40

~Avia

I find Isaiah standing outside the compound, staring off into the small woods that flank it.

He wears the shadows like a cloak, not looking my way as I approach. My heart pounds wildly, stomach fluttering. I'm frightened he will tell me he won't forgive me, that he doesn't want anything to do with me.

But I'm also frightened he will tell me he does want to be with me, and everything will go back to being complicated.

He continues to stare straight ahead into the darkness as I lean my back against the wall of the building next him. "I don't even know your name."

"It's Avia," I whisper.

"Avia," he mouths, testing my name out on his lips.

I've become so accustomed to hearing him call me Kenna that my stomach flips hearing my true name. I never thought we would get to this part, where he knew my name before his reign as Alpha has been taken down. But it feels right, as if the last puzzle piece has been slotted in to confirm we truly are mates, because the feeling that overcomes me h