I pull my hand away, stepping back. The words ‘home’ and ‘Pack Jade’ send ice through my veins, replacing the warmth of pleasure with cold dread. Memories flash through my mind - the whispers, the stares, the rejection. Kieran might be different now, but the pack hasn’t changed.
“Aurora?” He reaches for me again, but I move further away.
“I can’t.” The words come out barely above a whisper. “I can’t go back there.”
His face falls, confusion and hurt replacing the tender expression from moments ago. But before he can argue, I scoop up some clothes and flee into the bathroom, leaving him calling after me.
I lean against the closed door, heart racing. The pack needs us—needs me. But can I really return to the place that broke me? To the people who celebrated when their future alpha rejected me?
Even if Kieran has changed, some wounds run too deep to heal.
Chapter 31
Kieran
I stand outside the bathroom door, my hand raised to knock, frozen in indecision. Through the wood, I can smell her distress, hear her rapid heartbeat. My wolf whines, desperate to comfort our mate, but I force myself to wait. I know she won’t thank me if I rush in there half-cocked.
Finally, I knock softly. “Aurora? Please talk to me.”
Silence stretches between us. Just as I’m about to give up and give her more time to cool off, the door opens slowly. She’s dressed now, and her hair is pulled back in a severe braid. The vulnerable woman from earlier is gone, replaced by someone armored against pain. I can almost feel the wall she’s built back up between us, and it hurts my heart.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she says, striding past me. She grabs her bag and starts to shove things into it, her movements sharp and precise. “You need to go back to Pack Jade. I need to stay here and keep investigating the fae.”
“The pack is under attack.” I step into her room, careful to keep my distance, mourning how close we just were—so close I can still taste her on my tongue—and how far she is from me now. “We have to go home so we can face the threat together. They need us, Aurora.”
“No.” She stuffs more clothes into her bag with sharp, angry movements. “They need you. I’m just the broken shifter they tolerate because their alpha brought me in and… their future alpha was unlucky enough to be matched with me.”
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?” She whirls on me, and the pain in her mismatched eyes makes my chest ache. “Tell me honestly—how many times have you heard them whisper about me? About how I’m cursed, how I’ll bring the madness to Pack Jade like I did to Pack Onyx?”
I can’t answer. We both know the truth. Our pack has never been kind to her.
“Exactly.” She turns back to her packing. “I won’t go back just to be treated like an outsider again. Just to watch them celebrate that you were strong enough to reject your cursed mate.”
“I’ll protect you,” I insist. “I’ll stand up for you. Things will be different this time, I swear it.”
“Like you protected me before?” The words are sharp with old hurt resurfacing. “You can’t control how they treat me, Kieran. You couldn’t then, and you can’t now.”
“Then what’s your solution?” Frustration bleeds into my voice. “Where will you go?”
“To Pack Onyx lands.” She lifts her chin in that stubborn way that both infuriates and charms me. “That’s where the answers are. About the fae, about my family, about everything I need to know to… to move forward.”
“You’ll go there all alone?” The word comes out as a growl.
“If I have to.”
Something in me snaps. The thought of her alone, vulnerable to fae attack, drives my wolf into a frenzy. Before I can stop myself, I’m blocking her from leaving, caging her against the wall with my body.
“No.” The word is guttural, primal. “I won’t allow it.”
Her eyes flash. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. Not anymore.”
“I can’t let you go alone.” The words tear from my throat, raw and honest. “The thought of you out there, facing the fae without me… it would drive me mad. I’d worry every second, wondering if you were safe, if you were hurt, if I’d ever see you again. Please, Aurora, don’t do it.”
“Kieran…”
“I care about you too much to let you face this alone.” My voice breaks as I press my forehead to hers, inhaling her scent, the lilac and honey sweet in my nose and on my tongue. “I love you too much.”
