(Derek's POV)
I couldn't bear to let Sarah see me like this—an alpha reduced to such a pathetic state. I covered my eyes with my hand, feeling the warm mixture of blood and tears seeping between my fingers. My claws had dug so deeply into my palms that they'd drawn blood, and now that blood mingled with something I hadn't experienced in decades—tears.
The familiar weight of my overwhelming alpha presence felt fractured, splintering around me like shards of silver. My wolf, usually so controlled, howled in anguish inside me, a sound I couldn't release without shattering what little composure I had left.
"You're bleeding," Sarah observed, her voice flat.
I didn't respond. What was physical pain compared to this crushing weight in my chest?
Sarah left the room briefly, returning with something in her hand. Her beta wolf was still bristling with protective fury, but her expression had shifted slightly.
"If it weren't for this, I would never have let you into our den," she said coldly
