or's

ble doors, the distant murmurs of shocked guests echoing behind me. The sl

to me. "What the hell was that?" she hissed, her voice laced

every muscle in my body taut with the rage I couldn't shake. My hands still c

and strength radiating in a way I'd never seen

I had rej

I had b

. She grabbed my arm, yanking it roughly. "Are you even listening

ice cold, bitter. She staggered back a step, stunned at the sharpness of my

v

Ar

the sound of music in the middle of silence. She used to be

her, she wasn't fragile anymor

strength of her own defiance. I saw no trace of the girl who had once looked up a

again. I had to do it-for the pack, for my title, for the re

murderer. Her blood was tainted, or so they said. What

I didn't see the stain on my reputation or the burden to my title.

man I had th

t kil

arms crossed as she glared at me. "All that power, an

owl rising in my throa

ink she'll take you back, Connor? After what you did? Please. You rejected her like garbag

didn't need Lila to tell me that. I saw

no hesitation, no fear. For the first time, I had been the one cowe

y-Aria-had loo

troyed

ok at me like that. Wi

wall. My breath left me in a shudder, and I sank down

e what wa

for the title,

meant nothing wi

eded me most, I could still see her face from that day. The raw pain in her eyes a

tched it

ng at me, festering in the shadows of my mi

ce sharp and grating. "Get up.

ored

w small and broken she had been tha

t need me

me, I still

her words carried venom. "You rejected her

voice low and cold. "Whatever he is...he's

What are you ta

alphas stronger than me, wolves who could break bone with a single snarl-but nothing, compared to what I felt back i

myself than to her. "That power? He made

ripping with condescension. "You're losing it. You embarras

through the hallway, making her flinch. My wolf surged forward, clawing

bed into a suffocating bitterness. I sank

rembling. "Mate pull or not. Rejection or not.

sharp, brittle. "

's not one of us, then he's something worse. Something dangerous. And I'

ion, her voice a hiss. "What about

eliberate. Her face fell, the sting of rejection flicker

door at the end of the hallway. Lila's voice rang out

without looking back. My wolf stirred, growling in anticipatio

vy away from me. No

eep her, he was about to fin