AmberRayne Hunter is a despicable bastard. A manipulative, arrogant, smirking son of a bitch with no shame and absolutely no self-awareness. If I had just let him bleed out on my table that day, none of this would be happening. None of it.The thought made my blood boil all over again, surging up with the sharp, hot kind of fury that wouldn’t leave no matter how many times I swallowed it back. I tried to breathe through it, tried to ground myself as I wrapped up my final post-op consultation for the day. My patient was still smiling from ear to ear, thanking me profusely as I gave her the all-clear to resume normal activities. I smiled back—tight-lipped, professional, detached. The kind of smile you reserve for when your soul is fraying and you need to look composed anyway.I hadn’t gotten over Ian. Not even close. That heartbreak was a permanent bruise on my chest, just under the surface, and sometimes it felt like it was eating me from the inside out. But I was trying not to think
RayneI stood in that room for a few long, aching minutes, motionless. Basically just breathing. My hands trembled at my sides, heart pounding hard in my ears like a war drum. Amber’s scent still lingered faintly in the air, rich, heady honeysuckle that I was beginning to crave like a drug. My throat was raw from holding back the things I wanted to say to her. The ache in my chest? Gods, it felt like someone had taken a knife to it, dragged it slowly, then left it wide open for the air to burn.She had shattered me without mercy. And I couldn’t even blame her.With a shaky breath, I wiped the tears from my cheeks—tears I hadn’t meant to let fall. My pride was in pieces, but I couldn’t fall apart now. Not when I still had something—someone—left to fight for.Evalie.I forced myself to move, stepping out into the hallway like a man dragging his soul behind him. Each step felt like walking through wet cement, but I made it. I descended the stairs, my eyes still burning, jaw clenched tigh
RayneShe whirled around, eyes blazing. “Don’t you dare play the victim.”Her words hit me like a slap. She leaned closer, face contorted with anguish.“You know it’s more than that. You ruined my life!”“I’m trying to fix it, dammit!” My voice cracked. “Why won’t you just give me a chance?!”“Because you don’t fucking deserve one!”Her scream echoed in the room. My strength nearly dissipated.I’m not sure I was breathing anymore.“Amber, I swear to you.” My voice cracked under the weight of everything I’d buried. “I swear on my mother—I didn’t shut the bond just to punish you. I did it out of guilt and fear. I was hurt and scared and I took it out on you. We were young and we hurt the person we both cared about. I thought I was doing right by him. I just wanted to make amends, but everything was so complicated—”“You still marked and then dumped me,” she snapped, eyes glistening with a rage I couldn’t even begin to touch. “That still happened. That still destroyed me.” Her words were
RayneThat last sentence hit me like a blow.“What?!” I sucked in a breath, my whole body tense.“I’m not having this conversation right now,” Eden muttered, pulling away slightly like he was hiding something. “Our mate is right in front of you. Focus. Prove to her that we’re here to stay. That we won’t stop until we’ve earned her forgiveness.”I stepped forward, cautiously, wanting nothing more than to soothe her.Her eyes were swollen, cheeks stained with tears, and yet there was still fury in her gaze. That icy wall she’d built was high, and I was standing at the bottom, looking up, knowing I’d built it brick by brick.I sank to my knees in front of her. Amber flinched—but she didn’t move away. She didn’t stop me when I reached out and gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. She just stared at me with those trembling lashes and those eyes—those eyes—still full of bitterness, still swimming with pain that made my stomach churn.“I know I’ve hurt you in more ways than I can count,” I
Rayne I didn’t know what hurt more: the pain in her voice… or the fact that everything she said was true.It was like her words sliced through my chest, piece by piece, until there was nothing left but a hollow, crumbling thing where my heart used to be. I just stood there, staring at her, at the tears on her face, the way her lip trembled when she tried to look away from me, like she couldn’t bear to even see me anymore.How had it come to this?After that beautiful but disastrous night we shared—after she’d opened herself to me, body and soul, after we made love—I’d shut the bond. Not because I didn’t care. Not because I wanted to hurt her. I did it because I couldn’t breathe through the guilt. Because every time that bond thrummed with her warmth and scent and light, it reminded me of my betrayal to Reed. It screamed at me that I’d cheated. That I was unfaithful. That I was weak.Fated mates were supposed to be rare. Ethereal. Sacred. But falling in love… that held its own kind of
Rayne Amber’s jaw clenched. Her expression darkened. Her voice was steady, but each word stabbed like glass into my chest.“Why now? Why do you suddenly feel the need to uphold your so-called responsibilities now?” She asked, chin raised, eyes sharp and unflinching. “I’m not perfect and I won’t hold you to impossible standards but I could have sworn you’d choose death over me. What changed?”And I—I didn’t know.I opened my mouth… and closed it again.Silence stretched between us.Because she wasn’t wrong.Back then, twenty-year-old me would’ve never chosen her. I’d been so deep in my blind devotion to Reed, so warped by loyalty and lies, that the idea of putting Amber first hadn’t even been a blip in my mind.So what had changed?I stared down at the floor, her question echoing louder inside me than it had in the room. When had the shift started? Was it when I saw Evalie for the first time? When Amber showed up in court with that fire in her eyes? When she saved my life? Or when I