped in silk. "Ending this marriage will not be so easy for you."
He turned on his heel and strode toward the door. As he passed Velvet, he shot her a look that made her flinch—sharp enough to draw blood.
The door slammed behind him.
The room fell silent. Grace let out a shaky breath and stepped back, her hands still raised as if ready to shield me again. Velvet pressed herself against the doorframe, listening to his footsteps fade down the corridor.
Neither of them spoke. But they did not need to.
I let my hands fall from my torn dress and looked down at the shattered vase on the floor. The scattered flowers lay like broken things in a puddle of water and porcelain.
I had stopped him tonight. But I knew with cold certainty that this was not over.
If I did not leave soon, it would happen again. I could not let that come to pass.
Velvet returned to my side, her eyes glistening. "How could he do this to you?" she whispered. "When your father and brothers were alive, you never suffered such treatment. Your mother never should have married you to him."
I pressed her hand in reassurance and accepted the wrap Grace held out for me, drawing it tight around my shoulders. My body still trembled, but my resolve had never been clearer.
"Fetch the card file from the locked drawer of my desk. The bottom one."
Grace moved without hesitation. Velvet guided me to the sofa, and I sank into it, watching as Grace unlocked the drawer and lifted out the small leather-bound case I had not opened in years.
My mother had given it to me the night she died.
"Only if you have no other choice," she had said. "Promise me, Rowena. Promise me you will not reach for these unless there is no other way."
The deaths of my father and brothers had carved something deep into her. All she wanted was for me to live quietly. Safely. To fade into the background where no one would think to harm me.
But survival at the cost of my own dignity was not survival at all. It was something else entirely. Something I refused to become.
Even if it meant breaking my mother’s heart. Even if it meant going against her final wish.
I drew a breath. I picked up the phone. I dialed the number I had memorized years ago.
The line picked up before the third ring.
"Rowena." The voice on the other end was warm, astonished, and more than a little exasperated. "Good heavens. You finally decided to call."
I closed my eyes for a moment, drawing strength from the familiar sound.
"Celeste," I said. "I need your help."
