She needed to go home.
Damon
In wolf form, Damon bounded through the woods under the spotlight of a full golden moon. His wolf yearned to return to her.
She’s afraid. She doesn’t want us, Damon declared, those very words in his head leaving a bitter taste on his tongue.
His wolf stopped and leaned back on his hindquarters before howling in anguish.
As Damon resumed running through the trees across the mountain, his soul ached. This was what he feared all his life, the worst thing that could happen. He found his mate only to have her reject him.
It was all his fault. Why hadn’t he told Sophie before now?
Instead, she found out in the worst possible way. She witnessed him shift. Without any forewarning or explanation, she’d seen something she didn’t know was possible—and it terrified her.
Damn. He wished he’d scented her approach. Snow and the direction of the breeze hadn’t worked in his favor. He bounded through the woods in wolf form to head to the border line between the packs. Valen had reported that he’d detected a foreign wolf’s scent in Franconia territory. Damon had been going to investigate when Sophie had witnessed him shift.
Now he was torn apart with anguish, desperate to return to her and bloodthirsty to destroy any Sacco wolf that threatened his pack. He’d protect his pack. And most of all, he’d protect his mate.
At least while Sophie was here on the mountain. And then what?
She was leaving him, returning to the city. There was nothing he could do to stop her.
How had he messed it all up so badly? Had he acted in a way to fulfill a self-fulfilling prophecy?
That had to be it. There was no other way to describe how he botched this relationship. He should have been wooing his mate, cherishing her—not keeping secrets and hurting her.
He’d screwed up and made his worst nightmare come true.
When Damon arrived at the borderline between packs, Rafe and Grayson had already joined Valen. All were in wolf form. Damon sniffed at the stench of Sacco wolves in Franconia territory.
What does this mean? Damon asked. War? Which he would have instigated at being the cause of strife.
Rafe growled. Let’s not jump to violence yet. He sniffed at the ground. They didn’t breach our lands too deeply before they turned back. If we can avoid bloodshed, we will. Enforcers, stay alert tonight.
Grayson padded over to Damon. You appear on edge. Is it just because of this provocation?
Damon’s heart plummeted. She rejected me, he admitted to all three of them. She spotted me shift. Everything I have feared my entire life has come to fruition.
I’m sorry, Grayson said.
What else was there to say? Nothing could fix this mess. Was it only a matter of time before Damon’s anguish led him to flee the pack to live alone in the wilderness, just like his father?
And then die alone.
Dread suffocated him like an avalanche.
Damon relived painful memories as he patrolled the border in wolf form, keeping his head low to detect foreign scents. He pictured his mother with her long black hair pleated over one shoulder. She knelt down and placed her hands on his shoulders and told him she was leaving the pack.
She’d given him a gentle smile. “Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean I don’t love you.”
“Then why are you leaving?” Damon had asked.
Her smile had vanished, and she’d glanced down. “Because I have to. This place isn’t for me.”
“Where will you go?” he’d asked. He didn’t understand it then and still didn’t. What about their world wasn’t right for her?
She’d gazed off into the distance. “I don’t know.”
“Take me with you,” Damon had begged before throwing his arms around her neck.
She’d hugged him back like she wouldn’t let him go, but then she released him. “You’re better off living here with the pack. They’re your family as much as I am.” She’d kissed his check. “Be a good boy.”
Then she’d stood and gave him one last smile. “No matter where I am, I’ll always be with you. And I’ll always love you.” She turned and walked into the woods, her brown clothing soon disappearing amid the green and brown frock of the forest.
Damon never saw her again.
If she loved him, why would she leave him?
His father withered, slowly losing his mind to his anguish. Fortunately, the pack cared for Damon.
Grayson, only a few years older, had adopted him like a younger brother. “Some wolves aren’t fit for pack life. Don’t let it bother you.”
Of course it did. Not only did Damon miss his mother, but his father became more detached. It was a surprise to no one when he declared that he was also leaving the pack.
He’d died within the year.
Reports of his mother’s death followed three years later.
Both of his parents had become lone wolves and had died alone. Was that also to be his fate?
From that point, his mindset had hardened. He wouldn’t suffer that same fate as his father. Besides, he had his mother’s blood in him. Maybe he was like her and not suited to living with a mate among a pack. Yet, Damon soon dismissed that as he yearned to belong to something and someone. He’d never leave his pack.
That must have meant he was more like his father. Tonight, he never felt more like him —lost, rejected, desperate.
Doomed.
Was there any way to crawl out of the despair before it drowned him?
He’d do anything to return to living the simple life he’d craved, serving as pack enforcer, and working ski patrol. Why had he messed up a comfortable life by inviting his mate into his life when she’d inevitably cause anguish?
Give her time, his wolf insisted. We were happy. We’d found our other half.
Damon scowled. She wasn’t coming back to him.
Somehow, he’d find a way to go on without Sophie. And it wasn’t as if he had a choice. She was going back to the
