AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It could be. Why can’t you see that? It could be different. Reject him. We could be together then. Look at me. I did it. I gave up my fated mate. For you, Helene. I gave her up foryou.”
“I never asked you to do that,” I argue.
“You didn’t have to! I love you!” He throws his arms out at his sides. “This is what love looks like. It’s sacrifice. It’s pain. But, for Luna’s sake, it’s also the best fucking thing in the world when the one you love loves you back. And you… youloveme. I know you do.”
I do, and that’s what makes this so hard. But I can’t tell him that. Not now.
Not ever.
Instead, I say, “You didn’t reject Quinn. She rejectedyou.”
The distinction shouldn’t bother me. I know it shouldn’t. When I can’t have West, it shouldn’t matter who was the one who chose to sever their mate bond—but it does, because West ignored his tie to Quinn. She’s the one who broke it to mate her feral.
West’s eyes flash, the golden sheen rolling over his irises. Even more proof that his icy facade is still shattering. “I would have. I told you. For you, I’d do anything… I was just waiting for you to ask me to.”
Is that how little he thinks of me? That, after pledging myself to Rafael, I would be so selfish as to ask West to give up his chance at a future with the female the Luna chose for her?
I sound wounded as I tell him, “I couldn’t do that to you.”
“So, what? I’m not supposed to ask you to reject Gravetail?”
West never has. Oh, no. He’s only asked me to choose him over and over again, not understanding why I couldn’t.
“I gave my word. I promised.”
“So break it. Isn’t forever with me worth it?”
If that’s all I was worried about, definitely. Maybe if I wasn’t the prized omega she-wolf that Rafael has waited three years to claim. Maybe if it was just about me and West, without the Luna fiddling around in my life…
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry,” he echoes. “Of course.”
West is looming. I don’t think he’s even aware he’s doing it. He’d rushed toward me, stopping short before he got too close, but his broad shoulders are hunched, his chin tucked to his chest. As a beta wolf, he’s not as large as an alpha, but he still has a powerful build that usually makes my heart skip a beat.
I’m not afraid of him. I never have been. His looming isn’t doing anything except letting me know that he’s on the verge of losing control again.
The last time that happened, I lost my head and slept with him. And while I want to believe he’s not acting like this on purpose, hoping for a repeat, I’m terrified thatI’ll be the one who uses it as an excuse to touch him again.
Curling my hands into loose fists, I hide them behind my back. Right now, I’d rather West see my boobs through the dress than the way my fingers itch to stroke his heaving chest.
I knew this conversation would go badly. Pity I underestimated just how big a disaster this turned out to be...
“I am. I know you can’t understand just how sorry I am, but this is your fault, too.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. If you hadn’t taken me out of Hickory… if you hadn’tstolenme… I’ve told you all along. I made my decision. Good or bad, I made it and I stand by it. You’re the one who wouldn’t give up.”
“Because I love you!”
“You think you do. Just like you think I’m some perfect pack princess. But I’m not.” I sigh. “I can’t be what you want me to be so I think that… I think you should go.”
A rough shake of his head, and then, “I’m not taking you back to Hickory. Not yet. We can work through this. I know we can. Because Idolove you. You can’t tell me that I don’t.”
I can’t do anything, can I? “I didn’t mean Hickory. I want some space, West. Away from you.”
He takes a step toward me. It’s so opposite from what I just said to him that I growl under my breath. “This isn’t the way we’re supposed to end.”
