Series: Star Moon Pack Series by J.L. Beck
Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 118781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
“Don’t talk like that.”
“It’s the truth. I should never have been born. Half-wolf, half-witch. What good is this supposed power if all it does is make people want to kill me? I was never going to be your luna. I don’t fit. There are thousands of other wolves who would do much better than me.”
Is that what she thinks this is about? The fact that she’s unfit to be my mate?
“And I’ve been fooling myself all this time,” she continues as we walk down the hall. It only occurs to me now that she isn’t holding my hand as much as she’s allowing me to hold hers. Going through the motions, obeying my request. “You may as well get it over with.”
“You don’t know what I’m about to—”
“I do. I feel it here.” She presses her hand to her chest, wincing as she does. “I feel the pain already. All I need is for you to say the words. You made a mistake. You didn’t know what a freak I was when you marked me—and you only marked me to save your ass, anyway. Or rather, your brother’s ass. It was a fluke, the way I am. Just say it and get it over with already. Do it so I can leave.”
I can’t. I can’t do it. I can’t let her go through life thinking she’s unfit; that's the reason I’m doing this. I can’t allow her to believe that about herself. And I know she won’t leave unless I hurt her.
And yet… isn’t that better in a way? I have to make this easy for her. As easy as I can, anyway. The sooner she can get over the bond and begin hating me, the better for her. That’s what she needs to do, or else she’ll spend the rest of her days pining, and I don’t want that. I love her too much for that.
And that’s why I drop her hand once we reach the front door. “You’re right. It was a mistake from the beginning.” She cringes, and I hate myself, but I press on for her sake. “I only did it to save Forrest and me. That’s it. And I ended up getting stuck with you.”
“Please…” she whispers, her eyes closing and her body trembling. “Please, you don’t need to.”
“No, I do. There’s a reason your pack treated you the way they did. And you hit it on the head. You don’t belong. You are unfit. And I’m glad for you, I really am. You figured it out, finally. It doesn’t matter whether you have your wolf or not. It’s something that was born in you; you can’t erase it. I can’t believe I ever thought you would make a good mate for someone in my position.”
I open the door. “Go. I don’t care how you get back to your territory. I only want you to do it and do it now.”
Her cheeks shine with tears. “Wilde, don’t do this.”
“Why not? It’s the truth. I was wrong about our bond. There is no bond.”
She rocks back on her heels, and I feel it, too. The tension between us, the crackling of energy that’s almost like a low hum in the air. I feel it in my fingertips. I feel it practically coming up from the floor, like the energy is in the earth itself, shooting up through me.
“There is no bond,” I repeat. “Not when you have the power to destroy everything I love.”
With a soft sob, she drags herself through the door, coming to a stop on the other side. I force myself to look at her, not because I want to observe her pain, but because I need one last glimpse. I need to feast my eyes on her one more time before I cut the bond between us in half.
“Do you feel it?” she whispers, turning to face me one last time. “The bond. It’s not breaking.”
“It will.”
Reaching into my soul, into my wolf’s soul, is nearly impossible with the plea in her eyes. But I do it, grabbing onto the invisible tether with both hands while I ignore the raging of my wolf.
“Goodbye, Liliana.”
Just like that, I tear through the bond. Shredding the only thing holding us together.
While she drops to her knees in the doorway, I feel, rather than hear, a familiar comfort at my back.
Forrest.
He knew I’d need him.
Even if it makes me a pussy to admit, I need my brother at this moment.