THORN
The temple is too quiet. The kind of quiet that creeps up the back of your neck and waits. Every breath, every heartbeat, feels like a countdown.
Olcan’s face after he got Ember to admit that she hadn’t chosen a mate was like he’d won some lottery.
But he just let her leave after that admission.
He didn’t see her face as she spilled her guts to me.
He didn’t understand what he was doing to her.
Which further reiterates that he doesn’t care about a mate. He cares about winning.
I’d taken a step to follow her when Tala told me to stay here. Maybe that’s for the best, I’d already obviously upset her. What kind of mate am I?
Tala chased after her, but that feels like hours ago, and here I sit on the stone steps before the front door like a lost puppy.
No.
She said no. It was stated so low, and she was a few feet ahead, but I heard it. Worst of all, Olcan heard it. And it was the truth. I saw her fighting the truth serum within her as she walked away. A blade to the chest would have been kinder.
She hasn’t chosen me yet?
I kept my face neutral, the way I’ve been trained to. Alpha composure. Cold eyes. Still shoulders. But inside? I’m splintering. She doesn’t want a mate, or she doesn’t want me?
What if this entire time, I wasn’t waiting for fate. I was waiting to be rejected by it.
Now that’s something I was not prepared for. I finally choose a mate this season and she doesn’t choose me back. What would my pack say? How unworthy must I be that my pack and my mate don’t want me?
I rise from my perch on the steps, unable to control it any longer. I stalk out of the temple foyer. Shifting halfway through the archway. My wolf form barrels into the night, paws ripping into the dirt and mist, catching a scent that’s both familiar and new. Cedarwood and jasmine.
I’ve waited long enough … it’s time for some answers.