I Married The Beast Commander, Not His Match Chapter 04

I Married The Beast Commander, Not His Match Chapter 04

The comments still floated through every now and then.

[What is she doing?? Farming?? I’m DEAD.]

[She doesn’t actually think she can live off farming after the divorce, right?]

[The Registry is already investigating the compatibility match.]

Already? Then I needed to move faster.

Every day, I came home covered in dirt, crashed the second I hit the pillow, and dragged myself up again before dawn.

One evening, I came home and found Gideon waiting.

The dining table was covered in a spread of spicy food.

He sat on the couch and looked up when I walked in.

“Hey. You’re back.”

I stared at the food. Something I couldn’t name shifted in my chest.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s eat.”

At the table, he watched me.

“What have you been doing lately? I barely see you anymore.”

“I bought some land.”

He frowned. “Why are you buying land?”

“Farming, building a house, raising livestock.”

“…Audrey, you’re the commander’s wife.”

“You don’t need to farm. That’s not your job. Not while I’m here.”

I looked up at him.

“What if one day you’re not?”

He stared at me.

“I mean… just in case.”

I smiled. “If this ends, I need somewhere to land.”

His expression hardened. When he spoke, his voice dropped low, heavy with an Alpha’s command.

“Who said we’re getting divorced?”

I didn’t answer. I just kept eating.

Sometime in the middle of the night, I woke up to him sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Audrey.”

I opened my eyes. “Yeah?”

“Something’s changed about you.” His gaze searched my face. “Are you still upset with me?”

“It’s not that I don’t want you.” His voice dropped low. “Shifters aren’t like humans. I’m afraid I’d lose control and hurt you.”

So that was why.

But none of it mattered. I wasn’t his true mate.

“Go to sleep. I’ve got an early start at the property tomorrow morning.”

He leaned down and kissed me.

The kiss barely landed. Careful, like I was something that might break.

“I’ll be careful,” he said, his voice gravelly.

I pushed against his chest. “Don’t.”

“Audrey.”

“I’m tired.”

He looked at me with something in his eyes I couldn’t read.

Then, his phone rang.

[IT’S HAPPENING! The Registry finally called!]

[Hahahaha, the ML is about to find out the TRUTH!]

[I can’t WAIT for the ML to lose it and throw her out!]

My heart clenched.

Gideon answered. Whatever he heard wiped all warmth from his face.

He got up and walked out into the hallway.

“When did you find out?”

“Has it been confirmed?”

His voice faded down the hallway.

He came back a few minutes later.

“Something came up. I have to go.”

“Okay.”

The front door clicked shut. Then, silence.

It was finally happening.

I didn’t sleep that night.

All night, there wasn’t one text. Not one call.

And nothing about a divorce.

He’d vanished. Like he’d evaporated from my life entirely.

The old me would have spiraled. Would have checked my phone over and over, overthought everything, waited like a dog at the door.

But now, I just got up and drove out to the property.

I raised seedlings, watered, pulled weeds, fed the livestock.

Every task had a start and a finish, and for the first time in years, I felt steady.

I was elbow-deep in dirt at the edge of the field when a man in a tailored suit made his way toward me.

“Mrs. Sterling?”

“That’s me.” I stood up, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

“I’m with Sterling Real Estate. We’re interested in acquiring your property. Name your price.”

“Not for sale.”

The agent’s expression soured.

“Mrs. Sterling, Mr. Sterling personally has his eye on this property. I’d strongly suggest you reconsider.”

“Julian? Tell him he can come say that to my face.”

He opened his mouth to push back, but I’d already turned and walked away.

[Wait, is that actually Julian?? The ML’s half-brother, the human-wolf hybrid??]

[Her luck is INSANE. Julian literally runs half the empire’s economy.]

[Pls, Julian’s standards are just as high as the ML’s. There’s no way he’d be into her.]

I didn’t care how rich he was. Anyone who tried to take my land was getting scratched, bitten, and chased off my territory like a stray.

I worked until dark and came home.

Gideon still wasn’t back.

Three years of waiting. Three years of holding on to nothing. And just like that, I let go.