Chapter 2

My fingers flew across the tablet screen,

The further down I scrolled, the more my hands shook, until even my breathing trembled.

A condition? Forced marriage? Frigid?

All lies.

He was actually a werewolf!

The bathroom water stopped.

Before I could process the truth, the bedroom door swung open.

Kai's black hair was still dripping wet. When he saw me holding his tablet, the color drained completely from his face, and he even stopped drying his hair.

He froze in the doorway, panic and helplessness flashing in his eyes.

We stared at each other silently for a good ten seconds before I finally broke the silence, my voice shaking uncontrollably,

"Kai, is all this stuff you posted real?"

His Adam's apple bobbed hard as he walked toward me step by step.

"Nora, let me explain..."

"Explain what? Explain that you're a werewolf? A monster?" I looked up at him, my eyes instantly reddening,

"You've been lying to me this whole time!"

"Yes." He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were filled with honest humility,

"I'm the Alpha of the Karen Pack of werewolves. I'm sorry, Nora. I've been hiding this from you for so long."

"What about the arranged marriage?" My voice tightened,

"When my sister suddenly called off the engagement and ran to Europe, you had something to do with that, didn't you? This marriage was your scheme from the very beginning?"

"Yes." He didn't hide anything, his voice hoarse as he laid out all his secrets,

"The day of our college graduation, the first time I saw you, I knew you were my fated mate-my one and only partner for life."

"To switch the arranged marriage to you, I helped your sister arrange everything for Europe so she could pursue the life she wanted without any worries."

At this point, Kai clenched his fists,

"It's not that I didn't want to touch you-I was afraid I couldn't control the werewolf possessiveness and would hurt you. Even more, I was afraid that if you found out I wasn't human, you'd be scared of me. That you'd leave me."

He laid all his restraint, all these years of hidden love, bare before me.

My heart felt sour and numb, but more than anything, I was shocked at being deceived and terrified by this truth about werewolves that was beyond my comprehension.

For twenty-four years, I'd never imagined that the husband who'd slept beside me for half a year wasn't human.

Looking at this man I'd once thought cold and distant, I only felt he was strange and frightening.

I jerked backward, avoiding his outstretched hand.

"Don't touch me!" My voice cracked with tears as my whole body trembled,

"Kai, you say you love me, but you couldn't even give me basic honesty. You lied to me for six whole months!"

"Did you ever think about how scared I'd be when I found out?"

"Nora, I..." His eyes filled with hurt and regret,

"I was just afraid of losing you. I never wanted to hurt you, never."

"Stop talking." I grabbed my coat and bag from the bed, desperate to escape this suffocating place.

Kai's tall figure blocked my path, his hands covering my shoulders as he looked at me with reddening eyes,

"Nora, I won't force you, just don't run away, okay?" His voice shook hoarsely,

"I'll tell you anything you want to know. You can yell at me, punish me-I'll take it all. Just don't go out alone. I'm worried about you."

I wrenched free of his grip. "Kai, I think we both need to calm down."

Ignoring his anxious calls behind me, I slammed the door and drove off, heading straight to my best friend Jade's house.