Fated Regrets

ne's

ees, the familiar scent of damp earth, the distant howls in the night-it a

at me, as if struggling to believe I'm real. I can feel t

s she

y

, and I don't

ere for ex

memories through me-ones I quickly push aside. I tighten my grip on the cloak draped over my sh

ing as we approach. One of them, a broad-shouldered war

doing here?

the Alpha," one of

have no right to reque

gu

like venom, meant to remind me o

g stare. "Tell Kieran Selene Hayes is h

that call himself. With a sharp nod, he disappears i

ootsteps echo

ng open, the man who once shat

a Ki

d for the first time in three year

oc

h that-som

gr

rs standing around shift uncomfortably, as if they can

nce himself that I'm truly standing before him. I h

, of disbelief, of something dee

't expe

o

s my name, as if tasting it

ps does nothing to me. No w

e tied me to this

he smallest smirk to play

ne-polite, detached. Not the wa

ed me to

ed me to

ected

gain," he says, his voice lac

I reply smoothly. "Bu

of deference. The last time we spoke, I was a shattered girl b

o piece together what happened in the years I was

hifting his stance. "Wh

e question hang

taking my time before answerin

narrow sligh

the

ut it's not the w

expected a different answer-maybe something emot

ore he can speak, another

she doi

st as Lilith step

placed me. The w

rcing blue eyes that once held triumph. But now, as she takes in the

e

rest

ssively around his arm, just like she did the night h

," she snaps, her voic

n amused tilt of my hea

an, as if expecting him to throw

e, as if trying to understand

hen I know-h

t choice. He thought rejecting me for power, for a

dering if he

feel sorr

mo

past them as I step into the packhouse. "But I have

yes burning into my back.

gers trailing along the wooden railing. Then

you like

my way inside, leaving the past b

er Kieran leaves, I s

ne his clenched jaw, the storm in his eyes, the way his hands p

t he was

isappeared, that I

te is

ow, s

coiling in my muscles. I refuse to let my emoti

thing more than a stepp

ook out at the moonlit forest beyond the packhouse. The S

toward the patrol routes, so

moving

t skips

stant, but I know

es, too many nights in the wild learning

omething-is

own my spine, b

nticip

it is familiar, comforting. The polished steel gleams under the candlelight, a

e's one thing I

is world is e

fa

t

y not unfini

r and settle into bed, knowing

the darkness of the Shadowcrest

o find out exa