Chapter 8

"I made your favourite muffins, Ari. Choc chip," Lexi said with a smile as she pushed the plate toward Ariella, a silent look of concern and pleading in her bright eyes.

"Thank you." Making no move to take one, Ariella just kept staring out the window, her chin in her palm as she spent the third morning in a row not eating breakfast. How could she feel like food when her stomach was in a knot and her heart was filled with emptiness?

With a heavy sigh Ariella got up and left the kitchen, unaware of Lexi's frown lovingly trained on her as she pushed out the front door.

Sitting in the swing under the oak tree, Ariella tried to think positively but it was impossible to forget the feeling of her mate.

Of his hands on her shoulders, pushing her away.

He had pushed her away into the cold stream with an even colder expression in those icy blue eyes of his, where before he had stood so closely. She had felt his warm breath on her face, had seen the light dusting of freckles across his nose and