REED
The slam of the door echoed in my ears as I stormed down the hall, away from her, away from the fragile mess I’d just left behind. My pulse was hammering so loudly I could barely hear my own thoughts. But it wasn’t the sound of my boots against the stone floor, or the distant wind whistling through the castle’s towers, that haunted me.
It was her.
The way Liana had looked at me—broken, confused, shattered. I’d seen the tears well up in her eyes, had felt the tremble in her voice when she whispered my name. And then I’d walked away.
I clenched my fists, nails digging into my palms as I tried to shove the image from my mind. It shouldn’t have bothered me. I’d done what needed to be done. I was an Alpha. She wasn’t my responsibility in that way. I’d been clear with her—cruel, maybe
