Chapter 359

“Luca,” I groan, shaking my head and getting to my knees, still clutching the blanket to my chest with one hand and reaching for him with the other. “It’s not like that –“

“It is!” he shouts, turning back to me, fury in every line of him now. “It is like that, Ariel! You – you fucking chose him!”

“I didn’t!” I gasp, shaking my head vehemently. “He asked if I was – I told him I wasn’t – I want both of you – I need both of you!”

“You’re so fucking selfish, Ariel!” Luca shouts, taking three harsh steps towards me, making me flinch. “You can’t have both of us - not if it breaks us into pieces to do it!”

“No, I do!” I sputter, my mind reeling, trying to find a way to explain – the Goddess – she said that I – I need both – “It – it doesn’t have to break you! We can find a way –“

“Well, you already have,” he snarls, leaning down to glare at me. “What – he didn’t mark you? Did you shut that down too, so you could fuck him in secret and never let me know? So you could betray me night after night?”

“No, Luca,” I growl, my spine straightening as I glare back at him, hating how he’s lashing out at me in his hurt. “I didn’t have to shut it down – he didn’t want to mark me! Because he knew how complicated it would make all of our lives!”

“So – so you asked him then?” Luca says, softer now, but no less dangerous. “You wanted his mark?”

Dread rises in me at this question. Because I instantly know the truth.

I raise my chin and stare into Luca’s eyes, unable to say it aloud because I know it will kill him to hear it. But I let Luca have my answer nonetheless.

Luca roars and turns in the room, swiping a hand out at the various objects on top of his dresser, sending them scattering and smashing to the ground. I fall back on my ass on his bed, huddling into the corner, frightened and not knowing what to do –

An Alpha like this, in a rage, and me the cause? My wolf whimpers, afraid, and his wolf prowls closer in our soul, baring his teeth.

“I can’t do this, Ariel!” Luca shouts, spinning back to face me, his canines flashing. “Not anymore! I can’t live like this, with you always putting me in his shadow! You chose him, you fucked him, and you treated me like a dog who should be grateful for your scraps!”

“Luca!” I moan, shaking my head and begging him to see that that’s so, so not true.

“No,” he snarls, prowling closer. “I’m – I’m fucking done, Ariel. I can’t do this anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” I whisper, going rigid as my wolf stills in my soul, looking up at Luca’s wolf, his slavering jaws.

“I’m talking about ending this, once and for all,” he whispers, leaning close, his expression closed-off and cruel. He stares at me for a long, silent moment as his lips curl in disgust. “I reject you, Ariel Sinclair. I reject our bond. This is done.”

And in my soul his wolf lunges for mine, his teeth sinking deep into her neck.

I scream in agony – the pain unbearable, unfixable – as Luca likewise moans and turns away from me, his shoulders shaking.

My wolf rips her neck from Luca’s wolf and yelps as she tears herself away, running hard and fast, leaving the length of our bond between us, trying to get some distance. I sob as Luca’s wolf goes after her for a moment before turning to the bond instead and taking his claws to it, shredding it to pieces.

I cry out again in shock and very real physical pain as he uses his teeth to tear it up –

As Luca shudders and stumbles for the door, pulling it open and then shifting, bolting out of the room –

And then I’m screaming and crying aloud as Luca’s wolf fades away, as the sense of Luca’s physical presence fades from my mind – meaning that he’s gone, he’s gone –

I turn my face into the pillow, sobbing, physically unable to do anything else, the pain wracking through me.

I barely notice the stir at the door as I reach inwardly for my wolf, calling her back, wanting desperately to touch her, to ensure that she’s okay. There are muffled curses and then shouts for someone to come –

I don’t know how much time passes, but all I can do is concentrate on my poor bleeding wolf, who comes limping back towards me, her motion shaky, her eyes terrified and sad as she finally reaches for me, slipping her snout under my prone hand, wanting to be close but in terrible, terrible pain.

“Holy shit,” someone mumbles behind me. “Get the fuck out of here! Right now!”

“Ben?” I whisper, turning my head towards him, recognizing him despite the change to his usual friendly tones.

“Get Jesse and Rafe Sinclair right the fuck now!”

There’s a pause.

“I don’t give a fuck if you don’t know where they are! Find them! NOW!”

A door slams and my eyesight is fuzzy as I try to see – but honestly – I’m so broken –

“Ari?” Ben whispers, coming close.

“Benny,” I gasp, turning fully towards him, reaching desperately.

He softly shushes and gathers me up into his arms, pulling me down on the floor to sit naked in his lap, rocking me back and forth. Ben doesn’t say anything, doesn’t ask me any questions, just rocks me for a long, long time.

As he does, I’m aware of the tension in him, the way he looks over me, the way he gently inspects me to make sure that I’m okay –

“Ari, baby,” he murmurs, “what happened? I’m seeing a little blood here, but –“

He goes still as he tucks my hair back behind my ear, sees the mark that Luca left high on my neck.

“Oh…holy shit…” he murmurs.

“He broke it,” I whisper, still sobbing, pulling myself closer to his chest as Ben reaches for the blanket from the bed and wraps it warm around me. “He broke the bond –“

“He did what?” Ben whispers, appalled.

“He rejected me,” I whisper, looking up into Ben’s pretty eyes for the first time, my entire body trembling. “Benny – he – he rejected me –“

But then I’m sobbing again, unable to say more.

A long, soft string of curses comes out of Ben’s mouth as he continues to hold me tight and rock me gently, trying to give me what comfort he can. But nothing – nothing can heal this –

The door slams open and I immediately smell my brother.

“What happened!?” Rafe roars, storming into the room. He reaches for me, ripping me from Ben’s arms, lifting me high against his chest.

I sob harder, so grateful that my brother is here, tucking myself against him.

“He fucking rejected her, Rafe,” Ben snaps out, getting to his feet. “He marked her and then he rejected her.”

“What!?” Rafe gasps, and then he turns his shocked eyes to me. But I just shake my head, unable to bear it, my mind and eyesight going totally fuzzy – even black. “That fucking bastard,” he snarls. “I’m going to kill him –“

“She’s passing out –“ Ben gasps, striding forward. “We have to get her –“

I groan, going limp against my brother, my consciousness fading.

Rafe strides for the door with me in his arms, wrapped as best as I can be in the blanket. I barely keep my grip on consciousness enough to notice the scent of embers carried on a winter breeze – pine and cold things –

“What?” Jackson gasps, reaching for me.

But my eyes flutter shut, my body going limp, in the same moment that he spins away, retching and vomiting all over the hallway floor.