Charles' POV
I closed the door behind me and leaned against it, the sound of it clicking shut slicing clean through my chest.
For a second, I just stood there — breathing, if you could even call it that. My lungs felt tight, like the air in this house had learned how to hate me back.
Louis.
Of all the people fate could've tied me to, it had to be him.
The cruel part wasn't that I loved him — no, I'd made peace with that a long time ago.
The cruel part was that fate wanted me to keep loving him.
Even now, after he chose someone else.
After he looked me in the eye like he didn't feel it — that spark, that pull, that unbearable gravity that keeps dragging me back no matter how hard I fight it.
I laughed under my breath, though it sounded more like a choke. "The universe really has a sick sense of humor."
I could still feel his scent on my clothes — faint, mixed with Alistair's, the kind of combination that would drive any sane Alpha off the edge.
