Low.
Pained.
Frustrated.
A whine slips in before I can stop it, the sound torn out of me as I pace, claws flexing, tearing at the ground.
She’s gone.
Find her.
Fix it.
One of the guards shifts nervously.
“Neta—what do we do? Normals could come down this street any minute?—”
I roar.
The sound rips out of me, raw and uncontrolled, echoing down the street as my frustration spikes.
Hunter doesn’t flinch.
His gaze sharpens.
“Did he not claim his mate?” he asks evenly. “Or did she reject him?”
I freeze.
Everything—stops.
Because that thought?
That possibility?
It hadn’t even crossed my mind.
And now—now it slams into me like a physical blow.
Rejected.
My Tiger recoils—and then explodes.
A roar tears out of me, louder this time, pain threading through it, sharp and unbearable.
Because no.
No.
That’s not it.
She wouldn’t!
Would she?
But gone is gone.
And now?
