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 wantme?
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.
Chapter 20
EMBER
The truth tasted like ash in my mouth the moment it passed my lips.
Have you chosen a mate?
No.
The word echoes in my mind as I run, breath sharp in my chest, feet slamming into the wet earth. Cool mist clings to my skin like accusation. Behind me, the temple fades into dark, and with it, every stare, every whispered utterance, every judgmental side eye.
I don’t stop running until the silence is louder than my heartbeat. Then I collapse beneath a cedar, shifting back into human form and clutching my knees to my chest. The tears don’t come. I don’t cry easily, I’ve never had the luxury. But the ache won’t cease. It pulses deep in my chest like a wound that’ll never heal.
Maybe everyone here is right, I’m useless. There’s no way I could satisfy a regular mate, let alone an Alpha. I thought I could just survive the Chase and come back next year, but now I’m not so sure.
And Thorn… Gods, what if he heard? What if I break his heart?
“I knew you were fast, but damn, Ember,” a voice calls behind me.
I tense, ready to shift, but I’ve heard that voice before. Confident, casual. Tala steps out of the shadows, arms folded over her bronze breasts, moonlight kissing the edges of her skin.
“You planning on running some more? Or maybe you want to scream at the moon a while?”
I glance away, “I’m not in the mood to spar.”
“Good, I don’t fight females when they are down. Olcan, on the other hand, I’d bitch slap him for free.”
I laugh. I don’t mean to. It just slips out, choked and bitter. “I’d hit him too.”
She nods. “He deserves it.”
We sit in silence for a moment. Her presence doesn’t feel invasive. She’s not teasing me or bullying me or asking me why. She’s just here, beside me. It’s comforting. I can see why Thorn is close to her.