The air outside the pack house is thick with a suffocating stillness, a silent witness to the turmoil raging within me. The crowd that had gathered before I went in have dispersed now.The confrontation with Zara has left me raw, exposed, and utterly furious. I stride away from the pack house, my steps deliberately quick, my jaw clenched. I can feel Nox behind me, recovering the confusion of my ignoring him, his gaze a burning weight on my back.“Tamsin, wait!” His voice cuts through the quiet, edged with a pain that makes Kira whimper in my head. "He sounds so lost, Tamsin. Please, just talk to him."But I push Kira’s plea away, burying it beneath layers of anger and shame. How can I face him? How can I look into his eyes, knowing Zara is carrying his child, knowing the depths of the manipulations that led us here? Knowing I played a major role in it all.The humiliation is a bitter taste on my tongue. It’s too much.I reach my car, the luxury vehicle now feeling like a burden,
The pack house air, once so familiar, feels thick and suffocating as I walk away from Nox. Kira is a desperate, guttural sob in my head and her despair is raw and mind wrecking.I fight back my own tears, my throat tight with the effort. The sight of him… he looks like a shadow of himself. The dark circles under his eyes, the hollows in his cheeks from considerable weight loss – it’s a stark testament to the pain he’s endured. The feel of him, even for those fleeting two seconds in his embrace, sparked a dormant ache deep within me. His acceptance of me being his true mate, the desperate hope in his eyes… it’s overwhelming. But it’s too late. It has to be. I bar myself of all emotions, constructing a cold, unfeeling wall. It’s too late for him to accept me now. He sealed his fate when he rejected me, and I sealed mine when I ran.Fuck him...fuck him...fuck him...fuck him!My feet carry me deeper into the pack house, and it feels both alien and achingly familiar. I’m almost lost in
"Maybe a bottle of whiskey can help?" Cyan suggests like a devil in my head.Tempting, but I don't give in. I've made up my mind to combat my mother and Zara, take back my seat in the pack and find my true mate to make things right.To do that, I have to be sober and clear thinking, not the drunk that I wound up being. My body has recovered from the poisoning that my mother fed me with, but not entirely.I'm still lacking flesh and muscle, but who cares about that now? My position has been usurped. The last thing I need to care about is my preening.I’m wandering through the woods near town, seeking the elusive peace of solitude, but finding only the stupid temptation and agitation of Cyan. He’s been a storm inside me for months now, a tempest of frustration and longing. Ever since Tamsin left. Ever since Zara, with her smug authority and manufactured Luna aura, somehow managed to take over the pack, twisting everything into a grotesque imitation of order.And well, alcohol was our
The chill of the early morning air bites at my exposed skin, but it's a welcome sensation, a stark contrast to the suffocating warmth of the motel.Dante stands beside my sleek silver car, the engine already idling, his silhouette etched against the nascent blush of dawn. He’s dressed simply, a dark jacket against the cool air, and his eyes, usually so quick to tease, hold a rare solemnity.“So, this is it, cara,” he says, his voice soft, a hint of his usual wry humor just beneath the surface. He runs a hand through his dark hair, a gesture that always made me smile. “You’re really going back.”I nod, gripping the steering wheel. “I have to, Dante. It’s… it’s where I belong. Even if I don’t know what I’m going back to.”He sighs, a slow, deliberate sound. “I know, bellissima. I understand. Your heart is set on another, isn’t it?” He meets my gaze, his eyes knowing, accepting. “Even a human like me can see it. That’s how you wolves are, I suppose. One true mate, one true love.”I open
The steering wheel is cold beneath my white-knuckled grip, the fine leather a stark contrast to the burning ache in my shoulders and the persistent throb behind my eyes. The long drive has been relentless, but compared to the storm brewing in my mind, the aches in my shoulders is a welcome distraction.Every mile that vanishes in the rearview mirror feels like a deliberate act of defiance, leaving behind the suffocating chaos of Lior’s fractured reality. But with each mile, another truth asserts itself: I’m driving myself back to the place that nearly destroyed me, the pack that tore me apart. My eyes are heavy, my limbs scream for rest, but I keep pushing, the engine’s hum a monotonous mantra. The windows are down, the air heavy with the sweet, humid scent of dusk and pine, a stark reminder of the wildlands I’m slowly re-entering.Away from the city... finally.Earlier today, a desperate, almost primal urge for a clean slate, a shedding of the false skin Lior had adorned me with,
I wake up to an empty bed. For a second, I think maybe Dante just slipped into the bathroom or the kitchen for coffee, but the sheets beside me are cold. Tidy. Like he never slept here at all. But there’s a bouquet of white roses on the bedside table. Elegant, tight-budded. Their scent is soft, not too loud. Just... present. "You’ve got a new admirer," Kira teases from the back of my mind. "Should I start picking out wedding colors?" I roll my eyes and sit up slowly, pushing the comforter off my legs. The room is silent, and I feel like a ghost inside it. “He’s sweet,” I murmur, reaching out to touch the petal of one rose. “But he’s not…” "Not him." Kira finishes for me, and I hate how right she sounds. "You know he’s not the one, Tamsin." I don't answer. Not because I disagree, but because I don't have the energy to lie to myself this early in the morning. "So, what now?" she asks, her voice quieter now. More grounded. "Are we running? Hiding? Crying in a tub with a bottle o