I walked to Derek’s house in tears. My own mate hadn’t wanted to mark me because he was angry with my decision to follow my dreams. Mates were never supposed to hurt each other.
But all I felt was hurt. All I felt was rejection.
A part of me thought he was being childish. This whole thing was childish. Him not accepting me as a part of the warriors because he hadn’t wanted me to join the Lycans. Him keeping that I was his mate a secret. Him not marking me before I left for an entire year.
Fog lay heavily inside the forest, but I continued to walk, knowing these woods like the back of my hand. I had run through them so many times, yet I couldn’t get myself to run. My whole body felt too weak.
The pain—his pain, my pain, our pain—was terrorizing me. I didn’t want Roman to go behind my ba
