Bitter Aftertaste

Stella

Afternoon sunlight pours across our table as Piper takes a bite of her lemon poppyseed muffin, letting out a soft hum of pure delight. "Stella, these are incredible."

Those muffins happen to be one of my signature recipes. Every single week, Piper, Tessa, and I meet up in the capital for our regular afternoon tea date to catch up on everything we have missed.

"Thanks," I reply, feeling a faint flush warm my cheeks. Right now, I hold contracts supplying pastries to this specific venue alongside several other local establishments.

"Seriously, your baking keeps hitting a whole new level," Tessa chimes in. Her own plate is already cleared of the blueberry scone she ordered, and a takeaway box sits beside her elbow, packed with extras to bring home to her mom.

"Well, you two deserve the credit," I tell them. "After all, you were my original guinea pigs."

Brushing a few stray sugar crystals from the corner of her mouth, Piper grins. "A position I hold very dear to my heart."

"By the way, you'll never believe who walked into my place the other evening," I say, trying my hardest to keep my tone light and casual.

Tessa tucks a loose lock of hair behind her ear. "Who was it?"

"Someone from Vance's personal staff. He showed up demanding to book a table."

Piper glances up instantly, snapping her compact mirror shut with a sharp click. "Please tell me you didn't actually let him book!"

A laugh slips out of me. "I informed him we're completely booked for the next three months. He doesn't have a prayer of getting through the door."

Grinning ear to ear, Tessa reaches across to slap her palm against mine in a high five. From the other side of the table, Piper beams with unmistakable satisfaction. "Good for you. I'm so proud of you, girlie."

"I know neither of you ever cared for him much..."

Tessa gives a quick shake of her head. "Actually, I did like him in the beginning. The problem was how he strung you along way past the expiration date. He never once treated you the way you deserved."

Leaning back against my seat, I try to tamp down the sudden flicker of defensiveness rising inside me. Defending Vance is the absolute last thing I should be doing right now, yet a part of me still believes his love for me was genuine at the start. There is no way he could have faked all of that without me noticing something was off. Back then, there really was a period where I was his entire world.

Catching the doubtful expression on my face, Piper leans in. "You gave up way too much of yourself for that man."

"Do you really think so?" I ask quietly.

She gives a firm nod. "The second the wedding ring went on your finger, everything shifted. You weren't even allowed to wear clothes unless they met his standards."

That much is impossible to deny. Vance always hated anything he considered too flashy. His preference was strictly conservative attire, so I overhauled my wardrobe to match. Back then, it didn't really bother me. If changing my style meant keeping him happy, I was ready to do just about anything.

"And let's not even bring up the jet-black dye job," Tessa cuts in.

Reaching up, I brush my long, golden curls back over my shoulder. Getting my hair stripped back to its natural shade took forever.

"He really loved it dark," I murmur.

A frown pulls at Piper's lips. "He was way too controlling."

"Unbelievably controlling," Tessa echoes.

Deep down, I know they are spot on, though admitting it out loud still stings, even in front of my best friends. Looking back at all the pieces of myself I erased just to fit his mold is painful. The transformation was so extreme that whenever I stumble across photos from our marriage, the woman staring back feels like a complete stranger. That is the exact reason every trace of my old life stays shoved in the deepest corner of my closet, completely out of sight so I can pretend those years never happened.

"He couldn't stand it when I cooked, either," I admit in a quiet voice, immediately annoyed with myself for sounding so pathetic.

Being in the kitchen has always been my passion, yet Vance never grasped why I would waste hours over a stove when I could be reading a book or studying instead. Just like with everything else in our marriage, I shoved my own desires aside and followed his rules.

Tessa points down at the scattered crumbs left on her dish. "Which is insane, considering how ridiculously gifted you are."

During our marriage, I played the part of the dutiful wife to perfection and bent over backward to make him happy, yet none of it sufficed. In the end, he still walked out on me without a single explanation. Left with no higher education and my father's companies teetering on the brink of financial ruin, I had zero prospects for supporting myself. Not a single employer would look twice at my resume.

Worse still, despite begging him for answers, he refused to tell me why he wanted out. Even now, I am completely in the dark. Merely recalling the suffocating depression that swallowed me whole during the months following the divorce makes my chest feel tight and heavy. The trauma hit my wolf just as brutally—if not worse—leaving her locked in a deep coma ever since.

"The guy is pure trash," Piper states flatly.

"Absolute garbage," Tessa seconds. "You poured everything you had into him, and he wasn't worth a fraction of it."

Twirling a lock of her dark brown hair around one finger, Piper offers a small shrug. "On the bright side, at least the divorce settlement was generous. Look at the amazing life you've built on your own two feet since then."

"I really am happy now," I tell them.

Reaching across the table, Tessa gives my hand a warm squeeze. "As you should be."

"Still, makes you wonder what he's up to these days," Piper muses, slipping her phone out of her bag. After tapping his name into the search bar, she turns the screen toward us to display a recent shot taken right here in the city. Dressed in a sharply tailored suit, Vance looks undeniably handsome. According to the caption, he is in the capital to attend an upcoming Alpha gathering.

I lift a hand to wave the device away. "Honestly, I'd rather not know."

"Okay, wait, you have to watch this clip!" Piper practically shrieks as she taps the screen. "God, could he be any more ridiculous?"

All three of us crowd together to peer at the display. A business segment profiling Vance plays on the screen, featuring an interview with his secretary. She is gushing endlessly about how brilliant and impressive the Alpha is. Practically glowing with pride, she rattles off statistics about the pack's rapid expansion and the lucrative investments he has recently secured. Her infatuation with him couldn't be more obvious.

"Anyone who crosses paths with Vance never forgets him," the secretary boasts to the camera. "I've personally witnessed plenty of women burst into tears over him."

When the interviewer asks whether Vance draws a lot of female attention, the secretary gives an eager nod. "Oh, I know all about how charming he is." A smug grin spreads across her face. "Women throw themselves at him constantly, and part of my job is helping him manage the flood."

"And what about yourself?" the reporter teases.

In answer, she merely offers the camera a knowing, secretive smile.

Sitting next to me, Tessa rolls her eyes hard and pulls back from the phone. Piper looks thoroughly disgusted, an expression I am positive mirrors my own. What a complete narcissist.

"Unbelievable," Piper mutters, shoving her phone back into her purse. "That settles it. We are finding you a man a thousand times better than Vance."

I give a slow nod. Getting back into the dating scene is something I have meant to do for a while, though work has kept me too busy to actually try. Still, if I put it off much longer, my estrogen levels might just bottom out entirely.

"Hold on," Piper says, pulling her phone back out to type rapidly. "I'm texting you a few contacts right now. We're getting you a gorgeous guy who isn't a controlling freak."

Tessa brings her hands together with an eager clap. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun." Playing matchmaker for me is easily their favorite pastime. Both of them are dead set on finding me a new partner so I can finally bury Vance in the past where he belongs.

Pulling my own phone out, I glance down at the incoming message, and my brows shoot straight up my forehead. Piper just forwarded me the profiles of...

Seventeen hot guys?!

Well, nobody can say I won't have plenty of choices.