~ALARIC'S POV~
Immediately I stepped out through the Sanctum door, I didn't look back.
Not when I left her curled up on the couch, and heard her voice break like glass behind me. Elowen's voice had always been soft, but tonight, it sounded different... tired and defeated, but I kept walking.
The night wind outside bit through my jacket as I shifted into my car. Tazira had texted me again that she was dizzy, and her breathing had become uneven.
So, I gripped the wheel tighter and drove away from the parking lot.
'You should have stayed,' the voice of my wolf snarled in the back of my mind and my hands jerked on the wheels. He'd been quiet lately ever since I began pushing Elowen away.
"I don't care about her!" I muttered to myself.
'You left her,' he growled, low and vicious. 'She needed us and you felt it... the tremble in her voice, the pain. She's our mate!'
"No, she betrayed us!" I snapped. "And if I hate her enough... maybe I'll stop aching every time I hear her name."
'Liar!' he retorted.
I clenched my jaw and turned the music up, trying to drown him out, but he clawed louder in my chest.
I knew what he wanted... to go back and feel her scent, warmth and hear her voice one more time. But I wouldn't because I still remembered the fire...
★★FLASHBACK★★
It had been four years ago, the night my brother died.
It was supposed to be the happiest day of our family's life as the whole pack gathered at the forest altar for his coronation. Elders wore ceremonial robes, and lanterns floated above us like stars.
My brother stood tall and noble, the perfect heir to Dravenmere Pack. My chest had swelled with pride as I watched him kneel and recite the vow to protect our land.
I remember thinking, one day, I'll be at his side as his Beta and his right hand man. But that moment never came because during the coronation, a sudden fire erupted so fast, we had thought it was an attack.
The trees screamed as flames tore through them, and people scattered. Smoke choked the air that I couldn't see nor breathe.
Then I heard his loud voice, "Alaric!"
He found me coughing near the altar, pulled me out just before the beam fell. He threw me across the clearing, and I hit the dirt hard.
I was saved, while he didn't make it out. His last words as the fire consumed him were choked with burning pain.
"Take good care of my wife, Alaric... take care of Tazira."
I screamed until my throat bled before I heard them say it was sabotage. Someone had doused the woods in accelerants and it wasn't an accident.
I became Alpha that week, standing in my brother's ashes and I swore I'd find the one who lit the match.
Three years passed, then Elowen, who has always been a maid in the neighbouring pack, came as a light into my life the moment I needed her the most.
She laughed like nothing had ever broken her and looked at me like I was more than a man wearing his brother's crown.
And for a while, a short, golden while... I found out she's my fated mate and fell in love with her more. I finally opened my heart to her love despite all my past pain and traumas, and we got married.
Six months into our almost perfect marriage, Tazira came to me. She was pale, and trembling as she said she found something shocking.
A maid had caught it on video, a figure slipping through the woods the night of the fire. The resolution was grainy, but the face was unmistakable.
It was Elowen.
And then Tazira showed me the photo she found in Elowen's room. A man I didn't know, holding my wife so closely to his chest.
The timestamp was from just a few months before our mating ceremony and Tazira said Elowen had loved someone else from the beginning and not me.
The pain that hit me that night didn't just pierce, it destroyed. I wanted to kill her and I should have, but I couldn't even raise my hand.
So I used the only two weapons I had left, coldness and torture!
I turned her bed into a battlefield, her touch into penance. I told myself if I could make her hurt, it would hurt less for me.
But it never did just like I wanted...
★★BACK TO PRESENT★★
The sudden memory hit me like a fist. I slammed my foot on the accelerator and the engine roared as I sped through the empty road.
I didn't care how fast, I just needed to outrun the past chasing me...
I arrived at Tazira's place late. She was curled up on the couch, wrapped in one of those thick fleece blankets she always buried herself in.
"Alaric, you're here," she whispered and I nodded as I sat beside her.
"You said you were unwell. What happened?"
She touched her temple and winced, "I've just been lightheaded, and my chest feels tight like I can't catch a full breath sometimes. Maybe it's stress... or something else."
'You should be with our mate, not here!" My wolf stirred again, but I ignored him. Tazira's eyes then flicked up, watching my reaction as tears welled up in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I know I've been a burden ever since that day. I just... I get scared, especially at night."
As she spoke, she looked so small and fragile at that moment. I remembered the fire again and my brother's voice.
"Take good care of her, Alaric."
I sighed deeply and said, "You're not a burden, Tazira. You and my brother saved me once and that's why your health is like this. I truly appreciate it."
"It's fine, you don't have to thank me every time."
"Still, thank you."
"If you insist. But, I… I have a favor to ask." She stuttered.
"Really? What is it?"
"Can you stay?" she asked quietly. "Just tonight... I feel safer when you're here."
I hesitated, just staring into her eyes. Then she sniffed and wiped her eyes with the edge of the blanket.
"I know you want to leave because I don't matter like she does. But I'm the one who stayed, told you the truth and never lied."
Her words hit my gut, and my chest tightened. "Alright, I'll stay."
She smiled, and then looked at me up close.
"You know what she did, Alaric. Why do you still go to her? Why don't you reject her and be free?"
'How dare she?!' My wolf snapped. 'She's not our mate! She's not the bond! She will never be Elowen!'
His growl thundered through me, demanding, and possessive. 'You will never reject her. Never!'
I closed my eyes, inhaled sharply, and forced my voice to stay calm. "Get some rest," I muttered, rubbing my temples as I stood, needing air more than answers.
I didn't wait for a reply as I stepped out onto the porch and stared at the night sky. Closing my eyes, Elowen's voice echoed in my mind, 'I need you now. I'm your mate...'
But all I could feel right now is hatred towards her…