Chapter 248 I was a dead man
Ethan’s POV
The private room was packed—probably twenty people crammed into a space meant for fifteen.
Music thumped from hidden speakers, loud enough to make conversation difficult.
Everyone was drinking, laughing, having the time of their lives.
I plastered on a smile and tried to blend in.
My friend introduced me to his wife—Sarah, a petite blonde with a warm smile and sharp eyes. She greeted me politely, already a little tipsy from the champagne.
"I heard you and Aria are taking a break," she said sympathetically. "That’s rough. She’s such a sweetheart."
"Yeah." I took a sip of my beer to avoid elaborating. "It’s been... difficult."
"Well, don’t worry. I’ll text her tomorrow. I’ve been meaning to reach out anyway."
"Thank you. Really."
She patted my arm and turned back to her other guests, leaving me to nurse my drink in relative peace.
I lasted about an hour before I needed air.
The room was too hot, too loud, too full of people asking questions I didn’t want to answer.
I slipped out into the hallway, heading toward the bathrooms.
That’s when I saw her.
Aria.
For a second, I thought I was hallucinating. That the alcohol and wishful thinking had conjured her out of thin air.
But no—that was definitely her. Moving through the crowd with that familiar grace, her light brown hair catching the dim lighting.
My wolf surged forward, desperate and demanding.
*Mate. Our mate. Go to her—*
"Aria?"
The name left my lips before I could stop it.
She didn’t hear me. The music was too loud, the crowd too thick.
I pushed through the people separating us, my heart hammering against my ribs.
This was it. This was my chance.
I could talk to her face-to-face, make her understand how sorry I was, how much I’d changed—
"Aria, wait—"
I reached for her wrist, catching it gently.
She spun around, her eyes going wide as she recognized me.
For a split second, I saw hope flicker across her face.
Then it died, replaced by cold fury.
"Let go of me."
"Please, just listen—"
"I said let go!"
She tried to pull away, but I held on. Couldn’t let her disappear again.
"I know you’re angry," I said quickly. "I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness. But I left Clara. I filed for divorce. I’m trying to make this right—"
"There is no making this right!"
Her voice cut through the music, sharp enough to make nearby people turn and stare.
"You lied to me for two years, Ethan. You used me. You made me believe I was your mate when you’d already chosen someone else."
Tears were streaming down her face now, and seeing them felt like being stabbed.
"I made a mistake—"
"You made a choice!" She yanked her wrist free, stumbling back. "Every single day for two years, you chose to keep lying. You chose Clara over me. Over the bond. Over everything the Moon Goddess intended."
"I was trying to protect you—"
"By lying to my face? By letting me think we had a future together when you’d already marked someone else?"
Her voice broke on the last word.
A crowd was gathering now. I could see faces I recognized from college, people who definitely knew about the scandal.
This was about to get very ugly very fast.
"Aria, please—"
"No." She wiped at her eyes roughly. "We’re done, Ethan. Completely done. And if you come near me again, I swear to God—"
"Get your fucking hands off her."
The voice came from behind me—low and lethal and saturated with enough Alpha dominance to make my wolf whimper.
I turned slowly.
Damian Blackwood stood there, his storm-gray eyes blazing with barely contained rage.
Oh fuck.
"Damian—" Aria started.
But the Alpha King wasn’t looking at her.
He was looking at me.
And the promise of violence in his expression was absolutely clear.
I was a dead man.
---
Damian’s POV
The bond went nuclear.
I was moving before I’d consciously decided to, my wolf surging forward with a single-minded focus: *protect mate, eliminate threat.*
Ethan had his hand on Aria’s wrist. Was pulling her toward him.
Was saying something that made her flinch.
Red flooded my vision.
"Get your fucking hands off her."
My voice cut through the music like a blade.
Every head in the vicinity turned. Conversations died mid-sentence.
Ethan froze, his pale blue eyes going wide as he registered who I was.
Aria’s gaze snapped to mine, and for a split second, I saw pure relief flash across her face.
My wolf went still.
*She was glad I came. After everything—the distance, the cold silence through the bond all day—she looked at me like I was the one thing in this room that made sense.*
The rage in my chest didn’t disappear, but for one heartbeat, something else cracked through it. Something warmer.
I wanted to cross the room and pull her into me right then, forget the man still gripping her wrist, forget the crowd staring.
"Damian—" she started.
But I wasn’t looking at her anymore.
I was looking at Ethan. At the way his hand was still wrapped around her wrist. At the possessive desperation in his expression.
At the Mark on his neck—faded but still visible—that belonged to someone else.
"I said," I repeated, my voice dropping to a lethal growl, "get your hands off my mate."
The temperature in the bar seemed to drop ten degrees.
Ethan released Aria immediately, stumbling back a step. His wolf was cowering—I could see it in the way his shoulders hunched, the way he broke eye contact.
Good.
He should be afraid.
"I wasn’t—we were just talking—" Ethan stammered.
"Talking?" I closed the distance between us in two strides, my wolf’s presence flooding the space around me.
Alpha dominance rolled off me in waves, heavy enough to make nearby wolves bare their necks instinctively. "That’s what you call grabbing a woman who’s told you to leave her alone? *Talking?*"
"Damian." Aria’s hand touched my arm, gentle but firm. "It’s fine. I can handle this."
"He touched you."
"I know. But I’m handling it."
The bond pulsed with her determination—and underneath it, a current of something else. Hurt. Confusion. The same distance I’d been feeling all day.
I forced myself to take a breath. To step back. To let my mate fight her own battles even though every instinct I had was screaming at me to destroy the threat in front of us.
"You need to leave," Aria said to Ethan, her voice steady. "Right now. Before this gets ugly."