“You’re right, but that doesn’t make you unworthy, Cora. It’s not your failure, but hers. Stop bleeding for this woman; she will never thank you for it. You cannot earn her love because she is rotten. She isn’t capable of it. So. Claim. It. Back.”
There was the echo of a roar, and the thunder of feet. My family, my friends, my mate—they came for me. They risked life and limb to rescue me. I held on to that love and dragged into my body, clutching it tight, and closed my eyes, banishing the shadows this horror had caused.
I felt it. The tiny piece of my soul I’d reclaimed. There was more here, but this was the start of the road to processing the horror that happened in this room. Small steps.
My eyes flicked open, and Hudson and I were in the back of a car. It was dark, and in the front sat our doppelgangers.
“Don’t do this,” my identical self murmured. I could feel my heart breaking all over again.
My Hudson grabbed my hand. “I was so fucking stupid.”
My lips twitched. “Yes, you were.”
But I understood why this happened. He’d panicked and decided we weren’t worth the political cost.
“I’m sorry,” he rumbled.
“I know.”
“I don’t understand why this was something that damaged my soul. I accepted your apology and forgave you. We’ve moved on.”
“Still, I betrayed you here. I broke your heart and crushed our fledgling relationship with one stupid decision. I’m lucky to have won you back, and there isn’t a day that passes that I don’t regret making you think you came second.”
I sighed. He was right. It was a betrayal I was still nursing. But this was the man I loved, the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. I gulped, and my heart stuttered for a moment before synchronizing with Hudson’s. He let loose a long breath.
“The mate bond,” he murmured. “It’s fully formed.”
I felt it. Stronger, more tangible than ever. It would only grow from here.
He turned my face to his and kissed me slowly. “Thank you for trusting me, Cora.”
My eyes flew open, and he was gone. Now, I was on the floor of my lab, and Dave stood across from me, staring at Mary, the battered wolf shifter he’d brought me to heal. His accusations echoed through the room, blaming me for what had happened to her.
“I had no right to blame you,” he growled. I snapped my head to the side, finding him next to me. “You carry enough guilt in your soul for the world. You didn’t need this as well.”
“All deaths weigh on doctors. We learn to compartmentalize, but it doesn’t mean we don’t feel each and every one.”
“But I blamed you.”
I clutched his hand. “Do you still?”
“No.”
I sucked in a breath, leaned my head back, and closed my eyes. I could sense my strength, but also exhaustion.
“Tell us the numbers,” my ex-boyfriend snarled.
I shook my head and refused to open my eyes. We’d skipped to something I wanted to face even less than my grandmother. This was my first attempt at a relationship outside of my family, and I’d gotten hurt. Scarred. It had broken a trust inside me only Hudson had succeeded in mending. So I didn’t need to be here. I didn’t need to see this.
“This haunts my dreams too,” Sebastian said. “I’d never seen someone in so much pain before. So much heartbreak inflicted by someone you put trust into.” I shook my head and let my tears fall. “Open your eyes, Cora. Let’s banish this together. It’s time.”
My lips trembled as I found the last of my resolve and flicked open my eyes. I bore witness to my torture, and I didn’t blink once. I let every emotion flood my veins, relived every lash, felt each scar forming. But I did not blink. I faced my fear, and in doing so, I won back a part of me I thought died in this basement.
The world darkened before transforming into my living room, where we all stood in a circle. “I’m done,” I choked out. I couldn’t take any more. Not right now.
“You did good,” Dayna said with a smile. “Now, for the tricky part.”
“What’s the tricky part?” Dave snarled.
