Good!
If the only good thing that comes out of my engagement is a metaphorical punch to Hunter's gut, then I'm satisfied. He deserves it for breaking my heart.
Emily slows down when we near the guesthouse, turning toward me with an apologetic expression on her face.
“It's about the prince, isn't it?” she sighs heavily. “I know how strongly you feel about fated mates, but you haven't even met—”
“No!” I interject firmly, proceeding to the door as I shake my head. “Prince Damion isnotmy fated mate!” I scoff bemusedly, nervously, knowing the truth but unable to speak it.
“Well, how would you know that?” Emily probes with a raised brow.
Huffing and stomping my way to the living room area, I throw my head back and plop onto a sofa. I'm stuck between wanting to please my parents, forging my own path, and keeping the secret about Hunter and me from our friends.
When he stormed off during lunch, eyebrows were raised, but we'd been careful enough during our time together to keep our rendezvous under the radar.
I can't tell Emily about it now, not after being rejected by Hunter.
“I just know,” I shrug as a shiver passes through me, the faint sound of footsteps outside making me aware that Hunter is returning to his guesthouse.
I hate that I can sense his presence, and I drop my face into my hands in frustration. Even if I've been vehemently avoiding looking at him, his undeniably magnetic presence still affects me, my inner wolf wailing that he's my fated mate.
I won't act on it. He drew a line that I can't cross.
“I don't know what to do, Em. I can't marry the prince…”
Emily sighs as she takes a seat beside me, offering a consoling hand on my shoulder as she pouts.
“Why don't you leave Shadow Fang and become like Hunter?” Emily offers a serious look with a lifted brow.
“Become like Hunter?!” I exclaim at the absurdity of the suggestion.
“Yeah,” she perks up. “Become a nomad. That way, you're not tied down to rules and regulations.”
“Ugh!” I groan at the ceiling when I throw my head back defeatedly. The cushions catch my head, but don't provide much comfort.
How can I escape the fate set up by my parents?
“I can't do that, Em. They're my parents…I can't abandon them. I can't abandon my people….”
“You'll be abandoningusif you're whisked off to Europe,” she laments with sadness in her voice, prompting me to look up and see the sorrow extending to her ocean-blue eyes.
My heart plummets then, as I stare into Emily's eyes. Though she didn't join black ops for missions, she was always around as our medic, the healer who became close to our squad. She knows how strong our bonds are, how close I am to the men I consider my brothers.
And she?
She's like a sister to me.
“I—I know,” I sigh defeatedly, a tear slipping from my eye. “I just wish I knew how to get out of this mess. Right now, going back home feels like walking into a death sentence. But I have to go back.”
Emily nods despondently, offering only a shrug. “I hope you can figure it out, D. If you can't leave Shadow Fang, then maybe you'll have to stand up to your parents.”
I blow out a frustrated breath, rolling my eyes. “Stand up to my parents? Yeah, right! If I haven't presented a fated mate at my age, I don't have a leg to stand on.”
Because she's a healer, Emily offers a steaming mug of herbal tea to defuse my worries, to calm me while I consider my options. I can't disappoint my parents by running away, and neither can I marry the Lycan Prince.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, my only consolation is the quiet respite of being away from home, even if it's for a short while. But as I slip into bed, my body tingles, my nerves ignited by the awareness of my fated mate being close by.
Memories of our time together come crashing back, visions of the past, of that deadly mission that almost took Tyler's life. The mutated rogue wolves we fought out there were a tough group to take down, and the adrenaline and fear hanging over our heads were what drew Hunter and me together as we watched Emily tend to Tyler, reviving him when he'd been on the brink of death.
