Page 22

LIVIA

A light hum drifted through my window, the breeze chilling my skin. I blinked my eyes a few times until they adjusted to the bright moonlight flooding in through the curtains. Caelan’s arm was slung around my waist, his lips on my ear.

The howls of dying wolves rang through my memory from the arena, then from the rogues. I could just imagine that was how my packmates sounded too before we returned home, being attacked relentlessly by the Whispering Pines Pack.

My chest tightened, a wave of guilt surrounding me from all sides.

Our pack continued to be attacked every single day, by rogues and by the Whispering Pine, because… of me. Because I’d entered into that tournament. Because I’d used magic when I should’ve been able to shift and use my wolf. Because I had killed that man in the battle.

Even though it had all been completely legal, I wanted this to be over.

I didn’t want my pack to blame me for their mates dying. While I couldn’t shift, I knew deep down that this was all my fault. I had the strength to stop this, and I should stop it. I needed to stop it before it got worse.

So I slid out of bed as quietly as I could, careful not to wake Caelan.

He would hate me for sneaking out, but I needed to leave. By myself.

After tugging on some clothes, I walked to the door with my heart racing. I’d have maybe an hour tops to make it as far into the forest as I could if I left right now. I could easily sneak past the guards; I knew their routine.

Floorboards creaked underneath my feet, but I moved quickly. When I finally made it to the door, I took one last look back at Caelan’s sleeping figure on my bed, the way his muscles were relaxed, his soft lips, his unstrained brows.

Something deep inside me told me to stay, that this was dangerous, that he’d be pissed at me for leaving without warning him.

But when had I ever listened to that voice before?

No matter how close he got to surrendering to his wolf, Caelan would never mate me.

My chest tightened, and I dropped my gaze. I always said that I hated him, but I had fallen in love with him the first time I laid my eyes on him, that first night that Dad introduced me to him after Mom died.

For a split moment back then, I had thought that life wouldn’t be so bad…

I released a tense breath and opened the door.

All of that didn’t matter anymore. I needed to do this for myself. I needed to figure out who I was, where this power was coming from. I needed to go back to those… witches. If I could learn how to use my magic, then I might not be so useless around here.

I could actually help protect and defend the only family I had left.