TRISTANI’d had enough.It had been days, weeks, of this suffocating silence between us. The tension was unbearable, and I was losing patience. I tried to be understanding, tried to give her the space she needed, but I was done pretending that nothing was happening between us. I couldn’t keep doing this.I saw her slip out of the pack meeting, her head down, trying to disappear into the shadows. I knew her routine. I always knew where she was.I pushed through the crowd, moving quickly, determined to stop her before she could escape. I grabbed her arm gently, pulling her aside.“Eleanor,” I said, my voice low, but sharp. “Don't even think about running .”Her eyes widened, and for a moment, I thought she was going to pull away, to resist. But she didn’t. Instead, she took a deep breath and looked at me with those eyes. Eyes that used to hold warmth, affection. Now? Now, they were distant. Cold.“What the hell do you want now?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper. “There’s nothing l
ELEANOR“Did you hear? They say Alpha Tristan has already found his mate,” a voice whispers just behind me.I force myself not to react, though it’s impossible to ignore the murmur of gossip that surrounds me. I try to keep my eyes on the ground, pretending I haven’t heard the words. But my pulse quickens with each whispered sentence.“I heard she’s already been marked. He’s just trying to keep it quiet.” Another voice joins in, low and laced with gossip, like it’s all just one big secret waiting to be spilled.“Maybe it’s Lila?” someone else offers, their tone filled with curiosity. “They’ve been spending so much time together lately. Plus, she’s—” The voice lowers, “—she’s a firebrand, you know? She's exactly what the Alpha needs.”I feel the weight of their eyes on me, but I don’t look up. They think I don’t notice, but I do. I know they’re talking about me. About Lila. About Tristan. And every word cuts a little deeper than the last.Another voice chimes in, more skeptical. “But..
MAURICEThe days following my conversation with Tristan were tense. Every time I saw him, he seemed more withdrawn. It wasn’t just his mood; it was his entire demeanor. He was distant, almost distracted. There was a wariness in his eyes that wasn’t there before, as if he was carrying a burden he didn’t want to share.I decided to observe him more closely. It was clear that something was eating at him, but he wasn’t going to open up anytime soon. What struck me the most, though, was how he reacted every time Eleanor entered a room. His eyes would flicker toward her, just a brief glance, but it was always longer than necessary. And there was a softness in his gaze that I’d never seen before.At first, I thought I was just imagining it—maybe I was reading too much into things. But the more I watched, the more I realized it wasn’t a coincidence. Tristan’s control, his usual ability to keep his emotions in check, was slipping when it came to Eleanor. There was a tension there, something un
MAURICE“So,” I began casually, leaning back in my chair and taking a sip of my drink. “You excited for the mate-picking ceremony?”Tristan’s body stiffened the moment I said it. His eyes darkened, his jaw tightened. I could see the muscles in his arm flex as his fingers twitched, like he was fighting the urge to grab something—anything—to release the tension in his body.He didn’t respond immediately. I waited, watching him carefully, knowing he was trying to figure out how to avoid the question. But I wasn’t going to let it slide.Tristan wasn’t the type to let things go unspoken. But today, there was something different about him. Something… off. The usual confidence he exuded was absent, replaced by an uncomfortable silence that seemed to linger around him like a dark cloud.We’d been training together for years, and I knew him better than anyone. When you spend that much time with someone, you can read them like an open book. So, when I saw Tristan sitting across from me, his pos
TRISTANI could feel it. Eleanor was avoiding me. I saw it in the way she wouldn’t make eye contact, the way she’d leave training early whenever I showed up. It was like she was running from me, and it hurt even more because of the bond pulling me toward her.I couldn’t just let this continue. I had to do something.“Eleanor!” I called, catching her just as she tried to leave the training ground.She froze. Her back was to me, but I could see her shoulders tense up.“What now, Tristan?” she asked, her voice flat, as if she didn’t care.I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “Get your head in the game,” I said, trying to sound like myself. “I’m pushing you harder today. Maybe it’ll help you snap out of whatever this is.”She turned to face me, her jaw tight. “You think this is about training?” she snapped, her eyes flashing. “You think this is about anything other than the fact that I’m trapped?”I took a step closer, my chest tight. “Trapped? Eleanor, don’t—”“I can’t do this anym
LILAIt was becoming hard to ignore the cracks in Elle’s armor. The way her moods shifted, the way she tensed at the mere mention of Tristan’s name, the way she could never stay in the same room with him for too long—it was all there, if you knew where to look. And I, for one, knew exactly what I was looking at.She wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all me.The afternoon sun cast a warm glow over the training grounds, but despite the brightness, I felt a heaviness settle over me as I watched Eleanor. She was pushing through her drills like a machine, but her movements were stiff, like she was forcing herself to be there, forcing herself to pretend everything was fine. I could see it in the way she kept her gaze fixed to the ground, avoiding my eyes every time our paths crossed.I couldn't stand it anymore."Hey," I called out, walking up to her after she finished a particularly hard set of strikes. Her dark hair was damp with sweat, but she didn’t look at me.“Lila, not now,” she murmu