TEN

I return home.

But it no longer feels familiar to me.

Everything has changed.

The world has shifted beneath my feet.

I enter the pack dorm.

My friends are snoring in their bunks.

I fall into mine and pass out.

My dreams are full of Patrick.

I need him. I need to see him again.

Just one hour without him feels like agony.

When I wake, the dawn light is blistering through the window and Tomasina is bouncing on the bed beside me.

"Come on sleepyhead," she says. "Let's eat!"

Alia is already half way out the door, eager for breakfast.

I rub my sleepy eyes and follow them to the mess hall.

All she can think about is him.

Patrick.

Patrick.

My mate.

My one true love.

It makes me twitchy.

Just thinking of him in this place feels dangerous.

I realize my plan to meet with him secretly is never going to work. He was right to challenge me. To ask me to leave the pack. It would be too dangerous. His life would be in danger. How long would we last? A week. At most.

But leave my pack? How can I! It's all I've ever known.

I am numb, inside and out.

I turn over in my mind all the possibilities.

There is no way I can remain in the pack if I want to be with Patrick.

I grab my breakfast - a raw deer fillet - and sit with my friends.

But before I even have time to take a bite, someone slides into the seat beside me.

"Morning, ladies," says the familiar voice of Conner. "Mind if I join you?"

I roll my eyes. Conner is Hunter's right-hand man and best friend. He's a beta, though you'd never guess looking at him. He's smaller than I am.

"What do you want?" I ask.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," he mocks.

"She's been moody for days," Tomasina says.

Moody. What an understatement. I am love sick. Heart broken. And they are ignorant of my pain.

"She's not the only one," Conner says.

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"Hunter," he says. "I think he asked you a very important question yesterday and you left him hanging."

So that's why Conner's here. Hunter sent him to hassle me. Typical.

"If you're talking about his proposal," I say. “I didn’t think that was still on the table.”

I am being honest. I didn’t think he’d want an luna who’s instincts can falter.

Across the table from me, Alia and Tomasina gasp.

"Hunter asked to marry you?" Tomasina gasps.

"Oh, Rylie!" Alia gushes.

I roll my eyes at them. “Yes, yes, he asked me to be his mate."

"And you didn't say yes right away?" Tomasina asks.

"I told him I would think."

“I’ve never seen him like this,” Conner says. "It's all he can talk about. I swear, if I hear him say, ‘I’ve had a nice chat with Luna’ one more time, I’m going to lose my mind. Besides, it's not a good idea to turn him down."

Warns her that she would be wise not to turn him down.

I think of his hands gripping my chin.

“Well, if I must say it clearly, then I will. I have no desire to marry Hunter.”

Conner glowers.

“You do know no one has ever said no.”

“I didn’t know he had asked anyone else.”

“He has.”

I don’t believe him.

“Then where is she?”

“She took too long making her decision.” He grins, widely.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She got old. She was put out to pasture, if you know what I mean.”

I gasp. “Banished?”

“That’s right. Hunter didn’t appreciate being strung along. She told him she’d decide by the time of her eighteenth birthday. At midnight on the dot, he asked. She said she needed more time. And that was that.”

“He banished her,” I gasp.

“Yup. And he’ll do the same to you, I’m sure. Worse, even, if you actually turn him down. Hunter doesn’t like hearing no.”

I am stunned.

I cannot believe what I’m hearing.

Hunter’s marriage proposal wasn’t an offer.

It was a threat.

Conner snatches the steak off my plate and crams it into his mouth. "See ya later!"

And then he is gone.

My friends eye me across the table.

"What are you going to do, Rylie?" Tomasina asks.

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

I am a prisoner.

I feel trapped.

I feel cornered.

Everywhere I turn, Hunter is there, one way or another.

He even has his betas trying to herd me into a life I don’t want.

"Rylie?" Alia prompts.

"I’m not sure," I say.

"You should marry Hunter," Alia says.

"I know!" Tomasina exclaims.

I stare at them in disbelief. "He's a bully," I say. "Why would I marry him?"

"Because you'll be luna, duh," Tomasina says.

“And it’s better to be with someone you don’t love than no one at all,” Alia says.

Well, that's just typical Alia all over.

I've had enough of listening to them.

I look at my empty plate. The deer juices glisten in the light. My stomach growls.

"I have to go to work," I say.

I push up from the table and walk away, feeling their eyes glued to my back.

I need time to think.

I need to decide what to do.

And I have to be alone to do it.

If I choose to leave with Patrick, I must say goodbye to my pack.

But with Hunter's threat, leaving is becoming more and more of a dangerous option.

It's a mess, and I have no time to figure it out.

But my duties start soon.

Val will be watching me like a hawk after yesterday.

I push my mind away from my mate and head off to meet the other hunters.