Se connecterFROST POV
My eyes widened as I heard the words roll out his mouth.
“What?” I muttered in disbelief but he only smiled at me and turned back to look at Kieran.
“You heard me, when do we start?”
“Jackson,” I took hold of his wrist and made him turn to look at me. “W–what are you doing? You can’t be serious about this.”
“But I am, Frost. I am serious about this,&rdq
JACKSON’S POV“Let go,” I said, my voice coming out rougher than I intended. I tried to pull away, but his grip only tightened.“Jackson, please—”“Frost. Let. Go.” I yanked harder, panic and anger rising up inside me. “What the hell are you even doing here? What gives you the damn right to?!”“I’m sorry.” His voice broke on the words.“Jackson, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things. I shouldn’t have—”“You’re sorry?” A bitter laugh escaped my lips before I could stop it. “You’re sorry for what exactly? You think that fixes anything? You think—“Before I could get another word in, Frost yanked me forward, his arms wrapping tightly around my waist as he pulled against him. The desperation in his hold would've broken my heart…if it wasn’t already shattered.“I know it doesn’t fix anything,” he said against my shoulder, his voice low and muffled. “But I need you to know. I need you to understand that I never meant to hurt you.”“Get off me!” I pushed at his chest in my patheti
JACKSON’S POVThey’d seen everything. The destroyed apartment, the evidence of whatever breakdown I’d had. And now I’d have to explain it.Explain why I’d trashed my own place, why I hadn’t been answering their calls, why I’d completely ghosted them after the dinner party disaster.How was I supposed to do that?Mom, Dad, I fell in love with a supernatural being who can create ice and has amnesia, and then he broke my heart because he loves me too much to let me be in danger.Yeah.That would go just perfect.My chest tightened with a new kind of panic, different from the grief that had been consuming me only moments ago.This was the panic of impending doom, of having to face questions I had no answers for, of disappointing people who’d always expected better from me.I wasn’t ready for this. I wasn’t ready for their concerned faces, their questions that would feel like accusations, their inevitable suggestions about getting back together with Tammy and getting my life back on track.
JACKSON’S POVI turned a corner and stopped dead in my tracks.The jewelry store. I’d passed it a hundred times before without really noticing it, just another shop in a long row of them.But now, with the evening light catching on the displays in the window, I couldn’t look away.Flowers. Elaborate arrangements in crystal vases, roses and lilies and exotic blooms I couldn’t name.And beside them, jewelry—necklaces and bracelets and rings that sparkled under the lights like captured stars. Like the roses Frost had brought me.Like the chocolate he’d saved up his first paycheck to buy. Like the way his eyes had lit up when he’d presented them to me, so proud, so hopeful, so utterly convinced that he could make me happy.Before he’d decided happiness wasn’t worth the risk. That I wasn’t worth the risk.My throat tightened up and my vision blurred, trying desperately to stop the tears threatening to fall.And suddenly I was moving again, faster this time, my feet carrying me away from th
JACKSON’S POV“You’re well set to go now, Hayes. Your blood pressure has stabilized and the glucose should give you enough energy to get home safely.”The school nurse—Mrs. Patterson, a sweet old thing around her fifties maybe who’d seen me through countless minor injuries since the first year—gave me the gentlest of smiles as she removed the IV from my arm.I watched the needle slide out, barely feeling it.I guessed that my body was just too numb to feel anything really.“Thanks,” I mumbled, pressing the cotton she handed me against where she’d punctured.“Take it easy for the rest of the evening,” she advised, making notes on her clipboard. “You’re still recovering. Plenty of rest, fluids, and make sure you eat a proper meal. Your body needs it right now.”I nodded barely listening to a word she was saying. I gathered my things and tucked them away into my backpack.It felt heavier than usual as I slung it over my shoulder, everything in my body still sluggish and weak.Of course I
FROST’S POVI fought. Goddess help me, I fought with everything I had in me. But it still wasn’t enough.It was never going to be enough.They brought me back to the cave, back to the circle of elders who looked at my struggle with cold satisfaction.“Bind him properly this time,” Malachai ordered. “We cannot have any more interruptions.”They forced me to my knees again, but this time they used chains instead of rope. Heavy iron chains etched with runes that burned against my skin.“Father!” I screamed, looking desperately for him in the crowd. “Father, please! Don’t let them do this! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’ll do whatever you want, I’ll marry her, I’ll do anything, just please don’t—”He was there, standing at the edge of the circle. I met his eyes, begging him without words to show me some mercy, some sign that I still mattered to him.But he turned away.Just turned and walked out of the cave.“No! Father, please! FATHER!”The elders resumed their chanting, louder now, more for
FROST POVThe words cut sharper than I wanted to admit.I felt something inside me shatter, some last desperate hope that maybe, just maybe, he would understand. That the bond between a father and a son would matter more than tradition.But looking at his face—cold, flat and utterly unmoved by my pain—I realized I’d been fooling myself.“What are you going to do with me?”Father turned to Elder Malachai and the smile that arched on his face sent shivers down my back.“You are to be banished.”I felt my blood run cold.“Banished?” I stared at him in disbelief. “You can’t—you can’t banish me. The pack needs—”“The pack needs a leader who will put them first,” Cassia interrupted. “Not a selfish child who would abandon his people to follow his deviant desires. We will not have an Alpha wh







