Eight Years of Indifference

Maddox

Maddox sat behind his massive mahogany desk, his knuckles bone white where he gripped the wooden edge. Eight years. They had been mated for eight long years, yet Genevieve stood before him projecting the same impenetrable indifference she carried on day one. Not once in nearly a decade had she turned loving eyes his way. Not once had she shown a shred of desire to step foot inside his personal Alpha Suite outside of their scheduled heat cycles. She always just walked past his door like the room did not exist.

Right now, she stood directly in front of him wearing a clean but rumpled set of sloth-patterned hospital scrubs. They looked like she had taken a quick nap in them, which wouldn't surprise him. She spent most of her nights at the pack hospital, sleeping on a narrow cot between delivering babies. Her long, wavy chestnut hair was pulled up into a messy bun on top of her head. Stray strands framed her face. Even exhausted and dressed in wrinkly cotton, she remained stunning. Her brilliant blue eyes held a calm clarity that frustrated him to no end.

He brought a Goddess-Gifted Mate into their home today. Maddox intentionally paraded Vivienne through the packhouse foyer, ensuring every pack member witnessed the event. Vivienne had spent nearly an hour and a half in her hotel room painting her face and fixing her hair, making Maddox wait when he had a tight schedule. When they finally arrived, Vivienne draped herself over him. She pressed her breasts against his arm and dragged her hands over his chest in an aggressively possessive manner right in front of the main staircase. She wore high heels that clicked loudly against the marble, her chin tilted up as she surveyed his territory like a prize she had already won. She barked an order at a passing omega to fetch her bags, her tone dripping with beta-blooded entitlement. Several pack members backed away, cringing at her harsh voice.

Genevieve saw them. She had been sitting on the floor of the adjacent common room, playing a board game with three of the younger pups. Maddox waited for her ocean-blue eyes to darken with jealousy. He expected a reaction. He wanted a reaction. He waited for a frown of betrayal, a sharp spark of anger, or a raised voice. He got nothing. She did not glare at Vivienne. She did not storm over to confront him.

When Maddox sent Vivienne away with his Delta and summoned Genevieve to his office, she simply excused herself from the children. She did not sigh. She did not roll her eyes. She stood up, smoothed her rumpled scrubs, and walked through his double doors with polite compliance. She looked like a mere employee called into HR for a routine performance review.

This impenetrable wall of indifference gnawed at his insides, twisting his gut into tight knots. He always respected her boundaries. He forcefully held back his intense, consuming physical craving for her body. He wanted her every single day, but he kept his distance because he knew, deep down, she felt nothing for him outside of their heats.

The bitter sting of her rejection from three years ago flared in his chest, hot and fresh. They were five years into their mating arrangement when he finally bit the bullet and asked her to have a pup with him. He treated her nicely. He respected her. He acknowledged her as his Luna. He thought they worked well together. The pack liked her. She learned everything about all of them over the years, flawlessly executing her Luna duties while serving as a brilliant pack doctor.

He thought she would say yes. Instead, she explicitly admitted she did not want to bear a child with him. Hearing those words ripped through his chest. He stayed angry about it for a full week. She loved babies. Her brilliant blue eyes lit up with pure, radiant joy every time she held a newborn pup. She always had a warm smile for the little ones. He watched her interact with the pack children for years. She never raised her voice to a toddler or even a rebellious teenager. When repeat offenders sat in her office after getting into fights, she admonished them softly, her kind soul shining through. She would make a phenomenal mother. Yet, she vehemently rejected the idea of creating a life with him.

Maddox rubbed his jaw, his mind drifting back to the very day they enacted the Mating Alliance. She was just nineteen years old. Untouched. She stood silent and perfectly still in her tyrannical father's office. She did not utter a single word of protest as the men discussed the contract clauses, trading her future for border security and trade routes. She sat in the passenger seat of his car during the drive to his territory, staring out the window at the passing trees, trapped in her own quiet world. She offered no conversation, no tears, no anger.

She did not speak until the initiation ceremony. Maddox cut his palm with a ceremonial blade. He cut hers. He pressed their bleeding hands together, the scent of copper filling the air, and asked for her loyalty. She looked at their joined hands, took a deep breath, and accepted him as her Alpha. It was the first time he heard her voice. Soft to his own ears. Resigned. Declan confirmed through the mind-link that she was unhappy but unwilling to fight the marking and mating.

