جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 60

FROST POV I clenched my jaw to stop my body from trembling all over. I stared at the door Seraphina had walked out of.Things went worse than I’d expected.But she was right, wasn’t she?What I was doing was stupid. I was really throwing away my responsibilities for selfish ideals, wasn’t I?My heart plummeted, and the walls seemed to cave in around me. It was suddenly too hard to breathe, my leg was shaking uncontrollably and my vision blurred.I didn’t want to let anyone down. I just wanted to be myself. Was that such an impossible wish? Was that too much to ask for?Maybe I should just go through with—“Caelan,” my head snapped towards the door to see Kieran standing there, looking worried. “What are you doing here by yourself?”I couldn’t find the words to respond. I just glanced away, not wanting to meet his eyes with all the

JACKSON POV“You’re not going to at least try to deny it. You’re not even bothered to at least pretend?” She said, shock still visible in her face.“What do you want me to say?” I asked tiredly. “That everything’s fine? That we have a future together? We both know that’s not true.”“I wanted you to at least care!” She was crying harder now, her voice breaking. “I wanted you to at least pretend that breaking my heart mattered to you!”“Of course it matters—”“Then why are you talking to me like I’m nothing?” She grabbed her purse, backing away toward the door. “Like I’m just some inconvenient problem you need to deal with?”I didn’t have an answer for that. Maybe because that’s exactly what she felt like in this moment—another complication in a life that was already falling apart right in front of me.And there was nothing I could do about it.“I’m done,” Tammy said, and there was finality in her voice now. “I’m done waiting for you to figure out what you want. I’m done being your safe

FROST POV The words cut sharper than I wanted to admit.I felt something inside me shatter, some last desperate hope that maybe, just maybe, he would understand. That the bond between a father and a son would matter more than tradition.But looking at his face—cold, flat and utterly unmoved by my pain—I realized I’d been fooling myself.“What are you going to do with me?”Father turned to Elder Malachai and the smile that arched on his face sent shivers down my back.“You are to be banished.”I felt my blood run cold.“Banished?” I stared at him in disbelief. “You can’t—you can’t banish me. The pack needs—”“The pack needs a leader who will put them first,” Cassia interrupted. “Not a selfish child who would abandon his people to follow his deviant desires. We will not have an Alpha wh

JACKSON’S POV“You’re well set to go now, Hayes. Your blood pressure has stabilized and the glucose should give you enough energy to get home safely.”The school nurse—Mrs. Patterson, a sweet old thing around her fifties maybe who’d seen me through countless minor injuries since the first year—gave me the gentlest of smiles as she removed the IV from my arm.I watched the needle slide out, barely feeling it.I guessed that my body was just too numb to feel anything really.“Thanks,” I mumbled, pressing the cotton she handed me against where she’d punctured.“Take it easy for the rest of the evening,” she advised, making notes on her clipboard. “You’re still recovering. Plenty of rest, fluids, and make sure you eat a proper meal. Your body needs it right now.”I nodded barely listening to a word she was saying. I gathered my things and tucked them away into my backpack.It felt heavier than usual as I slung it over my shoulder, everything in my body still sluggish and weak.Of course I

JACKSON’S POVThey’d seen everything. The destroyed apartment, the evidence of whatever breakdown I’d had. And now I’d have to explain it.Explain why I’d trashed my own place, why I hadn’t been answering their calls, why I’d completely ghosted them after the dinner party disaster.How was I supposed to do that?Mom, Dad, I fell in love with a supernatural being who can create ice and has amnesia, and then he broke my heart because he loves me too much to let me be in danger.Yeah.That would go just perfect.My chest tightened with a new kind of panic, different from the grief that had been consuming me only moments ago.This was the panic of impending doom, of having to face questions I had no answers for, of disappointing people who’d always expected better from me.I wasn’t ready for this. I wasn’t ready for their concerned faces, their questions that would feel like accusations, their inevitable suggestions about getting back together with Tammy and getting my life back on track.