Chapter 112
LIGT PAY
– 1 slammed try Trst past the control panel, thirrasing the treadmills speed in its maximum setting. My feet pranded spallet be
thundering rege in my chest. The hotel’s rooftop gym was mercifully empty at this heat, allowing me to wat any frustration
The Image of Adrian carrying Skye out of the room–her silver hair cascading over his arm, her face buried against his chest – replayed in my chind ha torbate, ach time I recalled it, my well led with postesthe faty.
How dare be touch what’s ours? my wall growled.
“Sheat up,” I muttered between labored becalls. “She’s not mus
But even as I said it, I knew it was entirely true. The mate haul that had sparked to life yesterday proved otherwar.
When my team and I had Test and at the base of Silvercrest Minntain, my wolf had become inexplicably agitated. A restless energy had surged through my veins as my wolf paced beneath my skin, suddenly alert and eager.
She’s here, he’d whispered with uncharacteristic excitement. Our mate is here.
At first, I’d been intrigued. If my mate was qualified to attend the Alpha King election, she must be powerful–either an Alpha herself or at least a high ranking Beta in a prominent pack. The possibility had been surprisingly appealing. A strong mate would benefit Frostshadow and potentially boost myt chances in the election.
I’d rented the entire hotel to ensure my team would have peace and privacy during the competition. I’d planned to settle in, then perhaps explore the town, following my wolf’s instincts to locate this mysterious mate.
Instead, I’d walked into the hotel lobby and immediately locked eyes
ves with Skye Anderson…
The girl I’d rejected four years ago stood there, no longer the awkward, chubby faced teenager who couldn’t shift. In her place was a woman with sharp,
onfident eyes and a lithe, powerful body. Her silver hair, once dull and unremarkable, now gleamed like polished metal under the lobby lights. Her poste spoke of newfound strength and purpose–the bearing of someone who had endured hardship and emerged stronger for it.
My wolf had gone wild at the sight of her, howling inside my mind with primal recognition. It’s her! It’s hert Our mate!
Id dismissed the notion immediately. It was impossible. I’d rejected Skye years ago, severing our mate bond permanently. My wolf must be confused, mistaking some residual connection for the real thing.
But then I’d noticed the protective way Adrian stood beside her, the casual intimacy with which he touched her arm, and something dark and possessive had risen within me. The surge of jealousy had been so unexpected, so visceral, that it had momentarily stolen my breath.
Why should I care who touched her? Why should it matter to me at all?
I ran faster now, pushing my body to its limits, trying to outpace these unwelcome thoughts. Sweat poured down my Eace, soaking through my shirt as my muscles burned with exertion.
After returning to my room yesterday, my wolf had continued to plague me. How could you let our mate leave with another male? hed demanded, pacing restlessly breath my skin.
“You’re wrong.” I’d insisted. ‘She can’t be our mate. rejected her years ago.”
Today, when I’d seen her at the bar with Ethan, that same strange sensation had returned-
1–a pulling in my chest, an inexplicable awareness of her presence that seemed to intensify when she was near. The idea that Skye Anderson might truly be my mate–still, after all this time–seemed like a cosmic joke.
She had her wolf now, had somehow managed to shift despite her late development. She’d even become Beta to that insignificant desert pack. The thought was almost laughable. A pack like Oasisborn probably had such low standards that anyone with a pulse could qualify as Beta.
To settle the matter once and for all, I’d decided on a drastic test. The woman at the bar had been eager enough, practically throwing herself at me. Taking her to my room had been effortless, and she’d certainly been enthusiastic in bed.
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Chapter 12
The confirmation that she was, indeed, still my mate had left me with storm of conflicting esietions. My wolf insisted we should reclaim i -now that she’d finally managed to shin. But before 1 could even decide how to approach the difusion, Skye had Blindanded me with hey
for rejection.
The memory of Adrian lifting her into his arms, her body perfectly cradled against his chest, sent another spike of rage thmligh me | minded a again, my fert pounding the treadmill with punishing foren.
Her scent had changed since I’d last seen her. The faint, almost human smell I remembered had been replaced by something more distinctly werewall–bod layered with Adrian’s oceanic scem, as if he’d deliberately marked her as his.
She belongs to us, my wolf insisted. Not him.
“It’s just the mate bond, I argued aloud, my voice haish with exertion. “It’s biological, nothing more.
Her late shift only confirmed what I’d always knows she lacked the natural power and talent that defined true Alpha material. A well that took so long te emerge was inherently weak, regardless of its uitusual coloring.
I would win the Alpha King election. I would prove my superiority over Adrian and every other competitor. And when I stood victorious, crowned as ruler of all North American werewolves, I would reject Skye Anderson a second time–permanently, irrevocably.
I would make her understand once and for all that someone as weak as her belonged with a loser like Adrian. They could build their pathetic little desert pack together while I ruled over the continent
The treadmill beeped in warning as 1 pushed it beyond its recommended limits. I ignored it, focusing instead on the burning in my lungs and the ache in my muscles–anything to distract from the persistent tug in my chest pulling me toward a silver–haired woman who should mean nothing to me.
But did mean nothing to me.
Absolutely nothing at all.
Chapter Comments
Jamie
I don’t think the rejection worked because she hadn’t shifted yet
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