It just so happened that my brother had come from Emperor Bay that evening, sent by our parents to reason with me and stop me from being so stubborn. He arrived just in time to drag me away from a group of wolves who clearly had ill intentions toward me.
Who would have thought that simply taking me to a safe den to rest would be captured by someone with a hidden agenda?
No wonder Alaric had been acting so distant ever since that night—cold at times, yet forcing himself to appear warm.
It turned out he had been bottling up his feelings all along. He waited until I had secured the allegiance of key wolf packs and quietly leveraged my family’s influence to help him claim the leadership position he wanted for his own territory. Tonight, finally, he chose to explode.
I couldn’t help but feel hurt by his lack of trust.
And yet, he was also the first male I had ever truly fallen for. I didn’t want this misunderstanding to tear us apart.
Even more, I didn’t want my parents to learn that my first true, consuming love had ended before it ever really began. After all, I had fled Emperor Bay to escape the marriage they had planned for me.