Contract Marriage With Alpha Snow - Chapter 380

Chapter 380: What About Me?
****************

CHAPTER 380

~Zara’s POV~

This time, my palm struck Snow’s face. The sound echoed like a gunshot.

Snow didn’t move, didn’t react. His blue eyes bore into mine, filled with conflict, guilt, and something darker.

I turned back to Vani, my voice sharp and cold.

“You’re fired.”

“Zara,” Snow’s voice rang out, urgently.

I snapped my gaze back to him, fury and heartbreak swirling together like a storm.

“What?” I spat, my chest rising and falling rapidly. “What do you mean ‘Zara’? You think I’ll let this go?” My hands trembled as I pointed at Vani. “She kissed you, Snow! My own husband! And you pushed me for her—this bewitching snake?!”

Snow flinched but remained silent, his jaw clenched tightly. “She’s not a bewitching snake,” he defended, his last words so loud it made me silent.

And that was when I saw it. The possessiveness in his eyes. The flicker of rage when I hit Vani.

The realization struck me like a dagger to the heart. “Oh my god,” I whispered, stepping back, my breath catching in my throat.

I looked between them—Snow’s tense frame, Vani’s guilty expression.

“You…” My voice shook. I pressed a hand to my chest, feeling the pain of the mate bond betrayal burning deep into my skin. My mark—our mark—flared red. It was burning. His lounging and protection of her was making it all worse.

“You found your mate,” I whispered, my heart shattering. “You… found your mate.” The words now made sense better to me and a certain dread pooled in my chest. “And you didn’t think to tell me?”

The silence that followed was deafening. Snow’s face fell, the truth weighing down on him like a curse.

I let out a hollow laugh, shaking my head as the realisation settled into my bones. “So that’s why you’ve been distant. That’s why your wolf has been restless. It was never just the witches, was it?”

Snow took a hesitant step forward, his hands reaching for me. “Zara, I was going to tell you. I—”

I stepped back before he could touch me.

“Don’t.”

His hands clenched into fists, his wolf clawing to break through. “I was trying to find the right time—”

“There is no ‘right time,’ Snow!” My voice broke. “The moment you knew—you should have told me!”

Snow’s eyes darkened, his guilt written all over his face. “Zara, please. I was scared of your reaction and—”

“Save it.” My voice was empty, the weight of his betrayal sinking into me like a stone in water.

Snow turned to Vani, and for the first time, his gaze was cold.

“Get. Out.”

Vani didn’t argue. She turned and ran, disappearing out the door like a coward.

The room fell into silence in a thick and suffocating manner. I glazed back at Snow only to see the pain in his eyes.

It must have hurt his wolf to see him treat his mate like that. I knew that because of Tempest and her mate but still.

Why lie? Why hide things from me?

I stood there, my chest rising and falling, my hands clenched so tight my nails dug into my skin.

But Snow? He wasn’t looking at me anymore. I wasn’t his focus anymore.

I never was.

I turned sharply on my heel and stormed out of the study.

“Zara—wait!” Snow called after me.

I didn’t stop.

I didn’t even look back. All I wanted was to be alone right now. I was hurting and so was Astrid. The betrayal was stabbing and I couldn’t be around my chosen mate right now.

My fingers curled into fists at my sides, anger bubbling under my skin, but I forced myself to stay calm and tried to remind myself that Snow had pushed her away.

“He didn’t kiss her. She kissed him.”

Still, the sight of another woman touching my husband made my blood boil. And yet, they were mates. Wasn’t I allowed to be angry?

***************

~Snow’s POV~

The moment Zara stormed out, the weight of what had just happened settled over me like a damn avalanche.

I had hurt her.

Not just physically, when I pushed her in reflex, but deeper—where the mate bond connected us.

Glacier was pacing furiously inside me, restless and agitated. He had been fighting me from the moment I pushed Vera away.

“You rejected her.”

“She is not my mate,” I snarled back at him. “Zara is my mate.”

A low growl echoed in my mind. “And yet, you couldn’t even tell her the truth.”

I clenched my fists, trying to shut out the voice, trying to shut out everything. Zara’s expression, the betrayal in her eyes, the pain radiating through our bond—it burned. It fucking burned.

And I did that.

I let out a slow, shaky breath, forcing myself to focus. I needed to fix this. But first—

I needed to deal with her.

With Vani.

Her room was at the far end of the mansion, near the servant quarters, but I never visited it. I never even acknowledged that she was living under the same roof as Zara and me.

Until now.

I knocked twice, not caring to wait before pushing the door open.

Vani was sitting on the edge of her bed, her injured arm resting limply at her side. She hadn’t even bothered to treat it.

When she looked up and saw me, her lips trembled, and for a second, she looked… broken.

But I wasn’t falling for it. Not this time.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I asked, my voice sharp and low.

Vani inhaled deeply, then exhaled like she had been waiting for this confrontation. “I… I’m sorry.”

I scoffed. “Don’t. Don’t fucking say that to me, Vani.”

She flinched slightly at the edge in my voice but quickly composed herself. “I didn’t mean to cause problems between you and Zara.”

“You knew exactly what you were doing,” I snapped, stepping closer. “You knew what would happen if she saw that. If you—” I gritted my teeth, anger bubbling inside me. “Why did you do it?”

Vani’s bottom lip quivered. Then, suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes.

And I knew.

I knew she was going to play this game again.

“You think it’s fair?” she whispered, her voice breaking. “That Zara gets to have you, that she gets to claim you—but what about me, Snow?” Her eyes shone with raw emotion. “What about me?”