12

My wolf ran until we were far beyond our pack’s territory, but I didn’t try to stop him. If Skye wanted to keep going, to run until we both dropped, I wasn’t about to fight him. What was the point? He’d never listen to me anyway, not now, not after everything I’d done. Giving up felt like the easiest way out, even if I knew it was cowardly. I was too tired, too angry to care. Finally, he stopped, his paws digging into the ground, and he let out a howl that tore through the air, raw and piercing.

It was filled with pain, anger, frustration, and a longing so deep it made my chest ache. Every bit of it was aimed at me, like a blade pointed straight at my heart. I deserved it. My mind drifted back to that disaster of a meeting with Alessandro. Did he know what he was doing when he fed me those lies? Was he deliberately trying to get under my skin? But if he was targeting me through my mate, how could he have known Ashley was mine? I’d only found out yesterday, and the only person I’d told was Katrina. The thought made my stomach twist. “Ugh,” I groaned, anger and frustration boiling inside me, but in my wolf form, the sound didn’t even come out—just a silent snarl in my head.

“Let’s go back to the pack,” I said to Skye through our mindlink, my voice heavy with desperation. “We need to find her.” I didn’t know where Ashley had gone, but I had to try. I had to fix this somehow. But Skye didn’t respond. He stood there, still as stone, his anger radiating through our bond like a fire that refused to die down. “Skye, come on,” I pressed, trying to keep my voice steady. “We’re off our territory. It’s not safe out here. We need to go back.”

“Pathetic,” he muttered, his voice low and laced with so much attitude it made my skin crawl.

“Excuse me?” I snapped, caught off guard by the venom in his tone.

“You’re pathetic,” he said, his words dripping with disgust. “Moon Goddess, I can’t believe I’m stuck with you until one of us finally dies.” His words hit like a punch, bruising my ego. I was his alpha—how dare he talk to me like that? I opened my mouth—or tried to, in my mind—to fire back, but he didn’t give me the chance.

“How dare I what?” he growled, his voice rising with fury. “I’m an alpha wolf, and you keep dragging me down into the dirt with you. Did you not realize what rejecting our mate would cost us? What was your plan, Adrian? What were you thinking? Treating her like garbage wasn’t enough—you had to go and reject her, and now you can’t even take responsibility for it!” His anger burned through me, hot and unrelenting, and I wanted to argue, to throw something back at him, anything to defend myself. But deep down, I knew he was right. I let this happen. Katrina might have manipulated me, Alessandro might have fed me lies, but I was the one who made the choice. I rejected Ashley, and now I was paying the price.

I stayed silent, my hands—or paws—itching to break something, to turn back time and undo the mess I’d made. But I wasn’t in control, not anymore. Skye was calling the shots, and he wasn’t letting me forget it. As if he could sense the thoughts I was trying so hard to block out, he turned around, his movements deliberate. “The Moon Goddess better have a damn good reason for pairing me with you,” he spat, his voice full of contempt. “Not this disaster.” The words stung, cutting deeper because they were the exact thoughts that had run through my head yesterday when I realized Ashley was my mate. I hadn’t said them to her, hadn’t spoken the cruel words out loud, but what did it matter? I’d thought them, and then I’d acted on them, rejecting her without giving her a chance to explain. The guilt was suffocating.

“Skye,” I said, my voice quieter now, almost pleading. “I know I messed up. I know I hurt her—hurt us. But we can’t stay out here. We need to go back, figure this out. We need to find Ashley.”

He didn’t respond, just stood there, his anger still burning through our bond. I could feel it, like a weight pressing down on me, making it hard to think straight. “Skye, please,” I said, trying again. “I’m sorry. I was wrong. But staying out here isn’t going to fix anything. We’re too far from the pack—it’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” he scoffed, his voice bitter. “You think I care about danger right now? You think I’m worried about some rogue or rival pack when you’ve already done the worst damage yourself? You rejected our mate, Adrian. Our mate. Do you even understand what that means? For me? For you? For the pack?”

“I know,” I said, my voice breaking. “I know I screwed up. I let Alessandro get in my head, I let Katrina—” I stopped, the pieces clicking together in my mind. Katrina. She was the only one who knew Ashley was my mate. Had she told Alessandro? Had she set this whole thing up? The thought made my anger flare again, but it was mixed with guilt, because even if she had, I was the one who acted on it. I was the one who pushed Ashley away.

“You let them,” Skye said, his voice low and accusing. “You let them manipulate you because you didn’t trust our mate. You didn’t trust me. And now you want to go back and ‘fix’ it? How, Adrian? How do you fix something like this?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, my voice barely a whisper in our shared mind. “But I have to try. I can’t just… give up.”

Skye let out a low growl, but it wasn’t as fierce as before, like some of his anger was starting to fade, or maybe he was just too tired to keep fighting me. “You don’t deserve her,” he said, his voice quieter now but still heavy with disappointment. “You don’t deserve to be my human.”

Those words hit harder than anything else he’d said. I wanted to argue, to tell him he was wrong, but I couldn’t. He was right. I’d failed him, failed Ashley, failed the pack. “I know,” I said again, my voice small. “But I’m all you’ve got, Skye. And I’m not giving up, not yet.”

He didn’t respond, but I could feel him considering my words, his anger still there but not as overwhelming. I took a deep breath—or as close as I could in this form—and tried one more time. “Let’s go back,” I said. “We’ll find her. We’ll make this right. I don’t know how, but we’ll figure it out.”

“Goddess help me,” I muttered, trying to grit my teeth, which wasn’t even possible in this form.