Chapter 61
Faith’s Pov
The sharp, brutal cold hit me first, followed by the burning sting of pine needles against my skin. Slowly I shifted back making me dizzy and shivering. I blinked, my vision blurring, trying to make sense of the world.
And then I saw him.
Astor.
My mate. The love of my life.
He had aged well. Life had been good to him and he looked good.
He was standing maybe ten feet away, towering, his body rigid and coiled like a struck snake. His
pack warriors were scattered around him, faces I hadn’t seen in six years, frozen in shock and awe.
But none of that mattered. All that mattered was Astor, and the way he was looking at me.
The mate bond, only recently awakened inside me along with my wolf, screamed a song of joy and homecoming. It rushed through my veins, making my heart beat so hard I could barely breathe.
Mine. We are home. We are safe.
But the look in his eyes drowned out the happiness.
They were steel grey and colder than the current winter. There was no love, no recognition, and certainly no joy. Just a deep, crushing intensity the kind you reserve for an enemy that has insulted
your very existence.
I didn’t need him to speak. I knew, instantly and absolutely, that I was unwanted.
I realized I was naked. I was frantically trying to cover myself, the embarrassment a burning tide across my cheeks. The pack warriors were still staring, their mouths slightly open. They had never
seen me shift.
I heard a sharp collective inhale from the crowd. I didn’t get to see my wolf form the last time I shifted, but I knew now why they were staring. The memory of thick, heavy fur, pure as fresh snow, resonated in my mind. A white wolf. The rarest wolf.
A cheap, worn–out t–shirt landed on my head.
“Put this on,” Astor’s voice was low, flat, and hard. It held no emotion, yet it was the most terrifying
sound I had ever heard.
My fingers trembled as I pulled the rough cotton over my head. It smelled faintly of him pine and
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earth and danger and the scent sent a confused wave of longing and dread through me.
+25 Points
I missed him so much it was a physical ache, magnified tenfold because I wasn’t a wolf when I left. The human part of me had was already in love with him but the wolf part was suddenly hit with the full, devastating force of the bond. I loved him with a terrifying, crushing intensity.
Astor finally moved. He took a predatory step forward, the shift in his stance making the
surrounding pack members flinch.
“Faith,” he said. My name, just my name, sounded like a curse.
I reached out my hand toward him, needing to touch him, needing to bridge the six years that had
ripped us apart.
“Astor, I-”
He grabbed my wrist roughly, tightening his grip instantly. It hurt, but the physical pain was nothing
compared to the shock.
“Go back to the pack house,” he commanded the small crowd, his voice carrying the authority of an
Alpha. “Now.”
They obeyed, murmuring in confusion as they retreated, leaving us alone in the sudden silence of
the forest clearing.
Now it was just us. Six years of missing him, six years of pain, swelling up and bursting inside me. We were finally here, the two of us, under the watchful trees. I had never thought I would come
back and I didn’t want to eithet. But I had. And here he was.
I looked into his eyes, searching desperately for the man who told me he loved me.
But I could see his disappointment. It was palpable, heavy in the air.
“What are you doing back here?” he demanded. He let go of my wrist, but only to cross his arms,
closing himself off completely.
My throat tightened. This was it. The moment of explanation.
“Can we talk properly?” I asked, gesturing vaguely around the clearing. “I’m half–naked in a borrowed shirt, and we are in the middle of nowhere, I need to explain everything.”
He laughed, a short, ugly sound entirely devoid of humor.
“Proper conversation?” he snarled, taking another step closer. “Where was that proper conversation six years ago, Faith? When I woke up to find you gone. Did you have a proper
conversation then?”
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Tears welled up, spilling hot and fast down my face. The sheer devastation in his eyes was mirroring the devastation in my heart.
“I had to run! You know why I had to run! You weren’t letting me leave” I pleaded, my voice
cracking.
425 Points
“Don’t. Don’t you dare cry,” he warned, his voice like grinding stone. “You won’t make yourself the victim here, Faith. Especially not after you cheated on me.”
The accusation hit me like a physical punch, knocking the air right out of my lungs.
“What?” I gasped, shaking my head violently. “Astor, no! I never, ever cheated on you! What are you talking about?”
“Shut up.”
The command was so sharp, so loud, that I instantly recoiled.
Before I could form another contradictory word, he grabbed my arm again, his fingers digging into
my muscle this time. He was no longer holding me; he was dragging me.
“Astor, stop! Please! Let go! We need to talk! You have to listen to me!” I screamed, pulling and stumbling as he started dragging me back toward the direction of the pack house and the main
road.
He didn’t answer. He just moved, fast and furious, forcing me to keep pace or fall.
My feet slipped on the wet earth. I was crying uncontrollably now, begging and pleading, but he
was deaf to it all.
The forest gave way to the open grounds of the pack house. I tried to brace myself, but it was too late. He was making a spectacle of me.
The entire pack poured out of the house. Elders, warriors, mothers–they all stood frozen on the porch, watching their Alpha drag his half–dressed, screaming, former–mate through the mud. Humiliation dried the tears on my face for a moment, replacing them with utter terror.
He didn’t stop at the main entrance. He dragged me past the kitchen, past the sleeping quarters, and down a hidden flight of stairs that led into the cold, damp rock beneath the house.
The dungeon.
The air smelled of dirt, loneliness, and iron.
“You left on your own terms. Now you stay on mine,” he hissed, his face inches from mine, his eyes burning with pure, distilled rage.
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He shoved me roughly through the doorway. I stumbled onto the rough, cold stone floor. Before I
could even push myself up, before I could beg one last time, the heavy metal door slammed shut,
the sound echoing through the darkness.
Then came the heavy, grinding thud of the lock turning.
I was locked in. Alone. And my mate, the man I loved more than anything hated me enough to
throw me in a cage.
I dissolved into broken sobs, hitting the cold stone until my knuckles bled, the sound trapped within the walls of my new prison.
