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Not long after Rose's first birthday, Robin gave birth to her son, and endured the silent heartache of a bereaved mother as Asher claimed paternal rights to his son. None of the hospital's staff dared gainsay him; he was the most powerful alpha in New York, and he had a network of assassins and other undesirables that rivalled anything the mafia might once have produced.
In another sting to her already sore heart, Asher named his newborn son George, and as Robin recovered, he laid out his plan. George was going to be sent to the Green Arches packhouse in Wisconsin. There, he was going to be raised by Luna Sarah, matriarch of the pack, and from there, he'd be used as a way to get final revenge on the Black Cold pack. He'd become the now fourteen-year-old Gloria's husband, and father a son who would turn on his mother and kill her, thus eliminating the Black Cold pack for good. Robin shivered when she heard this plan, but she knew better than to protest. She could only hope that Luna Sarah would have the good sense to turn baby George from his foreordained path.
Asher, however, put paid to that the day George was packed off to Wisconsin with his wet-nurse in tow. "I've placed a blood binding on him," he told his pale-faced wife as she packed her things, ready to come home. "If anyone tries to sway him from his path, he will die. And his death will trigger Gloria's, since the binding ties them together with bonds stronger than the most robust steel."
Robin swore softly under her breath as she zipped her suitcase. "I can't believe you're so hellbent on eradicating the Black Cold pack," she snapped, turning to face her husband. "What have they ever done to you?"
"More than you could ever know, woman," Asher said coldly. "Now shut up and get the fuck in the car. You've already made a spectacle of yourself, and if you don't want to get beaten to within an inch of your life, you'll shut your fucking mouth. Or that little parasite dies."
Robin bit her tongue to contain the heated response that rushed to her lips. "I forgot myself," she said as meekly as she could manage. She'd learned this was the one way to get Asher to withhold his promised hiding, and he grunted, as he always did when she forced him to back down like this in public. Still, she had the feeling, as she followed him to the car, that Asher would pay her out for all the times she'd thus made him hold himself back from beating her black and blue.
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Asher proved her right that night as he entered their room. "Jo's going back to Kansas," he said, yanking his tie undone and tossing it to the floor. Robin, already undressed and installed in the bed, shivered, knowing he longed to strangle her with it. "He's gotten too soft, and that little brat of yours is to blame. He'll get the softness beaten out of him in no time."
Robin sighed. "He's your son," she agreed, heartsick that little Rose would lose her most steadfast protector. "You can do with him as you wish."
"As I'll do to your daughter," Asher said coldly as his shirt, pants, socks, and underwear joined the tie on the floor. "She's going to Tennessee tomorrow. My sister will raise her to be everything you are not, woman. Roses need to grow thorns, and that brat will never learn now to be a Luna with you cosseting her."
Robin resisted the urge to point out that little Rose was not the delicate flower her name implied, and that cosseting never worked with her; the little girl was half-werewolf after all, and she had the willpower to match. Asher's sister was going to be in for a world of trouble if she thought she'd get her niece to do as she wished; Rose was also half-human, and she had the stubborness to match.
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Life resumed its dreary course after Jo and Rose left the next day, but Asher seemed to no longer have an interest in his wife. In fact, that night, he told her that the next day, she'd be moving to a suite of her own on the second floor. "You've served your purpose," he told her. "From now on, you can do as you will. But you will never, ever be able to escape me. Our vows tie us together, and you know what will happen if one or the other of us breaks them."
Robin knew all too well, and though she was immensely relieved to be free of her marital obligations, she felt dread as well. She could dally as she wished with other men - though the thought of sex repulsed her after three years of Asher's abuse - but she'd never be able to run away with another man. Her vows would kill her if Asher didn't complete the job first
Even so, she wasn't entirely ungrateful for her freedom. It meant she could sleep undisturbed, and Asher could do as he wished, though the thought of him abusing and raping other innocent women sent a shiver down her spine. She just hoped the next unlucky woman he lured into his bed proved to be just as bad as he was, if not worse. It would serve him right to be given a taste of his own medicine.
