Chapter 85
Nadia’s POV
I could never be what Adrian truly breded. I want his mate, wasn’t Lana material, wash sultor gentle or whole. My strengths were in fighting, in strainer, in loyally forged in Hood and sacrifice. I was the Beta, the second, the shulow
Skye was something else entirely. Lorn before her woll emerged, I sensed the power in her not the brute strength of a warrior, but something more elemental, She bad survived alone for years. She understood pain and loss as intimately as I did, yet hadn’t allowed it to harden her completely.
I fought against it, of course. Tried to drive her away with suspicion and coldness. But the harder I pushed, the more she proved herself worthy–not just of Adrian’s attention, but of my respect.
The others in the park took to her quickly tos. Marcus praised her natural talent for reconnaissance, while Lydia called her an exceptional student with keen intuition for herbs and remedies. Despite her small stature and limited physical strength, she approached every training session with unwavering determination.
She never complained when I pushed her harder than the others, never made excuses when she failed. Sometimes, watching her dogged persistence, I glimpsed reflections of my younger self–the same stubbum resolve, the same willingness to endure pain to prove her worth
Perhaps that’s why she imitated me so deeply; she reminded me of who I once was, before years of unrequited devotion hardened me.
When I discovered she wasn’t Adrian’s mate, I felt a fish relief wash over me. It gave me justification–er so I thought–to warn her away from him, to remind her of boundaries that should exist between an Alpha and a pack member who wasn’t destined to be his Luna,
1 clung to this knowledge like a shield, using it to protect myself from the growing reality I refused to acknowledge. What I failed to anticipate was how Adrian’s feelings for her would deepen day by day, mate bond or not.
He never admitted it aloud–not to me, not to anyone–but I could see it in the way his eyes followed her across a room, in how his voice softened when he spoke bername, in the decisions he made to keep her close. Love doesn’t always need fate’s blessing to nourish.
Even when Adrian and I were away on pack business, he remembered to buy her a birthday gift. A deep–sea pearl necklace that he spent hours selecting. scrutinizing each option with an attention to detail he rarely showed for anything besides pack security,
watched his face as he imagined her wearing it, sau the softness in his eyes that had ever been there for me.
Then came the mask hunting game at the canyon.
Did Skye really believe smearing a bit of mud on her clothes would bide what happened between them?
The scent of their intimacy was unmistakable to anyone with werewolf senses. They disappeared for newly an hour, and I doubt they spent that time playing hide and seek. They were having sex while the rest of us searched the canyon in vain.
1 maintained my composure throughout the remainder of that night. Directed the hunters, organized the evening activities, sailed and nodded at appropriate moments as we gathered around the campfire.
I cried that night.
For the first time since I was fourteen years old, I allowed myself to break down completely.
But with our tents pitched so close together in the canyon, I couldn’t risk making a sound. I pressed my face into my pillow, shoulders shaking with silent robs, swallowing the anguish that threatened to escape my throat.
Through the tents thin fabric, moonlight cast moving shadows across my sleeping bag. Around midnight, one shadow grew distinct–Adrian silhouette, moving stealthily between the tents.
I watched, Inseen in my grief, as he slipped quietly into Skye’s tent. He didn’t emprego until just before doen.
The pain was more excruciating than any humiliation I’d ever endured, more devastating than my father’s most violent beatings. It felt like my chest was being to open, my heart physically shredded.
1/2
Chapter 85
nover Imagined Desuld lose in thoroughly in a competition I had no chance of winning from the start.
Self doubt, an old unwelcome companies 1 thought I’d hardshed years ago, crept linck strength and competence resurfaced with vehgener
I’ve tried to many childish totes to keep them apart
my consciousness. The inserunities 1d buried bench layers of
I encouraged Ryde to panne Skye, hoping his youth and charm might distract her, I errated unnecessary tasks that kept Adrian buky and away from her even drafted a ridiculous agreement” demanding Skye maintain her distance from Adrian, which she rightfully refused to sign.
All futile struggles, laughable in retrospect. You cannot light what is meant be, no matter how desperately you try.
In the end. I chose to drink the wolfshone meant for her. Not because I had given up, but because I finally understood my purpone
I had protected Adriam through on exile, though the bounding of Onisborn, through costless challenges. Protecting what he loved–even if it wasn’t me was the final service I could offer.
I regret nothing.
Not the mate rejected, not the home I abandoned, not the life I sacrificed.
My only with in that I could have sem Adrion achieve his destiny to become the Alpha–King he was bom to be, with Skye standing beside him where I once
This in my she
The are the secrets I never told.
