I watched her leave that day, standing at the very edge of our pack’s borders. "Adeline," I had called out, my voice raw with desperation. "Don’t go."
She had turned back only once, her gaze distant and devoid of warmth. "This is our opportunity, Anastasia," she had said, her tone eerily detached. "I’m not wasting it."
In the years that followed, I became the target of Ronan’s resentment. He blamed me for everything—for keeping him from following Adeline, for trapping him in the Obsidian Howl Pack, for holding him back from the future he thought he deserved. And when I became his mate, his hatred for me only deepened.
As a child, I had always admired Ronan, trailing after him like his shadow. I adored him. He was my world. So when I turned eighteen and discovered that he was my mate, I was overjoyed. I thought it was fate—that we were meant to be together.
But Ronan didn’t see it that way. The moment I told him we were mates, his reaction crushed me.
"No," he had said, his voice cold and final. "This isn’t right. I was supposed to be with Adeline."
His words shattered me. "Ronan, please," I had begged, tears streaking down my face. "We’re fated to be together. You can’t just leave me."