*Tilly POV*Onyx’s eyes burn with promise as he stares at me, practically begging me to feel the mate bond that has been suppressed on my end. There is no denying he is still the most attractive man I have ever laid eyes on. I still feel weak in the knees when I’m around him. His heavy gaze makes it hard to think but that electric buzz. The one that grips you so tight, pinching your gut until you announce to the world that you are mates. That is gone. I refuse to acknowledge the flutter in my stomach or the heat in my cheeks at his declaration of making me his. Goddess, how those words would have made me melt into his hands just days ago. None of it matters anymore. He destroyed what we could have been and I’m a rogue now, even if he changed his mind about Harriet. He made his choice, and I made mine based on it. We both must live with the consequences of his actions. “You’re delusional if you think I was ever yours. I was meant to be yours, but you threw me away. And suddenly you w
“I can’t believe you went rogue and tried to leave me behind.” Anna grumbles, her voice soft and wounded. I wince, hearing the disbelief and pain there. We have always been partners in crime, even when her parents expressed their distaste with her spending all her free time with the pack fuck up. Anna never, not even once, thought about leaving me. “I did it for you.” I try to console her and she rolls her eyes. “Leaving me without my bestie is not doing anyone any favors. I would murder my way to you if I had to, Til.” she scoffs like I don’t grasp the magnitude of our friendship, how deep it runs for us. But I do. Which is why I did what I did.“Anna, you are going to be the next Alpha of our pack.” I remind her. “And I was destined to be the next rogue. There is no world in which I didn’t see you shirking the duties that I know you desperately want to protect me.”“I know the responsibilities on my shoulders well enough to make my own decisions. The last thing I need is you makin
*Onyx POV*Tilly’s body falls limp beneath me. My thumb stroking down her cheek, her body unreactive to my touch as I try to remind myself I needed to do this. I hate that it came to this. Circumstances be damned. She is going to try to kill me in my sleep when she wakes up, so I need to move. Now. I jump into action, gently scooping her up and stowing her away in a bush. She may never speak to me again after she wakes up, but I can’t risk her doing something stupid with that big brain of hers. I didn’t want to use the mushrooms I had found on her, but there would have been no stopping her. Not after that heart wrenching cry Ty let out. Not after the way she nearly escaped me, though I’ll never let her know how close she was to winning that fight. To witness her like that, near feral, over her best friend, broke something in me. I’ve only ever felt like I would die for Tilly. Now I know I would also die in her best friend’s stead if it meant she never had to break like that again.
*Tilly POV*Ty’s chest rises and falls with each shuddering breath. He is in rough shape, far worse than I have ever seen him or anyone before. My hands shake as I wrap my arms around myself, searching for any kind of comfort I can come up with. Onyx would be by my side in a second if I allowed him. But I don’t need his arms to make me feel safe. Not when safety in his arms is still the lie it was when I rejected him. The walls of my life are closing in around me. They have ripped what little security in who I am from me, leaving me bare and bleeding. All I want is to go home, a home where I was never wanted or really welcome. I was allowed to live there, but I had no right. It’s impossible to not feel like a fool when I look in the mirror and think I know what I see. Everyone else saw me for who I was long before I ever knew.A product of my mother’s ruining. A cancer in the family leeching off of them and begging for love and attention when they had none to give. It was asking too
*Anna POV*It doesn’t take me long to realize I’m in a shit ton of trouble. I glance around at the rogues with my one good eye, the other swollen shut and sticky. There have to be at least sixty rogues here. It explains why Ty and I lost against them. In an actual fight, a fair fight, he and I would be the dream team, a powerful duo. But faced with a fifty to one ratio is instant death. No matter how skilled or trained you think you are. I need to figure a way out of here. One that will get me back to Til, and Ty, but the longer I search for one, the drearier my outcome looks. I’ve never been one for much planning. Hell, Tilly always reminded me I needed to slow down and use my brain for once. But I’m not like her. Not special and fully equipped with a brain that does anything other than rely on my strength and honed skill.I try to shift to my side, gasping out in pain as a burning stabbing whizzes up my side and around to my spine. It takes great effort to blink back the tears. Eve
*Tilly POV*My fingers ache from where I’ve nearly chewed through what I can of my nails. My leg nervously bouncing as I stare off into the sea of darkness before us. Night fell hard, a storm in the distance rumbling through the trees and the clouds hiding the light from the moon. Even nature is working against us and every second I’m away from Anna, knowing she is in danger, is another second I inch closer to insanity. It’s a strange bond between her and I. It’s something we both admit, but maybe that’s part of us both being Alpha’s? There are secrets surrounding alpha bloodlines. Things like not being able to reject an alpha, not something I was aware of and I’m rather well read. But I suppose secrets are there as an added layer of protection. Alphas are the strongest of our kind. Well, I guess not in my case, but I’m sure there are always exceptions to some rules. “You should sleep.” Onyx says, startling me from behind. I choose to ignore him, pretending my heart isn’t in my thro
“I need to scout things out.” I repeat to both onyx and Ty, who look at me like I’m speaking a foreign language. “You know…like sneak around and spy a little…”“No.” Ty says with a half laugh as he looks at Onyx, who says nothing. His eyes remain focused on me, waiting to see if I might burst into dance and song or something. “Someone needs to, and I’m the best option.” I reiterate. “Listen, just two days ago you guys were both all ‘Yay Tilly has a plan’ and now I’m getting the stink eye from tall, broody and handsome and a quick nope from Mr. Buzz kill.” I cross my arms over my chest, tapping my foot impatiently. It’s getting tiring waiting for approval from two stubborn men. Though Onyx has been more apt to give into my demands. I’m not sure it’s coming from a place of trust, maybe more of a ‘I’m trying hard to support you’ stand point. But both benefit me. Usually. “I’ll do it.” Ty offers. Onyx seems to wake from his stupor as he looks to his side and snorts at Ty. “You and wha
It felt like an eternity to get to this moment, the moment where the fire has died down enough that they need to send someone out for more wood. I watch as Bentley reaches for the last piece and tosses it on. He glances to the spot and sighs heavily before walking over to one of his group and slapping him upside the head. “I told you to gather more wood.” He hisses. The guy startles and rubs his head.“And I told you I brought all I could carry.” He retorts.“I swear on my life, Evan, if you don’t get your ass up.”“You’ll what?” Evan scoffs and slumps back down. “You have no rank here, pack wolf, so why don’t you pull the stick out of your ass and keep the fire going with that, yeah?”“I’m not a pack wolf.” Bently growls.“Yeah, well, you seem high and mighty like one.” Another rogue says to the right. “We agreed I would be in charge of this excursion.” Bentley says, annoyed. “Yeah, and we can agree to change that at any minute. Two of us, one of you.”“I vote for a change in lead