DERRICK POV
That fucker. I should have ripped his throat out already. Tasted his blood on my fangs. Let it stain my mouth and cleanse this rage burning through every inch of my skin.
Instead, I did something I never do. I held back.
It didn’t feel good. Not like it should’ve.
And now? Now it was worse. Infinitely worse. Because the fucker was twisting reality, bending the truth until it snapped, and my mate—Kai—she was caught in the middle of it. Torn. Doubting. Looking between us like she couldn’t tell up from down anymore.
Watching her step back from me—flinch, even—
That?
That shattered something inside me.
I wasn’t supposed to be the monster in her eyes too. I was supposed to be the one who’d come for her. Bled for her.
I was the one that spent thousands of nights thinking o
