Bought By My Alpha Ex-Husband

I stand in the grimy shadows of the underground black market, watching my Alpha husband, Damon, sell our own son. He crouches in a dark corner, his body drenched in blood.

His claws press fiercely into the unconscious white tiger cub, Finn. [The system blares frantically in my mind, urging me to step in and save them.] Wearing a new face, I walk over and stare down at him. "Buy one, get one free?" I ask. "Name your price, wild boy." Chapter 1 Absurd.

And twisted beyond reason. When the system first told me Damon was selling our son, my palm itched to reach through the void and slap him into the next dimension. But right now?

I just stand around the corner in the shadows. [What the hell happened to him? All those wounds?] I ask the system. [I didn't do a thing!

He's the one out there picking fights like an absolute psycho!] the system frantically replies. [He smashed up an underground black market bar run by the fox clan, dropped highvoltage cables into the mermaid clan's private heated pool, and had a fullblown gang shootout with the eagle clan syndicate that spanned three whole city blocks!] A scoff escapes my lips.

Unbelievable.

Land, sea, and air—he really didn't spare a single faction. [Your son is the protagonist of this world, and he's about to be sold off by his own father before he even grows up!] The system sighs. [Briar, your mission is to stop Damon's downward spiral of madness and get Finn back on the timeline I designed for him.] Taking a deep breath, I step out from the shadows.

I couldn't care less about that bullshit "designed timeline," but I need to secure my place here first. [Wait!] the system warns. [Do not blow your cover.

With how unhinged he is right now, I'm afraid he'll actually attack you! Thank god you have a new face.] My lips twitch, but I say nothing.

The system is giving Damon way too much credit. If he knew who I really was? He wouldn't just attack me—he'd tear me to bloody shreds.

Mask my scent while you're at it, I instruct the system. [Already handled!

As long as you don't out yourself, he'll never recognize you!] I walk over and stop in front of a battered piece of cardboard that reads: Cub for sale to pay for father's funeral.

Just as I'm about to speak, the massive white tiger's nose twitches. He lets out a weak, raspy grunt and cracks his eyes open. His glare is pure murder.

But drenched headtotoe in blood, it feels more like a bluff. Damon hates showing his beast form.

The fact that he's shifting means he's far too damaged to hold his human shape. "You buying?" His voice is a rough, jagged rasp. I shift my gaze to the little cub beside him.

Given the natural instincts of a white tiger, Finn shouldn't be sleeping this soundly. Sensing my suspicion, Damon lets out an impatient huff. "He's alive.

I just drugged him." "Are you out of your fucking m—" I bite my tongue, realizing my voice is spiking with too much heat.

Forcing a tight smile, I correct myself. "How much?" Damon's thick tail lashes against the concrete.

A dead giveaway that his temper is fraying. "How much do you think my funeral expenses will cost?" The grotesque wounds covering him are too glaring.

I force my eyes away. "I think you're far from dead. No need to sell your kid to pay for your own coffin." Damon scoffs. The massive beast shifts back into a man.

The dense network of lacerations that were halfhidden by his fur now map directly onto his human skin, looking exponentially more horrifying.

He sits shirtless, his broad shoulders and eightpack abs carved with a crisscrossing mess of jagged claw marks.

Sweat mixed with fresh blood trails down his deep Vline, disappearing into the waistband of his ruined denim.

Even backed into a corner and bleeding out, the raw, dangerous male pheromones rolling off him are suffocatingly aggressive.

His sharp eyes narrow, his lips totally drained of color. He flashes a reckless, nihilistic smirk. "Who knows?

A beast clan joke like me—a deadbeat who lost his wife and pissed off the entire world—could drop dead at any second." I stare at him, utterly speechless. [I swear to god!] the system rants. [He made all those enemies himself!] Shifting must have drained whatever fuel he had left.

A deep gash on Damon's torso bursts open, thick blood welling up and spilling over.

The sight of it makes my eyes sting. "Well, don't die just yet." I lock eyes with him. "I happen to need a manservant.

