(Zayden)
Silver Creek dirt under my boots felt wrong.
I crossed back over the border and I couldn’t breathe right. My chest was still tight and my hands wouldn’t stop shaking because I could still see it.
The light coming from her. From Isla. From the thing inside her too.
It hit me across the border stones and held me there. Half wolf, half man and on my knees. Like I was nothing.
No one does that.
“Alpha?”
Caleb was waiting at the edge of the clearing. His face was careful……..too careful.
I didn’t answer him. I walked straight to the hall.
I needed walls. I needed silence. I needed to not see her face when she said no.
The doors slammed behind me. I was finally alone.
“How did it go.” Elder Rowan asked.
Of course he was already here. He’s always here.
He didn’t bow to me
