Zodiac Aligned

2

For that, I wasn't sure I could ever forgive him.

He knew it too. I could tell from the way his eyes shifted away from me, and from the heavy breath he took as he considered his next words.

“We have food at the Ophiuchus tent." He paused, waiting for me to answer. “You’re welcome to join us."

I stared back at him for a few heartbeats, and my breath caught in my throat as I remembered the way his voice had sounded as he’d removed my Ophiuchus pack mark. I missed the other pack members more than I could express in words, and I desperately longed to share a meal with them now. Their scents would be warm, comforting, familiar—like home. Except it was a home that was no longer mine.

“I’m not hungry,” I finally said. A lie and we both knew it.

Kaden stepped forward, his brows furrowing. “You’re still one of us. Even if your pack mark is gone.”

His voice went soft with another unspoken apology. It didn’t have the effect he’d probably desired. Anger rose inside of me, and I turned to face him fully for the first time since he’d emerged from the bushes.

“You’re the one who kicked me out." My hands clenched at my side and hot tears pricked my eyes. "You're the one who removed my pack mark. Now you act like I can still be one of you? Like it never happened? Like you didn't break my heart when you rejected me and made me packless?"

Kaden's face twisted with frustration and he jerked a hand through his hair, his movements almost angry. Good. I didn’t want to see his softness. I didn’t want it to weaken me.

“Ayla,” Kaden said. “That night... I wasn’t thinking right, and I regret everything I did. I told you I made a mistake. What more do you want from me? Do you want me to grovel on my knees in front of you and beg for your forgiveness? I'll do it. I'll do whatever it takes.”

“I don’t want anything from you.” Another lie. My heart ached, begging for that connection once more. I wanted to be a part of the pack I’d called home, and even more than that, I wanted to be his mate again, but there was no way I was going to tell him that.

“I can make you a part of the pack again,” Kaden said, as if hearing my deepest desire anyway. "It was a mistake removing your pack mark. Let me make it right."

I shook my head, as the anger left me and turned back to despair. “All I ever wanted was a pack. A family. A mate. And right when I'd finally found all of that, you took it away from me." A single tear broke free and slid down my cheek as I forced the next words out. “You hurt me more than you could ever understand.”

Kaden's eyes fixated on the tear on my cheek, his jaw tightening. "Ayla..."

I cut him off before he could say something that might make me break even more. I had to get the next words out, no matter how much they pained me. "I don't know if I belong with the Ophiuchus pack anymore." I drew in a shaky breath. "Or with you."

Kaden's eyes flashed with a reflection of my pain, and I turned away before I could drown in it. Once I would have run into his arms and confessed my fears, knowing he was my safe place, the person I could turn to when I needed help. But he wasn't that person anymore. He had taken my love and dashed it against the wall, breaking it like a glass plate.

He called after me once, but I squared my shoulders and kept going.

I walked away from Kaden, and I didn’t look back.

CHAPTER TWO

I wiped my eyes as I headed back toward the tents. Wesley had been kind enough to loan me one, and I'd set it up near the Cancer and Libra packs, but still far enough away that it was clear I wasn’t with them.

One other outcast tent sat beside mine. No one wanted to touch Jordan with a ten-foot pole in case they got mixed up in the politics surrounding him. Ethan, the Libra alpha, had loaned him the tent, always willing to play the peacemaker, and I appreciated his cool head more than I could ever express to him in words.

If only I could channel that cool head myself, I thought dryly, remembering my outburst of emotion with Kaden. I couldn’t think straight when he was around. Every time he spoke to me, all the anger and pain filled me up until I burst, and I didn't know how to make that stop. The worst part was that I still loved Kaden, even after everything he’d done. My heart was broken, my mind was confused, but my soul still knew who my true mate was.

Jordan looked up as I stomped back over to the tent. His large frame was crouched in front of a makeshift fire pit, and he poked at the embers with a stick. His face was sour, and his body language screamed leave me alone.

“You look like you’re in the same mood that I'm in,” I said.

Jordan’s scowl deepened, and he dropped the stick into the pit. It caught on fire after popping ominously a few times. “The Leo pack left without me."

That stopped me in my tracks. “What?”

“The beta took over, claiming he’s the new alpha, and now they're gone. I have no idea where they went. I can’t even follow them to try and reclaim my title as alpha." He sank to the ground and leaned back, stretching out his long legs. “It’s like I’m packless now.”

A bitter laugh escaped me as I sat next to him. "Welcome to the club.”

"It’s a shitty club to be in,” he muttered.

"Tell me about it."

Jordan offered me a bag of chips, which I took with a nod of thanks. My stomach soured at the reminder that I could have had dinner with the Ophiuchus if things were different. This would have to do for now.