I'll buy both of you." Damon raises a brow. "You loaded?" [Briar, be careful!] the system shrieks. [What if this psycho asks for an extortionate amount?!] I shrug imperceptibly, answering internally.

You're the one who dragged me here to fix your mess. So whatever he charges, you're paying. In the end, it cost the system an entire year's worth of salary.

Chapter 2 So, staring at the rundown, cramped studio apartment in front of me, I can't even bring myself to curse. [I'm literally broke,] the system whines, sounding genuinely aggrieved. [It has a roof.

Just make do.] Behind me, Damon steps in, his long legs eating up the space.

His massive shadow swallows me whole. "What's this, sweetheart?" he mocks, his tone begging for a punch to the face. "Maxed out your last credit card buying us?

This dump doesn't even have a decent bed. Planning to make us sleep on the floor tonight?" I ignore him. Carrying Finn in my arms, I walk deeper into the room.

Even after sitting down on the motheaten sofa, I can't bear to let him go.

After returning to my world, I had taken a job at a veterinary clinic, constantly holding the cats and dogs there to fill the aching void in my chest. But it just wasn't the same.

This is my baby. "Like him that much?" Damon unceremoniously drops onto the sofa right beside me.

Fresh blood pours from his wounds, seeping rapidly into the faded fabric of the cushions.

I furrow my brow, recoiling slightly from the heavy scent of blood. "Go bandage yourself up." "Don't know how." He pauses, a dark look crossing his face. "When I had a wife, she always did it for me." Bullshit.

In the past, he never lost a single fight. Gone for a few months, and not only has he gotten weak, but he's also stooped to selling our son.

I can't even pretend to be civil. "Damon, I didn't buy you to act like some pampered prince!" The air flatlines for several agonizing seconds.

Just as I brace for his explosive temper to detonate, he leans in.

His massive frame cages me into the corner of the sofa, a suffocating, terrifying pressure bearing down on me. "I never introduced myself," he rasps, his voice dripping with lethal suspicion. "How do you know my name, hmm?" My heart stutters, but then I force a laugh. "Half the beast clan syndicates in the city have blacklisted you.

Are you oblivious to how infamous you are?" On the ride over, the system hadn't stopped complaining.

It ranted about how Damon had lost his mind, provoking fights everywhere, until every faction—ignoring all past alliances—banned the deranged tiger from their territories.

By the end of its tirade, the system had let out a hysterical, broken laugh. I think Damon has actually driven it to the brink of insanity.

But my husband has never been one for selfreflection. Right on cue, he sneers. "That's because they're a bunch of weak, pathetic cowards. Blacklists?" "Are they toddlers?

I could kick their front doors off the hinges." "Yeah, you're a real badass. So badass you're bleeding all over my couch." "That's because I—" Damon cuts himself off.

He snaps his head away, his jaw tight with irritation. "Where's the medkit?" "No idea. Find it yourself." Finally, a moment of peace.

I lower my eyes to the furry white ball in my lap. Beastmen grow incredibly fast. In just three months, Finn has already doubled in size.

His human form must have hit a growth spurt too. He's a mischievous little terror, but he's always been an absolute mama's boy.

For the past few years, strictly following the system's mandate, I played the role of a spoiled, demanding wife and a spectacularly negligent mother.

Yet, if anyone dared to breathe a single bad word about me, Finn would tackle them and sink his fangs in. Damon was even worse than Finn.

Everyone in the underworld whispered that this apex Sclass Alpha lived like a lapdog around me, obsessively orbiting my every move.

Once, a brother in his crew had slammed his fist on a table in frustration. "If your wife shaved off all your fur one day, you'd probably just crawl over and ask if her hand was tired!" Everyone assumed Damon had zero boundaries when it came to me.

But only I knew the truth. They thought that because I had never crossed his ultimate bottom line. Damon spent his childhood drifting through hell.

At a very young age, he was sold into the underground fighting pits by his own flesh and blood.

He dragged himself back from the brink of death more times than he could count just to survive. Because of that, betrayal is the one thing he cannot tolerate.

I remember a night in bed, his voice wrapped in a terrifyingly soft, romantic murmur. "Wife, if you ever fall for someone else… then none of us make it out alive." And I… I died on my way to a secret rendezvous with another beastman.

