Chapter 154: Passive-aggressive

Alyssa was stepping out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, when the bedroom door opened and Dorian walked in.

She paused, her eyes meeting his for a brief second before she looked away. Crossing the room to the walk-in closet, she pulled out a pair of shorts and a comfortable t-shirt, dressing quickly before taking a seat at the vanity mirror and proceeding to dry her hair.

Dorian stood by the closed door, watching her in silence, unsure of how to bridge the sudden gap between them. It was a strange, unsettling irony; he was a ruthless Alpha King who tore out the hearts of his enemies without a second thought, yet here he stood, terrified of his quiet wife.

He pushed off the doorframe and crossed the room toward her. It was her silence that unnerved him most. He was accustomed to her warmth, her soft laughter, her blue eyes lighting up the moment he entered the room.

This distant, aloof version of Alyssa felt like a stranger.

Stopping behind her chair, he tentatively laid a hand on her shoulder. To his relief, she didn’t flinch or pull away from his touch. He took it as a good sign.

"Are you alright, my love?" he asked softly, testing the waters.

"Yes."

A single word. Flat. Cold. He was definitely cooked.

He let out a quiet sigh and moved to the side of her vanity, bringing himself into her line of sight. "I know you’re upset with me, Alyssa. And you have every right to be."

"I’m not upset," she replied softly, her focus remaining on the mirror.

"How can you say that?" he asked, his voice laced with mild frustration. "I left you this morning without an explanation. You should be furious with me."

"Well, I’m not," Alyssa said, finally setting the towel in her lap. "Nina explained what happened with the mate bond. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t have control over it."

She looked up, her gaze meeting his, but there wasn’t a trace of warmth in her eyes.

"Let’s just move past it. I completed the assessment for the Academy today, and the administrator will forward the exam date to Alec. I’ll prefer if Alec drives me when the time comes."

Dorian’s brow furrowed into a sharp frown. "Why Alec?"

She arched an eyebrow. "Because he drove me today?"

"I’m sorry I wasn’t there today," Dorian said quickly, taking a step closer. "I promised I would take you, and I broke my word. But Alec doesn’t need to escort you to the official examination."

"Are you certain?" Alyssa asked, her tone dripping with quiet sarcasm. "Won’t you have something far more pressing to attend to that day?"

"I told you, nothing is more important than you," he insisted. "I know you are hurting, Alyssa, even if you refuse to admit it. Let me make this right."

"I don’t need you to make anything right. I told you, I’m not mad."

"Then why are you cutting me out?" Dorian’s voice strained with a desperate edge. "Why are you being so passive-aggressive? I just want my wife back."

"I’m not being passive-aggressive," she snapped, her voice rising as her composure finally cracked. "I’m not mad, and I’m not upset! End of story."

"Alyssa, please, stop doing this," Dorian let out a ragged breath and crouched beside her chair, reaching for her hands. "I’m sorry, okay?"

"I really don’t understand why you keep apologizing," she murmured, attempting to stand, but he gripped her forearm and pulled her back.

She looked down, first at his pleading face, then at his fingers wrapped tightly around her wrist.

"Let go of me, Dorian. I need to dry my hair."

"Not until I know we’re okay," he rasped. "I am trying everything I know to fix this. I will not let Elvira tear us apart."

"Perhaps you should have considered that last night and rejected her before the mate bond locked you into a trap!"

She wrenched her arm out of his grasp and stood up abruptly.

Dorian slowly rose to his full height, a look of stunned disbelief spreading across his features.

"You know what happened this morning was beyond my control," he said, his voice dropping into a dangerously low tone. "There was no way I could have anticipated it. I spent last night trying to make things right with you. Rejecting Elvira was the furthest thing from my mind."

"Well, it isn’t the furthest thing anymore, is it?" Alyssa shot back, her chest heaving. "She’s still your fated mate. I could lose you to her at any second. The moment she decides to take off that talisman or leave the North, I lose you regardless."

"What do you want me to do?" Dorian yelled suddenly, the raw power of his Alpha voice rattling the mirror of the vanity. "Do you want me to kill her?! Because that is the only way to sever a locked bond. Either she dies, or I die. So tell me what to do; should I kill her, or should I take my own life?"

He closed the distance between them, his towering frame casting a shadow over her. But he kept his hands at his sides, terrified that touching her now would push her over the edge.

"Say the word, Alyssa!" he continued, his eyes burning with desperate intensity. "Say you want Elvira dead! Or say you want me dead! Either way, the bond breaks and you get your answer!"

"I’m not asking you to murder her!" she yelled back, tears finally brimming in her eyes. "I would never ask that of you!"

​"Then what do you want? My death?"

"Dorian, stop it!" She slammed her small fists against his chest. "Stop saying that!"

"Give me a fucking solution!" he raged, his emotions completely spiraling out of his control. "This is out of my hands! I came into this room to apologize, to make things right..."

"An apology changes nothing," she cut him off sharply. "That is what you do, Dorian. You break something, you hurt me, and then you offer an apology as if it resets the damage. But an apology doesn’t erase what happened this morning."

"What else am I supposed to offer you besides my remorse?" he replied harshly. "I can’t murder Elvira to break the bond. And I don’t want her to cause a rift between us, but you are being really unreasonable!"

Alyssa stumbled back a step, her eyes wide with shock, her lips parting as the word hung in the quiet air between them.

Unreasonable.

Dorian squeezed his eyes shut, the fury instantly evaporating from his veins, leaving behind a cold, sickening regret. He opened his mouth, the words choking in his throat.

"I’m sorry," he breathed, running a hand through his hair. "I... I didn’t mean that. I lost my temper."

But he meant it, and Alyssa knew. Because truly, she was being unreasonable, blaming him for a curse he hadn’t asked for. Yet hearing him say it aloud pierced straight through her heart.

She took a long, shaky breath, wiping a stray tear from her cheek before raising her hand and pointing at the door.

"Get out. I want to be alone."

Dorian’s hands balled into fists. For a second, he looked as though he were going to fight it, to pull her into his arms and refuse to leave until the rift was healed.

Instead, his jaw set tight, and he pulled himself up to his full height. "Fine. If that’s what you want."

He brushed past her and strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him with a deafening crack.

When the vibration died away, a deep silence settled over the bedroom.

Alyssa gripped the edge of the vanity, closing her eyes tightly as the tears she had held back finally spilled over, washing down her face in silence.

This was their first real argument since they got married, and a cold fear settled deep in her chest, making her wonder if she had gone too far this time.