His Correction, Her Dying Breath
I was born to be Alpha Jaxon Eldridge's fated mate.
Yet he branded me "unstable."
He said emotion was a defect. A weakness to be eradicated. Especially for an Alpha's mate.
On the day our bond was confirmed, he clasped his latest invention onto my wrist: the "Mate Bond Stabilizer," a metal cuff that clung to my skin like a second shadow.
At the slightest flicker of emotion, the cuff would flash red. Then, Jaxon would inject me with a wolfsbane-silver compound, "correcting" my "flaw" with the searing pain of my inner wolf being set ablaze.
But Briar, the woman always glued to his side, wore a cuff that glowed a steady, unwavering green—the symbol of a perfect match. Even when she contradicted him in public, the green would only pulse gently.
And me? All I had to do was whisper, "Jaxon, I painted something new, I wanted to show you," and my cuff would erupt in a blinding red glare.
The punishment was always the same: excruciating pain as the toxin seared through my veins.
I used to argue. But Jaxon's response was always the same.
"The data doesn't lie. Pain is the best teacher. This is all for the good of our bond."
After thousands of these injections, I started to believe him. I started to believe that I was the one who was broken—born to be out of control.
On the night of the pack's annual Sovereign's Gala, Jaxon was taking Briar as his date.
Earlier that day, I'd lost myself in a painting, pouring too much of my heart onto the canvas, and my cuff had flared red.
He began the punishment.
But this time, the cuff malfunctioned, delivering a dose a thousand times stronger than usual directly into my veins.
I collapsed onto the carpet, begging, "Jaxon, the cuff... it hurts... help me."
My cuff was flashing a frantic red.
Jaxon just glanced down at me, drenched in a cold sweat, and pressed the button for the maximum dose.
"So desperate for attention that you lose control this easily? You're pathetic."
He turned, taking Briar with him, and slammed the door shut.
Jaxon must be right. The cuff is red. It can't hurt that much, can it? I'm just making a scene again. Desperate for sympathy.
I'm sorry, Jaxon. In the next life, I promise I'll be the perfect mate you desire.