phin
ing resolve. I pushed through the heavy oak doors of the Carlisle estate, the scen
marble floor of the foyer, and headed straight for the
loset, a space larger than my first apartment. Racks of expensive gowns and designer clothes, all
red th
uffel bag. It was a relic from my life before Damien, be
grabbed a pair of worn-in jeans. A stack of plain cotton t-shirts. A thic
n the hallway s
nmistakable. Deliber
nd ice and raw, masculine fury that seepe
st the interior wall with a crack
l in his hunting gear, his boots caked with mud, his jaw tight. His eyes, the co
d together in a
alked to my vanity, the one with the delicate, silver-framed mirror,
at
ct of desecration. A reminder of his
growl, laced with the cold authority he used to command
placed it neatly in the bag. The methodical, mundan
any argument could have. The air crackled with his barely contained
strides, h
familiar, sickening spark of the mate-bond, shot up my arm. It was a current of
all, involunta
stumbled, and he caught me, pulling me flush against his hard body.
ough his lips, the sound a vibration against my skin. He was trying to soothe me, to domi
uld have melted at t
orld, now turned my stomach. The memories of him holding Lilith, of h
ssing them flat against th
I pu
gth I had, a surge of adren
im. He was an Alpha. No one pushed him away. Especially not m
es he had made. I stood tall, my spine a rod of steel, and met his f
eedom. My voice, when it came out, was
a Reje
n the opulent si
se me from this bond
e stunned stillness of a predator that h
e world
g with the solid wood of the wardrobe. The door splintered, a shower of wooden
Reject you?" he snarled, his voice dripping with disbelief and rage. "You have no right. You
you tell yours
truth. You have always been too prou
ecision, meant to cut exactly whe
y equal? It doesn't. You were never warm enough to be Luna. Never charming enough to hold a room. You stan
very
knows how to make them love her. You don't even know how to keep a man interested, Seraphi
ecause I believed him, but because I had on
nside me went qu
umb and looked at the red smear on my skin. "Then
e express
call me
e stayed calm. "Th
jumped in
let another woman wear your jacket, and stood there while your pack celebrated her like she was already your Luna.
that followe
to something uglier. Panic, maybe.
her minute in this house," I shot back, my own vo
y. "You think I will stand before my council
he spectacl
ed at his sid
my eyes. "I have been careful for years. I have been quiet. I have been grateful. I have been obedi
ice d
ng careful, Al
out to grab me again, I could see it in the c
knock
imid rapping
ega servants, too frightened to step inside. "Alpha Damien, forgive me, but
en f
me, his mate, who had just defied him in the most absolute way possible. But
lasted only
have come to your senses by the time I get back,
I said. "She alw
ought he might ignore the servant, ignore Lilith, ignore
ulled at him harder than
room, not even bothering to clo
tsteps fade down the hall. A single drop
cross my face. It was a smile
duffel bag and cal
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