“Before the pack and the Moon Goddess, I, sub-alpha Thane Savage of the Snehvolk Pack, claim you, Willow Barker, as my mate.”
The sound of my words fills the den, heavy and final with the echo that lifts Willow's eyes as she meets my gaze. Another bout of silence falls over the pack den before she parts her lips and squeaks the words out, “I, Willow Barker, accept your claim, sub-alpha Thane Savage.” She snaps her mouth shut assoon as the words are out, and her hand slips from mine almost immediately.
She takes a small step back, raising her chin again, her gaze fixed on the floor. She doesn’t look at me, doesn’t offer a flicker of response. Her calm composure cuts deeper than her anger ever could, my heart gripping with guilt and disappointment.
An uncomfortable, dreary silence stretches around the moment we should have shared a lovers’ embrace. Instead, I feel awkward tension as Elias gives a slow nod, signaling the end of the rite.
“It is done,” he says simply, and the witnesses bow their heads in acknowledgment.
No one claps. No one congratulates our union. The air remains thick, as if everyone senses how fragile this bond really is.
As I stare at Willow, she turns to leave without breathing another word, keeping her gaze pinned to the floor as if she's embarrassed about what we just did, as if it was wrong.
That's how it feels. Wrong.
And just like that, I feel it again—the ache I thought I buried years ago.
Maybe it’s guilt.
Maybe it’s something else, a deep sense of pining, my inner wolf's desires clawing their way out of the grave I tried to bury it under.
All I know is that when Willow walks out of the den, I follow her with my eyes until the door closes, flinching when it shuts behind her. I'm left with the heavy silence of everything unspoken between us.
The ceremony is over.
But nothing feels resolved.
Gulping hard when my vision blurs with an unwarranted veil of emotions over my eyes, I glance at Elias and offer him nothing more than a curt nod before heading to the door.
Just as I'm about to leave, I murmur a “thank you” to the members of the pack who'd come out for the private ceremony, unable to offer more when guilt and regret choke me.
I can't let her walk away as if this ceremony meant nothing. I was a fool in the past, but I'm not the same man I used to be back then.
Jogging through the snowy meadow, I follow the trail of Willow's footsteps in the blanket of snow covering Girdwood, leading toward my house on the east side of the village. With my heart lodged in my throat and pounding against my ribcage, I see one window illuminate with the yellow light in Willow's bedroom, and I know she's back at my place.
I race inside, leaving the front door open in my haste toward her bedroom. Luckily, her door is still open, and the tearing rip of fabric echoes between the bedroom's walls.
“Willow…” I breathe, my breath coming out in hot pants as I push the door open with a firm hand.
She turns to me slowly, holding up the sleeve she tore from the dress against her chest, tears welling in her eyes as if she's mourning the death of something precious.
The only thing that keeps dying is the spark between us every time she pushes me away.
“What do you want now, Thane?” she groans, rolling her eyes as she lowers her head, clutching the ripped part of her dress to her chest as if it's armor.
“I—I came to check up on you,” I say earnestly with a frown tugging my brows lightly.
“Why?” she shrugs diffidently, her expression flat, eyes becoming listless pools again. “Are you hoping your chivalry will sweep me off my feet and have me falling into your arms so you can mate with me?”
As if Willow struck me with a stinging palm, I flinch.
Ouch.
That one struck a nerve.
“No,” I assure her, my hands lifting slightly as if in surrender. “I'm not here to mate with you, Willow. I promised that it won't happen. I'm not going back on that promise.”
“Yeah, but you believe that you can convince me eventually, right?” she scoffs, her eyes lighting up with the anger that's clearly brewing inside. “That I'm some idiot who will grovel at your feet just because everyone believes we're fated mates?”
