**MATTEO**
She walked away.
The pity in her eyes when she turned away gutted me worse than outright hatred. I wanted to follow. To demand answers. To pull her aside and tell her that every night since that day, her absence had carved hollows in me I couldn’t fill. That Storm howled for her. That I had been a fool. But I swallowed the urge. The last thing I wanted was to create a scene, embarrass her, and push her further away. Besides, the men following her were watching me with cold, predatory eyes, as if waiting for an excuse to tear me apart.
“Alpha?” One of my officers ventured carefully.
“Leave it,” I growled.
And just like that, she slipped through my fingers again.
The drive back from the summit was a blur of clenched fists and bitter silence. By the time I reached the pack h
