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“This is not how we end,” I whisper. “We are eternal.”

Something dark and resolute moves through me.

We are eternal.

If we cannot have this life, then we shall have another.

“Listen, Kane, I told you last night I was meeting with somebody else. You and your pack were still observing the Sacred Seven, and I didn’t want to be there.”

“Then why were you there?”

“I was drunkenly wandering with my friends. I didn’t realize until it was too late we’d made it onto your pack’s territory.”

Kane still looks angry, and his eyes are a bit heartbroken.

I search his features. “Why are you acting like I owe you something?”

“Because I fuckinglikeyou, Selene. A lot. And I thought you liked me too.”

I hear the edge of a growl in his voice.

At the sound, Nero begins to growl himself, and when I run my hand down his back, his hackles are raised.

“It’s all right,” I murmur to Nero, even as I give Kane a hard look. “Kane, we’re not dating, and for better or for worse, that monster I was with happens to be my soul mate.”

“About that—when were you going to tell me you had a mate?” Kane demands. “Or did your magic conveniently erase that memory too?”

I flinch from the accusation.

Anger rises up in me. “Actually, Kane, Ididfucking forget I was a soul mate, and the only reason I do remember is becauseright before I was arrested the night of the full moon, Memnon ripped away the spell blocking my memories.” I wasn’t planning on admitting this, but screw it. “He did so against my will, and yes, our engagement was also forced.” I glare at the shifter. “I was never deliberately deceitful to you.”

Kane’s own anger has died down a bit, and I can see the frayed edges of his hurt in his eyes. “Then why are you with him?” he asks softly.

“Who says I’m with him?” I demand. “Sex doesn’t equal love or a relationship. I assumed you were aware of that, considering how our own friendship began.”

Kane’s jaw clenches, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he wordlessly turns and starts heading back into the woods. Aggression is still pouring off him, and I swear his arms look a little furrier than they did a minute ago.

“C’mon,” he says over his shoulder. “We’re going to be late.”

I share an annoyed look with my familiar—at least I’d like to think we share a moment of mutual annoyance. Nero might’ve been looking at me just because he was bored, but I’m going to assume it’s because Kane is huffy.

The three of us walk for several minutes in silence before Kane says, “You can remember your past now?”

I scowl at him. “Yes.”

“What’s that like?”

“Painfully normal,” I say, “except for the past-life memories.” Those are anything but.

Now Kane turns fully around, scrutinizing me. “Memnon was telling the truth last night? You two are some ancient couple?” The shifter doesn’t appear as skeptical as most would, but then the supernatural world is full of all sorts of impossible things. The idea of some past-life romance isn’t inconceivable.

“Yeah,” I say softly. “He was.”

“Hmm,” is all Kane says before turning around once more.

The lycan continues to walk ahead of me, and I sense his emotions are somewhat turbulent, so it’s a relief when the trees part and I catch sight of the massive cabin I partied in not too long ago. The very one where I first got together with Kane.

Only now, there are cars parked on the gravel drive in front of it and a few people milling on the porch.