"All I could do..." I heard Kayden's voice choke, "was call out to my wolf, over and over. Begging it to sense our broken bond. Begging it to remember your scent. Begging it... to lead me to you."
My heart clenched painfully, like it might shatter.
"I've been full of regret, Layla," Kayden said. "These seven years. Every day. Every night."
"But I've never regretted anything as much as tonight..." He drew a deep breath, as if reliving that despair through memory, "enough to trade my life with the devil if it meant you were safe."
"Maybe begging actually worked," Kayden said softly. "I followed the direction my heart pointed, and I really did find you. Bit by bit."
He looked at me with something like pleading, hoping I'd believe him, just this once.
"This is love, Layla. I'm absolutely certain. This is love. Not the Moon Goddess's arrangement. Not instinct. It's me. Kayden Blackwood... Hopelessly in love with you."
I clamped my palm over my mouth, but laughter still leaked through my fingers—complete, hysterical, broken laughter.
I didn't know what I was laughing at. Him? Me? This fucked-up fate? I saw Kayden's panicked expression, but I couldn't stop, laughing until my shoulders shook, tears rolling like broken strings of pearls.
"When I was fifteen, you saved me in the forest." My voice came in fragments, like torn paper.
"That was the first time someone got hurt for me. Later, I made you an herbal medicine, wanted to give it to you... But you walked right past me. Didn't even look."
Kayden opened his mouth like he wanted to say something. I didn't let him.
"Eighteen years old. Pack gathering." I continued, each word like licking a wound. "Sophia Bennett poured wine on me, said hybrids didn't belong. You were standing right there. I saw you frown. Ithought you'd say something, at least speak up for me. But you just called her away."
"Twenty years old. I started learning to make bouquets. I picked the best flowers and stood outside your door for half an hour." I looked up at him through tears.
"My palms sweated so much the stems got wet, the petals wilted, and I still couldn't knock."
"Twenty-five." I could barely breathe now. This was what I least wanted to remember. "After that night... you threw me away like dirty laundry."
"At the engagement ceremony, you said the Silver Moon Pack's Luna could never be someone like me."
Everyone stared. Everyone laughed at me.
And you stood there, expressionless, like I was a stranger.
"You publicly rejected me as your mate."
That pain... like my soul being ripped in half.
I was just a stain you desperately needed to erase.
"You watched everyone attack me as a murderer. You believed the evidence..."
Those images hadn't blurred with time. They'd only sharpened.
"You watched me despair. Watched me beg."
"Kayden, the wind on that cliff was so strong." Like I'd suddenly lost all strength, finally unable to vent anymore. "The water below was black. The rocks like fangs. But compared to living in that despair, death was mercy. I thought I was finally free."
The car fell silent as death. Kayden's face went deathly pale, lips pressed tight, fingers gripping his palms until his knuckles turned white then blue.
"Seventeen years. You ignored me, hurt me, and humiliated me. Now you tell me you love me?" My tears had dried, leaving only an eerie calm. "Why do you love me?"
Kayden fell silent. For a long time. So long I thought he wouldn't answer.
"You're strong." His voice was tender, like describing a treasure. "And fragile. You barely had anything from the pack's charity, couldn't even feed yourself..."
