Page 30 of Framed and Forgotten (Ashen Wolves #3)

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K O E N

For a moment, time seemed to stop. I was freefalling into those electric cerulean skies, the stars aligning in silent promise.

Hope pulsed through me with every beat of my heart.

There was so much wrong between us, but I would make it right.

She was here, right in front of me, close enough to touch - and that was all I needed.

I would atone for every sin, and once I was clean, I’d offer her my very soul to do with as she pleased.

Before I could say a word, her lips parted, shattering the silence.

“Leave,” she commanded, her voice low but firm.

For a moment, I thought she was talking to me, her eyes boring into mine with an intensity I couldn’t quite read. Then, in a blink, her team vanished with their werewolf speed, and I realized she hadn’t meant me. I shut the door behind me, and at last, it was just the two of us.

I let out a short breath, an attempt to release some of the tension coiled inside me before tasting her name on my tongue. “Avril.”

Unlike every other time I had called her, she didn’t waver. No flicker of warmth, no softening of her stance. She held her head high, unmoving, her eyes cold and indifferent.

“Why did you come back?” she demanded.

Of course, Elijah hadn’t explained my reasons. He couldn’t possibly know them; he was with Avril when I told Theo and Rhea about what I had found at Crystal Pond. I was sure his mate must have mindlinked him to briefly cover it, but it was on me to state my case and wait for her verdict.

“I never planned on leaving permanently,” I began, trying to narrow the distance between us, but her posture hardened, warning me to stay back.

It stung, but I respected it. With a sigh, I clarified, “I don’t wanna hide behind excuses.

I know I wronged you,” I admitted, my tone growing slightly desperate.

“But I wasn’t myself, Avril. If Nerine didn’t have me under a spell, I would’ve never-”

“I broke my kind’s sacred law by taking you in,” she cut me off, a hint of anger burning in her eyes.

“I sheltered you when you had no home, even though you cast me out of the only one I knew five years ago.” This time, she was the one to step toward me, her tone rising with every sentence she delivered like a blow.

“I fought my own family to ensure you would be accepted - something you couldn’t do for me,” she added bitterly, pausing before concluding, “And you turned your back on me. You left when I needed you.”

She stopped when our faces were inches apart, her icy, accusatory eyes stinging like frostbite as she delivered the final blow. “Nerine might have tricked you, but you let her.”

Her judgment cut deep, like a blade sinking into my windpipe, leaving me gasping for air. It hurt because it was true. All I could do was stand there, paralyzed by the reality of my actions, unable to offer a single word in defense. There was no excuse. No justification.

She was right, and it felt like the world had just collapsed around me.

In the end, Avril averted her gaze, heaving a resigned sigh.

“Whatever I think of your choices, you’re one of us now.

I’ll let you stay, because ordering you to leave would pose a risk to our existence.

” Her eyes darted to me one last time, sharp and filled with caution.

“But don’t mistake my concession for forgiveness - or anything more, for that matter. ”

Without another word, she walked past me, my despair growing as I watched everything we had built slip through our fingers. Exasperated, I turned around, asking with urgency, “What about us?”

Avril halted, and my heart stilled. She didn’t even bother glancing at me over her shoulder, her back to me as she offered, “Perhaps fate never meant for us to last, only to collide.” My heart shattered, but she wasn’t done tearing me apart yet. “A mistake written in the stars.”

With that, Col howled in agony, but she was completely oblivious to it.

I felt everything she did, from the rage to the distrust - neither nearly as intense as they should have been.

My emotions, however, never reached her.

Not when the mate bond lay dormant on her end.

My sorrow was mine alone, a hollow wail swallowed by silence.

Maybe that was exactly what I deserved.

After my return to Azure Smoke went even worse than any other scenario I could have imagined, I spent the afternoon trying to avoid everyone.

I locked myself in the cottage that had been my first home when I first set foot in these lands, soaking in the consequences of what I had done.

No matter how hard I thought, I couldn’t figure out a way to win my place in this pack and in my mate’s heart again.

As defeated as I was, I still forced myself to leave by sundown.

Even if the Ashen Wolves couldn’t see me as one of their own anymore, I still had to do my best to protect them.

I owed it to them. And so, I returned to the packhouse.

Luckily, I found the person I was looking for before I had to face anyone else.

Theo was crossing the hall the moment I stepped inside. We both stopped, and he eyed me with caution, trying to read my intentions. I lowered my head just slightly, letting my shoulders fall to show I wasn’t here to fight.

Staring straight at him, I broke the silence. “I’m sorry for earlier.”

He waited, but eventually conceded, “You were protecting your relationship with your mate. I can respect that.” Despite the understanding in his voice, his features twisted with something darker as he continued, “But if you ever threaten Elijah again, I can’t promise I’ll take it so lightly.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” I replied sincerely. After a moment, I added, “And I should also apologize for leaving you hanging while we were under the Council’s radar. Did you hear back from them while I was away?”

