KYLE
The silence stretched on, as Valerie stood there staring at us, her throat bobbing with a hard swallow. Her eyes were wide and there was something I couldn't quite decipher in them—fear, regret, shame? In that moment, I felt as though the ground beneath my feet had been yanked away.
That word rang in my head over and over again. It stung like a blade piercing through skin. It was ridiculous how something so simple could cause this hollow feeling in my chest, like I’d been cracked open.
She couldn’t even answer the question—did she regret being mated to us? She had a chance to speak, to tell us she didn’t mean it, and yet, nothing.
I wanted to scoff, to laugh at my own naivety. Every damn moment we’d shared replayed in my mind—her smiles, her teasing glances, the way her hand had
