Chapter 320: _ Thought You Hated Me
Axel – Present Day, After
The room still smelled of our sex.
Always her. Only this time, it clung to my skin in the aftermath of what just happened. My body ached in the most blissful way, heart slowed to a dazed thump as I lay there beside her, half-draped across messy sheets, soaked in sweat and wonder.
After what we just did—after I’d touched her like she was mine again, and she held me like she never let go—I couldn’t keep lying by omission.
So I spoke quietly into the silk of her hair.
"That’s why I changed," I said.
Her breathing sped up.
She pulled back slightly, eyes catching the flicker of moonlight that made them glow. "What?"
I exhaled. "That’s why I changed. After the wedding. After Madrid. After the honeymoon. After everything. It wasn’t because I stopped loving you. It was because I thought... I thought you betrayed me."
She blinked twice and then sat up.
"What?" she repeated. Sharper this time. Like the word had grown teeth.
I sat up with her. My hand found hers automatically, rubbing the back of it like my thumb could soften the blade I was about to drop.
"That night in the garden," I began, shutting my eyes just to reopen them. "Some days after Madrid... I followed you."
She froze. Her lips parted. "What garden?"
"You told your maids to wait," I said. "And you went behind the red arch. The quiet part of the estate. The one without patrol. You met Álvaro there."
She paled.
I felt her whole body tense, pulse fluttering beneath my palm like a trapped bird.
"You said you wanted him to go easy on me when he became Alpha. You said I didn’t stand a chance."
Her jaw dropped. "What?!"
"And then you offered him... yourself. Your presence. Even your bed if he wanted it." The words scraped my throat raw, but I got them out. "You said ’okay.’ I heard it. With my own ears."
"No—no." She shook her head, pulling her hand away like I’d burned her. "I would never. Axel, what are you talking about? I never—"
"I watched it happen, María."
She stared at me, completely silent for a long second.
And then, finally, a whisper. "I don’t remember that."
I gnashed my teeth.
She clutched the sheet to her chest like it could protect her from my words. "I swear to you, Axel, I have no memory of that. I would never say that. Never go to Álvaro. Never—God! Sleep with him?! Are you out of your mind?!"
"I thought I was," I whispered.
She blinked hard, panicked, and breathless. "What are you saying? You thought I was capable of cheating on you and you just... kept it in?!"
"I didn’t want to believe it! I thought it wasn’t you! Ignacio. I thought it was him again, in your form. He stole mine once. Why not again?"
At that name, she recoiled like someone had thrown acid in her direction.
"Ignacio."
I nodded. "I tried to convince myself it wasn’t you. But then I followed you. You went back to our suite. You spoke to your maids. They said I was asking for you, and you sounded normal. Like... yourself."
María José buried her face in her hands. "Oh my God."
"I waited outside that door for what felt like hours. Listening. Watching. Hoping someone would sneak out of the window or shift into a cloud of demon ash. But no. No one did. It was you. Sounded like you. Smelled like you."
Her fingers were trembling now. "So... you’ve been cold to me all this time. Because you thought I betrayed you?"
"I didn’t want to believe it," I pointed out. "But I also didn’t know what else to believe. You didn’t say anything. You didn’t act like you remembered. And you kept brushing me off..."
"Because you were cold! You wouldn’t touch me. You wouldn’t even talk to me! Axel, I thought you regretted marrying me!" She burst out.
I closed my eyes. We sat in stunned silence for a moment.
Then, quietly, she asked, "You really think it could’ve been Ignacio?"
I looked at her. Really looked at her.
"Can you remember that night? Anything about it?"
She paused, eyebrows scrunched. "I remember being annoyed that Carmen made my tea too sweet. I remember going out for air. But after that..."
Nothing.
My heart twisted. "It doesn’t make sense."
Her eyes locked onto mine. "Unless... he compelled me."
I flinched.
María José’s voice dropped to a whisper. "He compelled me to go there. To say those things. To play the role. It makes sense. He’s done worse. And I didn’t feel like myself for days after Madrid, remember?"
I did. She’d been strange. Vague. Sometimes confused. We’d blamed the trauma. The aftermath of the honeymoon.
But maybe... it wasn’t over.
"Holy shit," I muttered. "He never left."
"He could be hiding," she said quickly, urgently, like the pieces were all slamming into place. "In someone’s form. Maybe even Álvaro’s—no wonder he’s been so persistent, so dirty, always acting like he owns me."
I tensed. "You think he’s inside Álvaro?"
"I don’t know! But it would explain everything. Álvaro’s shift in behavior. My weird blackout. And the fact that I said okay to... that. Axel, if I really said that, it wasn’t me." She gripped the air.
I leaned forward, cupping her face with both hands. "Look at me."
She did.
"If it’s Ignacio... we’re ending him."
Her eyes burned like blue fire. "We bring the bastard down. For good."
We stayed like that—foreheads touching, breaths tangled, hearts slamming against bruised ribs.
"I should’ve told you," I murmured.
"I should’ve known something was wrong," she whispered back.
We were both wrong. Both right. Both bleeding in silence. All this time.
"I thought you stopped loving me," she said, voice cracking.
"I never did," I whispered.
"I thought you stopped wanting me."
I laughed feebly. "I want you so much it drives me insane."
She leaned in. "Show me."
That was all it took.