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Satine was very disgruntled at losing her son again, and she and Robin often commiserated over brutes who thought they could do as they wished and the devil take the hindmost. Satine never came outright and said she hated Asher, but Robin was glad to know she wasn't alone in her dislike of the man who was still her husband against her wishes. Asher had never loved her, and he never would, but Robin had the feeling he was keeping her around purely to torment and spite her, to prevent her from seeking the freedom she so desperately craved. It was as if he decided that, since he no longer wanted her, no other man had the right to her hand, and Robin felt that fetter very keenly every time an attractive man paid a compliment to her, or showed her even a small amount of kindness. She was wary, of course, fearing that any of these men would prove to be as bad as Asher behind closed doors, but even so, it warmed her heart to know that, at least on the surface, these men were nothing like her husband.
But the knowledge of her ironclad wedding vows meant she could never smile back, or reply in equally light banter. She could, but at the same time, she couldn't, knowing Asher would never let her go. Not because he wanted, but because he didn't want her finding happiness with another man. It was the ultimate revenge, and Robin wished there was some way she could break her vows without suffering.
It was no use expecting Asher to deliberately break his side of the bargain. He began taking a succession of women to his bed after banishing Robin, but they were all one night stands. No matter how alluring the woman was, he'd never break his vows and commit to another woman, not if it meant Robin's freedom. And Robin felt that sting every day as she came downstairs and saw the latest bedmate being treated to a lavish, but solitary breakfast. The poor woman was usually in tears, leaving Robin to comfort her as best she could, before the unfortunate victim gathered her things and left in silent misery.
Sometimes, though, the bedmate was smug, but there was sadness underneath the smugness when Asher failed to appear, leaving them to depart in equally silent misery when they could stay no longer. Robin watched them closely, and soon noticed a pattern. The smug ones never ended up becoming pregnant, but the unhappy ones always ended up conceiving, and Robin felt fresh anger seize her eveyr time she learned of yet another bastard-born child who had the unmistakeable features of the White Spring pack. Those were the times Robin wished she could conceive a child of her own to balance the influx of children who would one day be claimed by their father and raised to be as merciless and cruel as him.
For, not long after each child was born, they were taken from their bereaved mothers, who often committed suicide not long afterwards. And those children were sent all over the United States, to be raised in the harsh doctrine of the White Springs. It wasn't unheard of for those children to promised to one another, thus keeping the bad blood in the family, so to speak. Robin prayed her own daughter wouldn't be forced to mate with one of her half-brothers when that time came, but she feared Asher would do just that as yet another strike against her already damaged heart.
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Robin sighed as she stood at her window. It had now been five years since she'd married Asher, and as she looked at the gloomy streetscape below, she felt as empty and barren as the trees, fast losing their leaves before the onset of winter. Two years had passed since George and Rose had been taken from her, and she'd heard nothing of either child. She prayed this meant good news, but she knew deep down such silence was not a good thing. There was no telling what George was going through, and she didn't even want to think about the atrocities her daughter was suffering at the hands of her aunt. Silence was probably a good thing, she decided.
A knock on the door arrested her thoughts, and she turned, startled when she saw Asher standing in the doorway, dressed for travel. "I'm going away," he told her. "There are affairs in the Midwest that need my attention. You will stay here in New York. You can travel about as you please, but you will not leave the city limits. If you do, I will come down on you no matter where I am. I might not have conjugal relations with you any more, but you are still my wife. Do I make myself clear?"
Robin nodded silently, and Asher grunted before leaving. Left alone once more, she returned to the window, just as the rain started falling again, and it wasn't much longer before the black Ferrari disappeared into the city traffic. It was still early in the morning, but people were going about their business despite the early hour and the inclement weather, and Robin shivered. She'd never dared set foot out of the house, and with Asher's last warning ringing in her ears, she had even less inclination to do so.
Satine soon appeared at her elbow. "Got the coffee on," she told her mistress in the gravelly voice Robin had come to appreciate over the last five years. "Got it strong and black today."
"Thanks," Robin said, summoning her best smile for the woman who had, all unknowingly, become her best friend. "A cup of strong, black coffee is just the thing I need."
"Don't we all," Satine said. "C'mon, girl. It's best to keep movin'. World don't stop turnin' 'cause of one brute."
Even so, as Robin followed her downstairs, she wished the world would stop turning, or at the very least, let her get off. Five years was too long to be trapped in a loveless marriage with a monster of a man, and there were many more years still to come.
It was not a pleasing thought, and not even the strongest, blackest coffee could kill the utter hopeleness that finally surfaced after years of suppression. And as she downed her coffee, Robin knew she no longer wanted to be in this world.
But who would be there to rescue her, with Asher's ironclad will refusing to let her go?
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