DEREK
I’d spent the last six years working myself to the bone. From the moment I woke up in the morning until the moment I fell into bed late at night, I worked.
It was a constant stream of meetings and phone calls. And when I wasn’t pouring over the pack’s financial reports or meeting with foreign dignitaries to secure trade, I patrolled. I trained.
Anything to keep from thinking about Mia. About those blissful months when I’d visit her bed at night. About how I’d failed her.
About how she’d died because of the callous way I’d treated her.
I had skipped every year’s Alpha Council meeting that required me to bring my Luna or date. It was painful for me to see other Alphas having a great time with their fated mates
and lunas. Not when mine was forever gone.
But this year… Cassandra, who had been helping me to manage pack affairs–even though sometimes I had to fix her mistakes–had seen the invitation and pleaded that we go
together.
I’d been so focused–and, frankly, exhausted–that I’d agreed. I hadn’t even looked up from my desk, just paused what I was doing and given her a gruff “Fine.”
And now here was Mia. Alive and well. Radiant, even. Stunningly beautiful with her shiny
copper locks and those piercing grey–blue eyes.
The one person whose memory I was desperately trying to outrun.
She exuded competence, confidence, calm. She blended in so well with the Alphas and
Lunas surrounding us that anyone would think she were one of them rather than the rogue
I knew her to be.
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The moment I saw her standing in the grand hall of the Alpha Council meeting, my world stopped. Every sound, every voice, every other presence blurred into nothing. It was as if
the universe had split open, rewriting reality itself.
I had mourned her, suffered for her, allowed myself to be consumed by the guilt and emptiness she left behind. And yet, here she was–breathing, living, standing right in front
of me.
At the side of the Moonstone heir.
And now she was in my arms.
When I saw her falling, my feet moved before I could process what was happening. And then there she was, real and whole, the warm, solid weight of her like a blanket on a cold
winter’s night.
And her smell. Goddess, it was intoxicating. Sweet and briny. Fresh as the dew on a rose
petal.
She flinched, pulling away as if I had burned her. The rejection sent a sharp sting through
- me.
Mason’s voice cut through the haze. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Mason. My longtime rival, the only other werewolf I wasn’t certain I could easily kill. He was standing too close to her, his stance too protective, too possessive.
Mia–or was it Elena now?-turned to him, her hand brushing his sleeve. “Mason, it’s fine.
Let’s not cause a scene.”
Mason glanced down at her and they looked at each other with such easy affection that jealousy washed over me in a tsunami of feeling.
“MINE!” howled Erebus inside of me.
“What’s going on here?” I said out loud, my voice dangerously low. “What are you doing with my mate?”
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“Your mate? She was at one time, but not anymore. And who’s fault is that? I bet that’s an interesting story. I’d love to hear how-”
Elena stepped forward with a quiet dignity and ran her hand down Mason’s sleeve,
ignoring me completely.
Mason’s nostrils flared and I ran my tongue along my canines, spoiling for a fight. I wanted to vector my pain onto someone I knew could hurt me back.
“Mason,” she said, her voice level and clear. “We can discuss that later. At home.”
Home. At home.
a
I shook my head as if to clear it. I hadn’t heard what I thought I had. They lived together. There was no other possibility.
Rage surged through my veins. My muscles tensed as I imagined tearing him apart then and there. The thought of Mia—Elena—being with him, of her relying on him the way she used to rely on me, made me see red.
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