Chapter 3 When I first woke up in that hospital bed back in the real world, my mind spun in a disoriented haze.

I asked the system why it hadn't warned me it was time to log out. [The preset storyline runs on its own,] the system had stated matteroffactly. [Your mission was to conquer Damon.

Once the male lead was born, you were supposed to be logged out.

I already let you stay an extra three years.] What happens to them… after? [Damon will uncover mountains of evidence proving your betrayal.

Utterly destroyed by it, he'll give up on love and cycle through endless stepmothers for Finn.

Raised in the shadows of his father's neglect and the stepmothers' abuse, Finn will grow into a twisted, obsessive villain, kickstarting his own dark storyline.] Before I could even rip into that unhinged plotline, the system vanished.

I never thought I'd get a second chance to come back.

My son seems somewhat normal, but my husband beat him to the punchline, turning into a lunatic trying to sell his own flesh and blood.

I run my fingers through Finn's soft white fur. So, I ask the system, did Damon start finding stepmothers for my son yet? The system falls into a weirdly long, heavy silence.

System? [He's already chased off eight of the women practically spoonfed to him by the storyline!] The system explodes. [A highsociety socialite threw herself at him during a gala, and he publicly poured hard liquor all over her haute couture dress!

Some manipulative mean girl played the victim and pretended to faint in front of his pickup truck, and he literally revved the engine, telling her to get the hell out of the way and stop scamming him!

Later, when the daughter of the werewolf clan leader proposed a political marriage, he kicked his boots up on the table, pulled a gun on her, and said the 'widowed' status on his records was never going to change!] Panting through the digital void, it doesn't even give me a second to process. [Your husband is a deranged psycho destroying my entire plotline!] Speak of the devil.

The psycho himself walks back in, carrying a battered medkit. He blows the dust off the lid with obvious disgust.

Then, he grips the hem of his ruined shirt and yanks it over his head. … I steal a glance, rip my eyes away, and inevitably let them drift back.

Somewhere in that backandforth, my gaze accidentally collides with Damon's.

Back when we were together, if we held eye contact for more than ten seconds, we'd somehow always end up tearing each other's clothes off. My throat goes bonedry.

I frantically pet Finn, dropping my gaze to the cub. "Are you always this indecent?" Damon lets out a low, dark chuckle. "People stop caring about decency when they're about to die." He carelessly jams the trauma dressing onto his own lacerations with zero finesse.

Every now and then, a sharp hiss escapes through his gritted teeth. He looks downright pathetic.

I pull Finn tighter against my chest to change the subject. "Why isn't the kid waking up?" Damon's hand stalls over a bloody gash. "I didn't want to deal with his whining.

I gave him ten times the normal dose." … It takes one long, slow breath in and out to suppress the overwhelming urge to smack him across the face.

I carefully carry Finn into the main bedroom and set him on the mattress. Then, I head straight for the shower. When I step back out, I hear the water running in the guest bathroom.

I have no idea why Damon is acting like a clean freak when he's literally sliced to ribbons. Taking a shower right now?

He just washed off all the meds he aggressively shoved into his skin. Pushing open the balcony door, I let the cool, perfect night breeze wash over me for a minute. System?

I call out. Chapter 4 Your storyline is already derailed.

Are you really still holding onto it? [Of course!] the system declares, its tone unyielding. [This was the storyline that generated the absolute highest emotional value during my initial simulations!

My entire upgrade path depends on harvesting those exact emotions!] I hesitate for a second. Could it be that Damon refuses to find Finn a stepmother because… [Oh, please!

It's obviously because he hates you!] the system interrupts. [And by extension, he hates all women right now!] [Once he gets past this phase, he'll start aggressively hunting for a new wife just to retaliate.

I just rushed things too much before.] [Do not interfere with the storyline, Briar.

If you do, the backlash will hit the male lead directly.] You— "You remind me of my wife." The deep voice right behind me shatters my silent conversation with the system.

I spin around. Damon is suddenly there. He didn't make a single sound. He closes the distance step by agonizing step, not stopping until he's towering right in front of me.

