The woodland loomed all around me, shadows deep under the chilly brightness of the full moon. Running, my legs burned; my breath came in ragged gasps, but I kept on. Not able to Though the Silver Fang Pack had turned away from me, I was no longer running from them.
I was racing away from him.
From the mate that turned on me. From the Alpha who had split my heart in front of the pack as whole. From the years I had spent establishing my life, just to have it snatched away in an instant.
I hardly felt it as the branches drew little lines of blood on my skin. They scraped. Inside me, my wolf was pacing and screaming in misery. Sebastian's rejection broke her, but she was not weak.
"We ought to fight."
Her voice was raw with suffering, but underlying it was a simmer of resentment.
"For what??" I inquired harshly. "He made his choice."
And we shall make ours as well.
I kept on, neglecting the chest discomfort. Every stride I went tightened the unseen, terrible link that was the rejection bond around my ribcage. It begged me to turn around, crawl to him, ask him to take me back.
But I would sooner die than bring him such gratification.
The clearing showed itself, the smell of pine and moist ground enveloping me. Years ago, when we were just teenagers, this was the location where I had first met Sebastian before duty and treachery had dug a gulf between us.
My chest heaving, I slid to stop.
Here I would say my last goodbye.
I could still hear years-ago laughing echoing around. Having been sixteen, wild and wild, I challenged Sebastian to run across these identical forests. He had barely beaten me, but I had resisted.
"Best two out of three," I had asked hands on my hips, frantic and excited.
"You never will win, Zaia." His smile had been kind, playful.
"I am not obliged to win. I just have to be quicker than you used to be.
then what?" He had come closer, his golden eyes blazing with something I hadn't comprehended back then, his fragrance enveloping me.
You will then have to respect me.
"I already do."
Too young and too naive, I had not seen that for what it was—a confession.
That child, the Sebastian I had loved, seemed to be a knife twisting in my stomach. That lad had disappeared.
There stood a man who had put me aside in his place.
A rustling in the trees drew me back into reality. My body stiffened and my wolf bared her teeth within me.
I was not on my alone.
Turning sharply, I hoped to see a warrior Sebastian ordered to pursue me out of his realm a renegade.
Rather, I discovered him.
Standing at the brink of the clearing, Sebastian had golden eyes clouded with something unreadable. His mouth hard, his big bulk was strained.
I thought I saw regret in his eyes for a fleeting second. I would not believe it, though.
You followed me, I murmured, my voice deliberately devoid of feeling.
"I had to admit," he said. You shouldn't be outside here by yourself.
I laughed bitterly and passed by. Alpha, you are not of concern anymore.
Though virtually invisible, I felt his flinch.
"You do not understand," he murmured softly.
Then tell me, I said, my control breaking down. "Explain why you turned me aside in front of everyone. Why then did you choose her?
stillness.
Sebastian had always been fast with his words, but just now he had nothing to say.
My response came from that quiet.
Inside me snapped something, but I resisted breaking.
I retreated somewhat. "This is the last time we talk.".
His head jerked, something urgent blazing in his eyes. "Zaia"—
I cut him off with a "No". " Sebastian, you made a decision. And right now, I am making mine.
I turned, prepared to go from this spot and leave him behind.
But then his voice stopped me cold.
"She is pregnant."
The globe slanted under my feet.
I turned slowly, my pulse loud in my ears. "What??"
At his sides Sebastian's hands closed into fists. He seemed agonized, as though the words themselves offended him. "Liliana; she is expecting my child."
The words strike more forcefully than any rejection could possibly accomplish.
I staggered back, a sharp, sour laugh spilling from my mouth. She is obviously.
There was a mate link of sacredness. It was meant to be absolutely unbreakable. Sebastian, though, had broken ours like it had meant nothing. And now he had turned something meant for me over to another woman.
He did not know, nonetheless, my secret.
My hand shook as it passed my gut.
"So am I."
I ought to have reminded him. I ought to have thrown those words in his face, made him experience even the little of the suffering he had caused on me.
I would not assign him such authority over me, though.
Not as now.
I pushed my voice to stay constant as I swallowed the lump in my throat. "then you've got everything you wanted, haven't you?"
Sebastian stepped toward me, then I turned away.
"Don's." My voice was sharp and final. "I hope Sebastian is happy.."
Turning on my heel, I left him standing in the clearing.
Putting my past behind us.
I silently vowed then as I vanished into the night.
This was not the finish.
This was only starting.
Zaia is not aware of the pair of brilliant red eyes tracking her from the shadows as she leaves.
She is not alone among the woods.
Something—or someone—is here for her.
She also has a far from finished narrative.