Chapter 21
Rob
Outside the Pride House, I’m led to an enclosure where we train in our fur.
The Neta stands in the center of the circle, arms wide.
“Look, son, you’re not helping your case,” Hunter says evenly, voice cutting through the chaos in my head like a blade.
“You go tearing through town like this, Hadley’s gonna hear about it—and she might run for the hills. You need to pull yourself together.”
That hits.
Not like a warning.
But like a punch.
My Tiger stutters mid-snarl, the instinct to fight tangling with something sharper.
Fear.
Because the last thing I want—the very last thing—is for her to run from me. To hear about this and decide I’m exactly what she thought I was.
Too dangerous.
Not worth the risk.
Elissa steps forward just enough to catch my attention, her voice quieter, steadier.
“Rob, I get that you’re upset. I really do,” she says. “But you can’t force her. Not her, not this process. Not even if Date to Mate matched you. Not even if she is your fated mate.”
My jaw tightens so hard it aches.
Because I’m not trying to force anything.
I’m trying to—I don’t even know what I’m trying to do anymore.
Find her.
Fix it.
Make the wrongness stop.
The magic hums under my skin, thick and heavy, like a tide finally turning. Bones crack. Muscles stretch and realign, the shift ripping through me in a sharp, grinding wave.
It hurts.
Not clean.
Not easy.
But I force it.
Force my Tiger back.
Force control where instinct wants to tear it apart.
When it’s done, I’m human again.
Barely.
Breathing hard.
Raw.
Exposed.
No one moves.
Not for a long, stretched-out second.
Then Reg crouches in front of me, slow, careful, like I might bolt again. He offers me a hand.
And a towel.
I take both.
Because suddenly I feel it.
The aftermath.
The vulnerability.
The fact that I just lost control in the middle of town like some half-feral rookie.
“I promise,” I grind out, my voice still rough, still edged with the beast, “I’m not forcing her. I just freaked out. I woke up, and she was gone.”
Gone.
The word still lands wrong.
Hunter’s gaze narrows, not unkind, but not forgiving either.
“I get that,” he says. “But what you did today? That jeopardized this entire Pride.”
A pause.
Heavy.
Final.
“I’m going to have to place you on probation until we figure out if you’re steady.”
Probation.
Fuck.
Elissa shifts beside him.
“Is that necessary?” she asks quietly.
Hunter dips his chin once.
Yeah.
It is.
Because I fucked up.
Bad.
Reg doesn’t say anything, but I can feel it—his worry, his frustration, his fear for me.
The Guard disperses slowly, tension bleeding out of the space as the immediate threat fades.
And I’m left standing there, stripped down to nothing but consequences.
“Come on,” Reg mutters, jerking his head toward his place. “You’re coming with me.”
I don’t argue.
Don’t have it in me.
His house is closer than mine anyway, and I don’t feel like walking all the way home in a fucking towel.
“Thank fuck you’re on Pride land,” he says under his breath as we walk. “You pull that shit on a normal street? We’d be having a very different conversation right now.”
No kidding.
Shifter hearing means everyone could hear him anyway, but I don’t bother pointing that out.
I just follow him inside.
He tosses me a pair of sweats. A T-shirt. Flip-flops.
“Thanks,” I mutter, dragging them on.
Gretchen appears like she’s been waiting for us, setting a mug of coffee down with a soft clink.
“Alright,” she says, hands on her hips, eyes sharp but not unkind. “What the hell was that?”
I scrub a hand over my face.
“I woke up alone,” I admit.
“Wait—so she spent the night?” Gretchen asks, a hopeful grin teasing the corner of her mouth.
“Yeah, but I didn’t claim her. She asked me not to.
But we connected, I swear it. And this morning when I woke alone, I thought—” My voice catches for a second, then I push through it.
“I thought something might’ve happened. Like she got hurt or something.
Then it hit me. She might have left. Might’ve rejected me. ”
The word tastes like ash.
“And my Tiger?” I shake my head. “He lost it. I lost it. I fucked up.”
Embarrassment burns hot under my skin.
So does something worse.
Heartache.
Gretchen snorts softly.
“Okay, first of all? Hadley’s not a weakling. She’s a badass Bear Shifter,” she says. “Not prey.”
“I know what she is,” I reply.
And that’s the problem.
Because she’s not something to chase down and corner.
She’s not something to take.
She’s—my chest tightens—special.
A miracle.
Mine.
“Okay, let’s strategize,” Reg starts, already shifting into problem-solving mode.
“Bro,” I cut in, dropping my head into my hands, “this isn’t about strategy anymore.”
My voice is rough.
Fractured.
“This is instinct. And my instinct has me losing my damn mind.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Ugly.
“Fact is,” I mutter, quieter now, “I’m a fucking monster.”
The words come out before I can stop them.
Too honest.
Too real.
“I’ve spent years in the military,” I go on. “Doing things people don’t come back from clean.”
Things I don’t talk about.
Places that don’t exist on maps.
Blood that doesn’t wash off.
Reg steps closer.
“Bro, you are not a monster,” he says, firm and steady. “You’re my big brother.”
But he’s wrong.
I know he is.
Just like I knew I was right when I told Uncle Uzzi I’m not mate material.
I drag in a breath.
Then another.
Forcing it down.
Forcing the Tiger back into his cage.
He retreats.
Reluctantly.
Still there though.
Always there.
“We can call her,” Reg says, softer now. “She might be at the shop.”
I shake my head.
“No.”
“Then go there,” he presses. “Like a normal person.”
I bark out a humorless laugh.
“Normal,” I repeat.
I look at him.
At the house.
At the quiet life he’s building.
“I’m not normal, Reg. Look what I just did. I almost exposed everything because I couldn’t control myself.”
My chest tightens again.
“I’m not good enough for Hadley,” I add, quieter. “I’m not good for anyone.”
I turn before he can argue.
Before he can try to fix something I’m not sure can be fixed.
“Rob—wait!”
I hear him.
I just don’t stop.
Because what’s the point?
I thought maybe—maybe I could have this.
Something real.
Something good.
But maybe Hadley saw it before I did.
Saw through me.
Saw what I really am.
Maybe that’s why she held back.
Maybe that’s why she left.
And she wouldn’t be wrong.
Fuck that, my Tiger snarls inside my head.
I huff out a breath.
Because, yeah—he doesn’t think we’re wrong for her.
Not even a little.
He thinks the opposite.
I roll my shoulders, trying to shake off the tension still buzzing under my skin.
Still there.
Waiting.
“Rob! Where are you going? You can’t just give up!” Reg shouts after me.
I don’t answer.
Because I don’t know what the right move is anymore.
But I do know one thing.
If I let Hadley walk away?
I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.
And if I don’t?
If I show her what I really am?
I might lose her anyway.
But not knowing?
That’s worse.
And I’m not the kind of man who walks away from a fight.
Not without answers.
Not without understanding what made her leave that morning.
Because if she thinks last night was something I can just forget?
Something I can file away and move on from?
She’s about to learn otherwise.