All we’re doing now is breaking each other’s hearts.
I look at the man I once loved and harden my heart. He might not be whispering sweet promises in my ear like he used to, but it’s only a matter of time before he starts up again. If crossing the realm didn’t put enough distance between us for a breakup, thenfine.Fine. If he wants a confrontation, he’s getting one.
Stopping in my tracks, I scan the area for threats one more time before turning to face him. I can’t sense anything nearby. We may as well be alone, like always, exactly how he likes it.
Just the two of us on a crash course to damnation.
Surprise flickers across his features for a split second before he masks it. “What’s u?—”
I smash my fist into his roguishly handsome face.
Chapter 3
Revyn
Pain snaps across my jaw,and I’m left grinning like an idiot as Sienna follows up her first punch with a mean left hook.
I taught her that.
My heart sings as she breaks into my personal space, crossing the distance she’s put between us with her body, if not her heart. I know I fucked up our relationship. It’ll take time for her to forgive me—for her to understandwhyI kept so much of the truth a secret—but shouldn’t loving every fucking inch of her be enough?
Shouldn’t claiming her as my mate meaneverything?
The scars on her neck are as smooth as the one on my thigh, both of us having healed during our time apart. Pride blossoms in my chest until she catches me staring. A flicker of pain in her eyes, so sharp that it takes her breath away, makes me ache in ways I deserve for hurting her.
Not only did I keep her identity as a hybrid a secret from her, but I also attempted to mate with her the second she tried to leave me . . . and failed miserably. The mating bond didn’t stick, and we both walked away with fresh scars.
Either the bond didn’t take because she doesn’t want me, or the state of the world’s magic is more fucked than I realized.
I reach for her hand. There’s so much I need to tell her. About me, about us, about everything. “Sienna?—”
She pulls away and clenches her fists, the tips of her nails puncturing her palms. “No.” Shaking her head, she denies me the chance to speak. “You don’t get to lie to me again.”
I open my mouth and she growls, every bit as wild as I am, no matter how much she denies it. Her eyes glow brighter as she strikes again, hitting my chest with three successive jabs.
If she needs to beat me up to get rid of all that anger, so be it. I’ll be her punching bag for the rest of our lives.
Achallengingone.
“Use your claws, gorgeous.” I flex my fingers, and my nails sharpen to deadly points, with my teeth following immediately after. Partial shifts aren’t as effective in combat, but tussling with Sienna in wolf form is a surefire way for me to lose what little restraint I have after so many moons apart. I want her more than life itself. I want to proudly show off her mating marks on my skin and preen like a goddamn cat strutting before a crowd. I need everyone in the realm to understand that she is mine and I am hers.
Even if I can’t officially mate with her—if the magic binding us together as mates fails—she will always be mine. Sheismine. We’ve been together for ten years; surely she won’t throw that away once she understands that everything I did was for her happiness. She may not believe that we’re mates without a completed bond, but she’s the closest thing I’ve ever had and the only one I’ve ever wanted.
I feel freer with her than I ever have in a lifetime spent wandering the wilds.
Holding back a whimper, she fights her own transformation. Her body quivers as her eyes turn, their pupils narrowing to perfect diamonds. Her fingers snap and lengthen, strengthening her bones and extending her nails. That’s all she’ll allow eversince she learned that she’s not just a wolf, but a hybrid, and it breaks my fucking heart.
If she’d never found out, she wouldn’t be in pain like this.
Everything is my fault.
The truth stings like a thousand poison barbs embedding into my skin. I roll my shoulders back to dislodge them, but the acid remains, burrowing into my body and making my skin tight. The pulse of a shift lingers just beneath the surface, the itch to transform like a drug. But if I do that—if I shift this close to her—she’ll never forgive me if it drags her body into one, too.
I saw how much she struggled when I first leapt into the meadow as a wolf. It was a calculated risk to fend off a predator, but if I do it again, she won’t forgive me...
She’llneverforgive me at this rate.
Anguish churns in my gut, but I hide it with a practiced smile. “Atta girl. Doesn’t that feel better?”
