Chapter Five

POV: Bella

I pushed away the tightness in my chest, forcing myself to pace the length of the cabin, my bare feet pressing against the wooden floor.

Every breath I took felt wrong.

The man lying on my couch, wrapped in the blanket I had thrown at him, was the same man who had humiliated me in front of our entire pack.

The same man who had made me believe I was nothing.

And now, he was here—weak, vulnerable, completely at my mercy.

It should have felt good.

It should have felt like justice.

But instead, all I felt was anger.

Anger at him.

Anger at myself.

Anger at the damned mate bond that kept tying us together, no matter how much I wanted to rip it apart.

I turned, my hands clenched into fists, and stormed toward the couch.

Sage lay still, his face half-hidden by the shadows of the dim firelight.

His body was exhausted, but not broken.

The Alpha was still there, beneath the layers of weakness and fever, beneath the filth of his exile.

I hated that I could still see it.

The raw power, the arrogance, the unshaken pride.

Then, slowly, his eyes opened.

I stiffened.

His golden-green gaze flickered over mine, assessing, calculating. There was no gratitude there.

No acknowledgment of what I had done for him.

Just silent, unreadable judgment.

For a long moment, neither of us spoke.

Then… he opened his mouth and vile words came out.

"I expected you to be weaker."

My breath hitched.

I stared at him, heat rising in my chest, burning through my veins.

He didn’t just say that.

"You—" My hands shook. "Are you serious right now?"

Sage slowly sat up, wincing slightly as his body adjusted. But even in his weakened state, he exuded dominance.

Like he still thought he was above me.

Like he wasn’t the one half-dead on my couch.

"Four years," he mused, his voice hoarse but still infuriatingly controlled. "And yet, you still smell the same."

All I saw was red.

I grabbed a cup off the nearby table and hurled it at him.

Sage’s eyes narrowed, his reflexes still sharp despite his condition. He caught it midair with one hand, his fingers tightening around the ceramic.

Then, to my utter disbelief, he smirked.

My breathing came fast, ragged. "I should have left you out in the rain."

His smirk widened. "But you didn’t."

My nails bit into her palms.

Why was he like this?

Why wasn’t he grateful? Why wasn’t he shaken by what had happened to him?

Did he not realize he had been hunted, cast out, stripped of everything?

Did he not understand that I was the only reason he was alive right now?

"Get out," I hissed.

Sage just watched me, his expression unreadable.

"Go crawl back to whatever hole you came from," I snapped, rage burning through me. "I don’t care where you go, but you’re not staying here."

A muscle in Sage’s jaw ticked.

Then, slowly, he swung his legs over the edge of the couch.

His movements were slower than usual, but not weak.

He sat up, the blanket sliding off his bare chest.

But I refused to react.

"You think you have the power to order me around?" Sage murmured, tilting his head. "That’s adorable."

My hands began to shake, anger surging through me.

He had no right to talk to me like this. No right to act like he still had control.

I was the one who saved him.

I had taken him in, kept him alive.

And he was still the same arrogant, insufferable bastard.

"I don’t care if you think I have power or not," I snapped. "I want you gone."

Sage leaned back slightly, exhaling slowly.

"Ungrateful," he muttered, shaking his head.

And then my breath caught.

I took a step forward before I could stop myself, my entire body seething with fury.

"Ungrateful?" I hissed. "You’re calling me ungrateful?" My fingers pointing at him

Sage lifted his gaze, watching her in that infuriatingly calm way.

"You should be thanking me," he murmured.

And I laughed bitterly.

"Thanking you?" I echoed. "For what, exactly? For rejecting me? For humiliating me in front of the entire pack? For calling me weak?"

Sage said nothing.

His eyes flickered, just slightly, but his expression remained composed.

His silence only infuriated her more.

"You are unbelievable," I spat.

Still, Sage said nothing.

Then, finally…

"I knew you’d survive," he murmured.

I pauser

My stomach tightened.

Sage’s voice was quieter this time, almost thoughtful. "I knew you weren’t as weak as they thought."

Something inside me shook.

The words weren’t exactly an apology.

They weren’t even close.

But they hit me anyway.

Because, somehow, despite all his arrogance, all his pride, all his cold indifference—

He had still known.

Still believed I could make it.

My chest tightened with something I couldn’t name.

Then I shoved it down.

Because it didn’t matter.

He still hadn’t wanted me.

He still wasn’t sorry.

"You’re a bastard," I whispered.

Sage just watched me.

I turned away before he could see the way my hands shook.

Before he could see that despite everything, despite every cruel thing he had done, despite every reason I had to hate him—

My heart still betrayed me.  

I walked away, leaving him on the couch.

But I felt it.

The weight of his gaze never leaving me.

And I hated that some small part of me still wanted to turn back.

I walked away, but her hands wouldn't stop shaking.

My heart thundered against my ribs, my breath uneven, my pulse out of control.

This was wrong.

Sage shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be in my home, in my space, in my thoughts.

He was the past.

A past I had buried.

And yet….

His voice stopped me.

"You still want me."

I froze.

The words wrapped around me like a vice, sending a fresh wave of heat up my spine.

I turned slowly, my eyes burning as they locked onto his.

"What did you just say?" I whispered, my voice dangerously low.

Sage leaned back against the couch, his body still weak, but his arrogance unshaken.

"You heard me." His golden-green eyes gleamed in the dim firelight, the same intensity, the same power as before. 

"You can say whatever you want, Bella. But your body doesn’t lie."

My nails bit into her palms.

"You’re insane," I spat.

Sage's lips curled into a smirk.

"Am I?" he murmured, his voice dropping lower. "Your scent tells me otherwise."

I couldn't blink my eyes, my breath caught up in my throat.

I took a step back, forcing my body not to react, forcing my wolf to stay silent.

I hated him. I did.

But the bond still existed.

And Sage knew it.

He inhaled slowly, deliberately, and his smirk widened.

"You can try to deny it," he continued, watching her with infuriating confidence. "But you feel it. I can see it in the way you breathe, the way you tremble, the way your pulse—"

"Shut up!" I snapped, my voice shaking with fury.

Sage didn’t flinch.

He just watched her.

Like he was waiting.

Daring me to admit the truth.

Daring me to break first.

My emotions were spiraling too fast, too raw, too sharp.

I needed to leave.

Before I did something I could never take back.

Before I lost control.

I turned on my heel and stormed toward the door to my bedroom, slamming it shut behind me.

My hands gripped the wooden frame, my body shaking with anger and something dangerously close to longing.