Her father and Declan both warned Maddox that she was a virgin. She had never been with a man. She did not even know how to kiss. Maddox took her to his bedroom that night, determined to prove he was not a monster. He wanted to show her he could be tender. He wanted their artificial bond to flourish into true love.

Maddox remembered laying her down on the wide mattress. She was stiff, her hands clutching the bedsheets tightly. He was gentle. He stripped away her clothes piece by piece, revealing her bare skin. He parted her thighs and looked down at her bare, pink pussy. He took his time, refusing to act like a brute. He leaned down and dragged his tongue over her clitoris, tasting her natural slickness. He slid two thick fingers deep into her wet pussy, stroking her tight walls while his thumb rubbed hard circles over her sensitive clitoris. He kissed her neck and sucked her breasts, biting her nipples until she gasped and arched her back. He made sure she was dripping wet and fully aroused before he unfastened his pants. He pulled out his hard, aching cock and positioned the thick head of his cock at her wet pussy. He pushed his cock deep inside her tight pussy in one slow, deliberate thrust. She gasped loudly, her nails digging into his shoulders. Maddox stopped moving, holding her hips firmly, giving her time to stretch around his thick dick. He pumped his cock in and out of her wet pussy, maintaining a steady, sensual rhythm to bring her pleasure. He pushed her legs wider, driving his cock to the hilt with every thrust, relishing the firm grip of her pussy gripping his shaft. He wanted to forge a real connection. He let his knot swell at the base of his dick, locking them together. He poured his hot seed deep inside her womb, hoping the mate bond would finally snap into place and ignite a spark of real affection in her eyes.

It never did. He took her virginity, he marked her neck, but he never won her heart. The bond remained a one-sided agony.

Now, standing in his office after eight years of silent distance, she offered him a bright, authentic smile. Her blue eyes crinkled at the corners.

"Congratulations on finding your mate, Maddox," she said, her voice smooth and even.

Hearing her genuinely and warmly congratulate him on finding his true mate felt sickeningly wrong. Her tone carried no sarcasm. No hidden bitterness. She directed the exact same radiant, authentic happiness toward him that she usually reserved for delivering healthy babies. She was genuinely, undeniably thrilled that he found his fated mate. She was thrilled that their contract was ending and she could finally leave.

Maddox clenched his jaw until his teeth ground together, the muscles ticking under his skin. If the roles were reversed, he would not be standing here offering congratulations. If she walked through those double doors with a Goddess-Gifted male Mate by her side, Maddox knew with certainty he would lose his mind. He would tear the man’s head clean off his shoulders in a blind Alpha rage. He would rip the bastard's throat out before he let another male lay a hand on her. No other man was allowed to slide his cock into Genevieve. The mere thought of another Alpha marking her skin sent a massive tremor through his frame.

But Genevieve just beamed at him.

The sheer sincerity of her joy infuriated Maddox to his core. His inner wolf, Kael, reacted with aggressive hostility. Inside Maddox's mind, the massive beast flattened his ears against his skull in deep disgust. Annoyance rolled off the wolf in thick, heavy waves, suffocating Maddox's own thoughts. Kael paced back and forth, his claws tearing at the mental floorboards.

*I refuse,* Kael snarled, his deep voice vibrating through their shared consciousness, dripping with possessive rage. *I am not saying the words.*

Kael flat-out refused to voice the rejection. Instead, the massive wolf turned his back on the logical necessity of the situation and stalked to the darkest back corner of Maddox's mind. The beast lay down on his belly, resting his heavy chin on his paws, choosing to silently, obsessively watch the mate they both still deeply and desperately desired. Kael had mated her in human form just as often as Maddox had. The wolf was hopelessly attached to her scent, her touch, her quiet strength. Seeing her so thrilled about Maddox being gifted to another female felt like a jagged knife twisting in their shared chest.

Maddox stared across the wide desk, watching Genevieve calmly accept the end of their era. A frustrating, heavy truth settled over his shoulders like lead. Genevieve and Vivienne were vastly different people. Vivienne was flashy, demanding, and obsessed with status, snapping at omegas and treating lower-ranked pack members like dirt under her expensive shoes. Genevieve was quiet, intelligent, and fiercely devoted to the wellbeing of the people, treating every single member with unwavering kindness. Looking at the beautiful, selfless pack doctor standing before him, her hands neatly folded in front of her rumpled scrubs, Maddox knew unequivocally that Genevieve was the better of the two.