“Yeah. They bought the fake documents and thanked us for our cooperation. Told us they would be in touch if they needed anything else,” he informed me. “We’re out of the woods, for now.”

“Not quite,” I sighed. “We still have Nerine and whoever she might be working with to worry about. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Theo arched an eyebrow at me, and I sucked in a deep breath before continuing, “Theo, I know I have no right to ask for your help, but I could really use some an extra pair of hands formulating a plan to figure out what my ex-wife knows about the Ashen Wolves and who she might have heard it from.”

The beta nodded. “Just tell me what to do.”

“I’ll have to do some research before figuring out how to act. If you could try and find out what Nerine has been up to in the past five years…” Pursing my lips, I said, “I have to find out who that supposed brother of mine is.”

“On it.” He tapped me on the shoulder as he headed off, pausing only a couple steps later. Glancing at me over his shoulder, he uttered, “By the way, wolves don’t live in the past. What matters to me is that you’re here now.”

I let his words sink in, bobbing my head slightly.

When he disappeared down the hall, I turned in the other direction, facing the stairs leading up to the top floor.

The last thing I wanted to do was further erase my presence from Avril’s life, but she had demanded that I gather my belongings and move out of her room before the day’s end. With a heavy heart, I set off to do it.

When I reached the alpha chambers, I knocked, waiting for a response. When it didn’t come, I realized Avril wasn’t there. The door was unlocked, and I took it as a cue that I was welcome to enter.

Being in the room I had shared with Avril for weeks flooded me with memories. My fingers brushed the walls that carried her scent, my gaze lingering on the bed where I’d had her more times than I could count. How could I have been so foolish as to leave the one I’d sworn to stand by?

Scouring through the closet was even harder.

I stumbled upon the outfits she had worn on our few yet unforgettable dates in the city.

I could taste our first kiss again, see the flashing lights beneath us while fireworks exploded in my mind.

I remembered the heat of her skin as we made out in the car, her breath mingling with mine while one of her warriors drove us back.

With every piece of clothing I pulled out, it felt like I was stripping away our memories one by one.

I held them against me, absorbing the painful truth: I couldn’t put them back, just as I couldn’t make Avril remember everything we had lived together.

Was disappearing from her life really the only choice I had left?

Just then, a switch flipped in my mind. The old clothes had to be removed, but new ones could always be added. Maybe I didn’t need Avril to remember - maybe I just needed her to make new memories with me.

I replayed our conversation for the thousandth time.

Her words had shattered me, but maybe I had chosen the wrong approach.

Perhaps I should have been more insistent, shown her instead of trying to talk her into it.

If she wanted me gone, I would disappear without a trace - but she wasn’t in her right mind.

She couldn’t make a conscious decision when she didn’t remember the full story.

If I left now, I’d just be giving up on her.

And I couldn’t forsake my loyalty to her any more than I already had.

Deep inside my head, I never expected to be pulled out by the sound of Avril’s voice filling the room.

“I heard you talking to Theo just now.”

I abruptly turned to find her resting sideways against the doorframe, arms crossed and expression as serious as ever.

Awestruck by her presence, I barely paid attention to what she said.

I didn’t try to understand where she was going.

I didn’t even try to speak, simply enjoying the sight of her while I had it.

At my silence, she exhaled sharply, straightening her posture as she leveled a critical look at me. “Why do you care?”

I blinked. “What?”

“About us,” she clarified, stepping closer. “Why do you care what happens to the Ashen Wolves? You’ve turned, but that doesn’t mean you have to be one of us.”

I furrowed my brows, struggling to follow, but she didn’t leave room for questions. “No one knows you’ve changed. You could go back to your old life. To your ex-wife and her shiny house,” she pointed out, her voice devoid of emotion, purely curious.

She took another step forward. “To your royal life and all its perks, away from the danger and the problems. You could raise your son and have the family you always dreamed of.” She made a pause, analyzing me when she was standing right in front of me. “So, why?”

I didn’t even have to think. “Isn’t it obvious?

” I huffed, leaning in as I laid my heart bare.

“What matters to you, matters to me, Avril. I know I’ve let you down - more than once lately,” I admitted, my voice laced with regret.

“But I swear, I will follow you through hell and back. I don’t care if the flames swallow me.

As long as I die by your side, it’ll have been worth it. ”

As I stared deep into her eyes, I noticed something change.

It was just a faint spark, but it was there.

She couldn’t remember me, not fully, yet something inside her stirred.

The weight of my words, the warmth in my voice, the burning pull of my proximity - it reached her, even if she couldn’t comprehend it.

I saw it in her gaze, the flicker of recognition. At that moment, she was afraid. Terrified that her body might betray her, she tried to back away, to sever the invisible thread that still bound us.

But I didn’t let her.