Chapter 18
The days that followed were quiet–eerily so. I stayed in the rental den Leroy found for me. Cozy. Smelled like fresh pine and overpriced candles. Healing, they called it. More like hiding.
Zoe visited often, usually barging in with snacks and complaints.
“Godfrey’s been pestering Leroy every day, asking for your location. Like a mutt chasing a scent trail,” she huffed, plopping onto the couch and tossing me a protein bar. “I’m really annoyed!”
I spooned another bite of orange pudding into my mouth and smiled. “Let him sniff around. He lost our mate bond the moment he chose her.”
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Zoe narrowed her eyes. “You’re way too calm about this.”
“Side effect of betrayal and mild blood loss,” I said sweetly.
But of course, peace never lasts long in a wolf’s world.
One afternoon, my phone buzzed–and guess whose name lit up the screen like a bad omen?
Jillian.
She wanted to meet.
And I? I said yes.
Maybe I was curious. Maybe I was bored. Maybe I wanted to see if she really sparkled
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in the sunlight like the rumors claimed.
The coffee shop was mostly empty when I arrived, and there she was–seated by the window, sunlight bouncing off her perfect skin like she’d been kissed by the Moon Goddess herself.
I’ll give her that. Jillian was stunning.
If I didn’t hate her, I might’ve stared longer.
“You’ve taken care of Alpha Godfrey these past few years,” she said softly, stirring her drink like we were old friends
I tilted my head, twirling a lock of my hair. “You know what you sound like right now?”
She blinked. “What?”
“Like a complacent thief. You clearly know
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that you’ve stolen someone else’s mates, but instead of feeling ashamed, you’re actually pleased with yourself.”
“It’s really shameless.”
There were some things that I really had to get off my chest.
Her smile didn’t falter. “Matters of the heart aren’t like growing vegetables.”
“I’m dying,So I gave up everything to get him back.”
“Oh, how noble,” I drawled. “Let me guess -you think dying makes you irreplaceable. That you’ll haunt his heart forever.”
Her eyes glittered. “If you couldn’t win his heart in seven years, that’s not on me.”
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She said it like she’d already won. Like she was the final mate mark and I was just a temporary scent trail he got lost on.
I leaned forward, voice low and steady. “You’re dying. What exactly do you think you’re taking with you?”
“If you were really the one, Godfrey wouldn’t have looked at another she–wolf in his life. Not even me. Not even for a second.”
She stirred her coffee slower now, that smug tilt at the corner of her mouth fading.
“Let’s play a game,” I said. “After you die- because let’s be real, do you think he’ll come crawling back to me?”
She didn’t answer.
I leaned back, watching her carefully.
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She hadn’t come here to gloat. She’d come to measure me. To see if she still had the
upper paw.
Poor girl.
She was scared.
She’d seen the way Godfrey had been sniffing around for me, switching numbers, asking mutuals, even calling Zoe like a sad stray trying to find his old territory.
She was dying and clinging harder than ever.
I smiled, but it didn’t reach my eyes. “If I don’t come back, do you think he’ll mourn longer for a mate who’s six feet under… or ache more for the one he sees but can’t touch?”
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Her fingers tightened around the coffee cup. Finally.
“Jillian,” I said gently, “you of all people should know how masochistic Godfrey is. Does he love you because he can’t have you… or does he just love chasing ghosts?”
Her lips parted, but nothing came out.
I tilted my cup back, took a sip of the bitter brew.
Then I stood. “Die beautifully in his arms, Jillian. Maybe that’ll buy you a few more years in his memories.”
I turned to leave.
Behind me, I could feel her gaze–hot, desperate, clinging.
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She was like a rose losing petals by the second. And like every fading beauty, she was trying to absorb as much love as she could before the last petal fell.
Maybe she’d get her tragic ending. The kind sung about in old pack songs and whispered on full moons.
Good for her.
They could have their little love story that spanned life and death.
It had nothing to do with me anymore.
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