Ella POV
This close, with the scent of Alexander’s cologne washing over me and the possessive fire in his eyes as he looked down at me, I felt something cold and hard begin to soften ever so slightly inside of me, like the morning sun melting the frost on the grass.
It should have been a nice feeling, to warm up slightly toward my mate and husband, but all it did was make me feel uneasy.
Right now, I hated him—hated what he was putting me through, hated the fact that he wouldn’t help me with my wolf, hated that we had even gotten to this point to begin with simply because he couldn’t bear to love me despite how hard I had tried for five years.
And yet, I couldn’t help but feel the pull of our fated mate bond in my chest. Even with my wolf dormant, it was still there—a faint
