He sat with the question for a long time.
Then he shook his head.
"No."
His voice was very calm.
"My wolf never accepted her. Not once. Being with her was — it was a responsibility. An obligation. Nothing more."
"When I found out what she'd done, I felt angry." He paused. "But more than that, I felt... relief."
He looked up at me.
"Elena. These past years, one thought kept coming back to me."
"What would we be like now , if I hadn't turned you away?"
"Maybe we'd have a home. Maybe children. Maybe we'd be running through the forest together on full moon nights."
His throat worked.
"But I destroyed all of that with my own hands."
I looked at Alpha Ethan, and something bittersweet moved through me.
Once, I'd imagined that exact future too. A thousand times.
But that was a long t
