Caius “You shouldn’t scare away your mate like that,” Kathryn says as she mixes and makes a paste of a few herbs. Her office is very much similar to the one she had in my pack. It’s compact but warm. “Who is whose mate? She isn’t mine,” I growl. The twinge of pain I feel across my heart contradicts my statement. Luca hasn’t spoken to me. He shouldn’t, but this is for the best, isn’t it? I lean back on the couch and gaze up at the pretty chandelier that has no business being here in such an ergonomic space. ‘I, Loraine Winters,’ pausing when she had to say the name of the pack but doesn’t. ‘Reject you as my mate.’ “Words are often more terrifying than weapons and claws, isn’t it?” Kathryn brings me back to reality. I give a curt nod. It seems so. It took a lot in me to utter the

