ATLAS' POV.
I didn’t move at first.
Couldn’t.
The trees blurred, the air thickened, and the world tilted under my feet as her footsteps faded into the distance. My ears strained for even the faintest sound of her, but all I heard was my own heartbeat—loud, uneven, broken.
Rejected her.
After our first night together.
Wha—
My stomach twisted violently.
No.
No, there was no way.
I pressed my hand against a tree trunk, fingers digging into the bark as if I needed something to hold me upright.
Why would I ever do that?
Why would I reject her?
Why would I reject my mate? That doesn’t make sense.
The word slammed into my skull with the force of a blow. Mate. The one thing my wolf would never turn away from. The one thing my soul recognized even if my mind didn’t remember. Even now—
