The Breaking Point of Mate: Giving Up on My Alpha novel Chapter 49

Melanie’s POV

I was in the kitchen, watching the egg in the pan–tiny brown bubbles formed around the edges, like the stubborn numbness in my chest.

“It’s a little better,” I said, turning the heat down, keeping my voice completely flat.

“That’s good,” Trista said, chewing something. Her voice was muffled and light, like it was padded with cotton.

Our conversation stopped right there.

It never used to be like this.

Before, she always had a million things to share: whose wolf awakened first at school, or which pup was learning scent control by the field.

But in the last two years, our conversations got shorter and shorter.

If she was worried about something, she went to Camille first. I learned to keep my silence contained, like sealing a scent in a jar, twisting the lid tight so nothing leaked out.

She really did care that I was hurt, but her concern stayed on the surface.

If she were truly worried, she could have asked for my address last night and had the driver bring her over.

But she didn’t.

Finding no common ground, Trista suddenly spoke up, “Daddy, do you want to talk to Mommy?”

I snapped out of my daze.

I flashed back to yesterday: I lost my balance, and he didn’t reach out; I twisted my ankle, and he stood and watched.

Besides indifference, he was probably worried Camille would get the wrong idea.

In his mind, Camille’s feelings always came first.

As for me he didn’t need to care about my struggles.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have acted the way he did yesterday.

Just as I was about to say, “No, thanks,” Archer spoke first, “Does she want to talk to me?”

Trista relayed the message. “Mommy, Daddy wants to know if you want to talk to him on the phone.”

My throat felt like a thin thorn was caught in it. “No, thanks. Mommy’s busy.”

“Oh,” she said, then turned back to him. “Daddy, Mommy said no.”

“Mhm,” Archer replied flatly.

“Well, bye, Mommy.”

“Mhm, bye.”

I put the plate on the table. My phone was still lit,

A faint glow at the top showed the call was ongoing–Trista hadn’t hung up immediately.

Trista’s voice came through. “Daddy, I think Mommy’s mad.”

1/3

Chapter 49

+25 Bonus

Archer responded coolly, “Is she?”

In that instant, Frost’s ear twitched, then slowly flattened.

My finger froze, then I quickly hit the hang–up button.

I stared at the light before the screen went dark.

A barely–there tremor came from behind my sternum, like thin ice touched by a fingertip.

I paused for a second. “Was I angry?”

It didn’t feel like rage–there was no fire, no urge to bite or fight.

It felt more like a cold breath after holding my scent in for too long–unscented, just frozen solid inside.

If it were true rage, my wolf would have risen. But Frost just wrapped her tail around her feet, silently refusing to look at me.

She wouldn’t speak for me. She was waiting for me to admit it myself.

I picked up my cup and drank some water. The temperature was perfect, but it felt cold sliding all the way down my throat.

Over the next few days, I worked remotely from home.

Trista called every day to ask about my ankle, but just as I expected, she never offered to visit me.

Every inquiry felt like it was filtered through a thin veil: soft, but completely noncommittal.

Elmer and I submitted our paper.

Two days later, Marcus’s annotations flew back–what we thought was high–level synthesis was still deemed “insufficient, with fragmented logic and overly narrow application scenarios.”

So, for the next few days, we worked and reworked the assignment, refining every point of argument.

By Monday, my ankle was mostly recovered.

The self–healing was nearly complete, and the swelling had largely gone down. I just wasn’t ready to drive yet.

After I got to the office, Elmer told me, “Archer is probably serious about working with us this time.”

Sure enough, at noon, Technical Director Dominic Silva arrived. His position was at Archer’s private tech company, not the Atkinson Group.

When we first met, he shook my hand with restraint. “Hello, Ms. Willis.”

“Hello,” I nodded.

The subsequent discussion was surprisingly smooth. Issues were settled one after another.

At lunchtime, Hilltop Tech, as was custom, invited the collaborating colleagues to eat.

We had just gotten out of our car when the doors of an SUV across the street popped open simultaneously–Archer and Camille stepped out.

Elmer rubbed his temples and muttered, “What a coincidence.”

Dominic’s eyes lit up, and he immediately raised a hand. “Alpha Archer!”

I checked Frost in my mind. This time, she only showed me her retreating back.

The two turned.

2/3

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify