Chapter 2

I did not wait around to hear what Adrian was going to say to Rosalie because whatever came out of his mouth after rejecting me in front of the entire pack could only make things worse, and I had already given them enough of a show for one night.

I pushed through the crowd with my head lowered, ignoring the whispers that followed me all the way across the clearing. Somebody laughed behind me, somebody else whispered my name, and I heard Rosalie's voice rising over the noise as she demanded that Adrian explain himself, but I kept walking because if I turned around, I knew I was going to do something stupid, and I was already dangerously close to doing something stupid enough to make my father disown me.

I reached the trees before the first tear escaped then I wiped it away angrily and another one came.

“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath, pressing the heel of my palm against my eyes while I stumbled deeper into the forest. “Why did I have to cry now, of all times?”

The answer was probably because my body had apparently decided humiliation wasn't enough and wanted to add physical torture to the evening.

The farther I walked, the stranger everything became.

At first I thought the ringing in my ears was from the ceremony, but then I realized I could hear things that should have been impossible from where I was standing. Wolves were moving somewhere beyond the northern ridge, and I could hear their paws against the leaves as clearly as though they were running beside me. Another howl rose from somewhere far away, followed by several answering calls, and I stopped walking because there was no way those wolves were anywhere near close enough for me to hear them.

I touched the side of my head.

“What the hell is happening to me?”

The rejection was still burning through my chest, but now there was something else beneath it, something hot and restless that made my skin feel too tight.

I took another step and my knees gave out then I caught myself against a tree, gripping the bark so hard that it dug into my palm, but my legs refused to cooperate and I slid down until I was sitting on the cold ground with my back against the trunk.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

This was ridiculous. I had survived twenty years without Adrian Blackthorn, and somehow one stupid ceremony had managed to turn my entire body against me.

A branch snapped somewhere behind me then I opened my eyes.

Adrian stepped between the trees. I stared at him for several seconds before laughing because apparently the Moon Goddess had decided humiliation wasn't enough and wanted to personally torture me.

“Did you seriously follow me here?” I asked, wiping my face with my sleeve. “You rejected me in front of hundreds of people, called me unfit to stand beside you, and now you're following me into the forest like some concerned husband, so which part of this disaster am I supposed to understand?”

His jaw tightened.

“I came to make sure you weren't going to do something foolish.”

I laughed again, but there was nothing funny in it.

“You already did something foolish, Adrian, and unfortunately you did it with an entire pack watching.”

His eyes darkened.

“You should be grateful I rejected you instead of taking you back to my territory and forcing you to live there knowing everyone would question why their Alpha had chosen someone like you.”

I stared at him. The words hit exactly where he intended them to, then I pushed myself up using the tree, even though my legs were shaking.

“You really came all the way into this forest to insult me again?”

“I came because you ran away in the middle of the ceremony.”

“I ran because I didn't want to stand there while your little princess celebrated the fact that you had just destroyed me.”

“Rosalie has nothing to do with this.”

“She has everything to do with it because she was already acting like your Luna before you even arrived, and now you're standing here defending her after rejecting me in front of everybody.”

Adrian stepped closer.

“You have no idea what you're talking about.”

“And you have no idea what you're doing.”

His expression hardened.

“You're angry because I rejected you.”

“No, I'm angry because you humiliated me and then followed me here pretending you were doing me some kind of favor.”

“You should be thanking me.”

I stared at him for a moment, then my hand moved before my brain could stop it. The slap cracked through the trees.

Adrian's head turned slightly with the force of it. I immediately realized what I had done when he slowly looked back at me.

His expression had changed so completely that my stomach dropped.

Nobody had ever hit Adrian Blackthorn.

I knew that because people talked about him like he was untouchable, and judging by the look in his eyes, I had just committed the kind of mistake people normally regretted from inside a grave.

“You have absolutely no idea what you're doing right now,” he said quietly, his voice rough with anger.

“I know exactly what I'm doing, and if you want to threaten me, get in line because my father has been doing it since I was old enough to understand what the word disappointment means.”

He stepped closer. I should have moved away but I didn't.

Something changed in the air between us. His eyes dropped to my mouth, and the expression on his face became harder to read.

Then he stopped.

His nostrils flared.

“What is that smell?”

I frowned.

“What are you talking about?”

Adrian looked at me again, and whatever he had sensed seemed to hit him all over again because his shoulders stiffened.

My own skin suddenly felt feverish.

Heat spread beneath my clothes, crawling over my neck and down my spine until I had to grip the tree behind me just to stay upright.

Adrian took a step backward.

“You need to leave.”

I almost laughed.

“Excuse me?”

“Go back to the pack.”

“You followed me here.”

“I said go.”

I watched him turn away, and something inside me twisted painfully because his rejection had already hurt enough without my body deciding to betray me too.

“I can't,” I whispered.

Adrian stopped and for several seconds neither of us moved. Then he turned around and whatever restraint he had been holding onto was barely there anymore.

He crossed the distance between us, and when his hand caught my waist, I should have pushed him away because this was the man who had rejected me less than an hour ago, the man who had called me unfit and stood there while everyone watched me fall apart.

Instead, I grabbed his shirt.

The rest of the night became a blur of anger, confusion, and one terrible decision neither of us was willing to admit we wanted.

By morning, the forest had gone quiet again.

I woke beneath a blanket that wasn't mine, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling of a small hunting cabin I had never even noticed before, and for several seconds I couldn't remember how I had gotten there.

Then I saw Adrian sitting near the window. He was already dressed. The memory came back so quickly that my stomach twisted.

I pulled the blanket higher around myself but Adrian didn't look at me.

“You're leaving,” he said.

I swallowed.

“What happens now?”

He finally turned his head toward me.

His face was cold again, almost painfully calm.

“Nothing happens.”

I stared at him.

“What does that mean?”

“It means last night was a mistake, Elena.”

My fingers tightened around the blanket.

“You don't get to decide that by yourself.”

His jaw clenched.

“I rejected you yesterday, and nothing about that has changed.”

The words hurt more than I expected.I looked away before he could see it. After a few seconds, Adrian stood and walked toward the door.

He stopped beside the bed.

“If anyone asks, nothing happened between us.”

I looked at him.

“You really think I would tell anyone after what you did to me?”

His expression flickered, but it disappeared so quickly that I couldn't tell whether I had imagined it.

Then he walked out.

I waited until the door closed before finally letting myself breathe.

When I pushed the blanket aside, something dark caught my attention.

There was blood on the sheet beneath me.