My gaze drops to his sharp collarbones. My fingernails dig into my palms. "Is that so? How?" "She called Finn 'cub,' too." My heart slams against my ribs. I open my mouth to speak.

His rough, calloused fingers snap up, gripping my chin and forcing my head up.

His hot breath, heavy with the metallic tang of fresh blood, washes over my face. "But you're not as hot as her." No shit.

Back then, my soul was shoved into a prerendered, dropdead gorgeous avatar the system specifically engineered to seduce him. This face right now? This is the real me.

Superficial bastard, I curse internally. I shove his hand away, dropping my voice to a deliberate, quiet murmur. "You keep bringing up your wife.

You loved her that much?" Damon stares dead into my eyes, his pupils darkening until they nearly swallow his irises. "Her…" He trails off. "She was a wicked woman." "But." His tone flips on a dime.

He leans in closer, invading my space until we are sharing the exact same breath. The corner of his mouth hooks up into a dark, suggestive smirk. "She trained me exceptionally well.

Since you paid good money for me… want to test drive me?" His smile is lethally seductive. It looks exactly like the face he used to make when coaxing me to go another round in bed.

I'm paralyzed by the sheer, aggressive magnetism of it for a solid minute before my brain finally reboots.

To Damon, I am nothing but a random stranger who just bought him and his kid. And he's already offering up his services? Zero selfrespect. What happened to his boundaries?

Is this cheap hustler really the same guy who terrified eight potential stepmothers into running for their lives? I raise my hands to shove him back.

A frantic, ecstatic yell erupts from the bed inside the room. "Mom!" Before I can even turn my head, a furry cannonball launches across the floor.

He shoves Damon out of the way and latches fiercely onto my leg. My chest instantly melts. I bend down, ready to scoop the little cub right up into my arms. He tilts his head up.

His small nose twitches. Then, he jerks himself away, stumbling a step back. "No! You don't smell like Mom!" He shifts forms right there on the floor.

He leaps up and swipes a brutal set of claws directly at Damon. Three fresh, bloody gashes explode across his father's ruggedly handsome face.

The little white tiger bares his fangs, hissing viciously. "You dog! I thought you'd only ever get that close to Mom!

I take my eyes off you for five minutes, and you're already out here finding me a stepmom?!" [Holy shit!] the system yells. [It was my male lead blocking the stepmother plotline all along!

I was wondering how women perfectly tailored to Damon's preferences were failing one after another!] I don't have a spare second to answer the system.

Damon grinds his jaw, sliding his thumb slowly across his bleeding cheek. He stares at the fresh blood smeared on his skin and laughs.

It's a dark, terrifying sound that promises absolute violence. Sure enough. He moves with blinding speed, snatching Finn up by the scruff of his neck.

Seeing that this volatile Alpha father is about to enforce some brutal, physical suppression, I shoot up onto my tiptoes and plant a hard, loud kiss right onto Damon's cheek.

Chapter 5 Taking advantage of his splitsecond distraction, I snatched Finn out of his grip.

The little cub thrashed wildly, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Let me go, you wicked woman! I'll kill—" I clamped the furious ball of fur tightly to my chest.

Brushing past a stunned Damon, I sprinted into the guest bedroom and slammed the door shut, locking it with a sharp click. [What the hell were you thinking, kissing him?!] the system's voice pitched up in panic. [If he actually gets interested in you, how am I supposed to set up a stepmother for the male lead?!] "I'm just a stranger to them now anyway," I shot back. "I might as well take the job." [Do you think I'm an idiot, Briar?

Having his biological mother play stepmom? How is he supposed to have his tragically cold, loveless childhood then?!] I rolled my eyes. Then, my gaze dropped.

I realized Finn had suddenly gone completely still. His fuzzy little head was tilted up, his big, round eyes locked onto my face without blinking.

He stared so hard that his eyes started to water, a glossy sheen welling up in those bright pupils. Biological mother or not, no one could resist that look.

Fuck his tragically cold childhood! My heart ached. I gently stroked the top of Finn's head. opened my mouth. "Actually, I'm your