ain splatter against her bare arms, mingling with the heat of her skin. Caleb's eyes sea

the rain like a blade. "You rejected me. You made it clear I wasn't

finally realize she wasn't his to call on anymore. But then he t

tainty. "No matter how much you hate me right now, I know you car

g Pack wasn't just a group of wolves to her-it was her family. Eve

let him see her w

," she said, her tone sharp. "You made your ch

. It hung unspoken between them, a da

split second before meeting hers again. "Ophelia isn

d hollow. "Took you long e

"But I'm asking for it anyway. Not for me-for them. The pack is in danger,

lk away, to leave him and his crumbling kingdom behind. But another part of her-the part that

re asking," she said, her v

eyes bore into hers, raw and unguarded. "

etween them, hea

there, her mind racing, her emotions tan

tepped back and ope

th. "But don't mistake this for forgiveness,

m his clothes onto the wooden floor, but he didn

ing in her chest. She wasn't sure if she was mak

end. It was on

o the mug of tea she'd begrudgingly handed him. The flickering light of the fire illuminate

ng the tense silence. "What exactly is happeni

ting the council, undermining my authority at every turn. At first, I thought it was just her being ambitious, but it's more

zing this?" Aria said, her

could handle it. That I could control her. But she's smarter than I ga

d, her brows furro

ith rogues. She's keeping secrets from me, and I can feel her influence

ntence, but the weight

or what he'd done to her, but the desperation in his voice, the sh

ed finally. "I'm not part of the pack

steady. "The pack respects you. They always have. If you c

ack to the people who watched you reject me? To

I'm asking you to save the pack. To save the people wh

him, to walk away and let him face the consequences

ck nee

don't think for a second that this changes anything between us,

ssion unreadable. "T

t shake the feeling that she was stepping into

wasn't sure she'd m