I couldn't breathe.
Daniel was here.
Daniel—my Daniel—with rain dripping from his jacket and desperation etched into every line of his face.
"I'm sorry - who are you?" Daniel asked again and Cade grinned although his smile didn't reach his eyes.
"I'm Ayla's mate." He whispered and my heart dropped.
Bastard.
Daniel frowned and looked at me, "your mate?"
I swallowed hard. "It's not what it sounds like."
"I think it's exactly what it sounds like," he said, trying to smile but failing miserably.
Cade stepped forward, slow and calm, but the tension in his body was barely leashed. "She is my mate. That bond snapped into place the second I saw her."
"Don't," I said, glaring at him. "Dont you dare try to sabotage my life more than you've already done you ass wipe."
"You want me to pretend that it doesn't matter?" Cade's tone stayed quiet, but there was steel beneath every word. "I've let you run once, Ayla. I won't let you go again."
"You don't own me," I snapped, loud enough to cut through the night. "You don't get to show up after seven years and claim me like I'm some prize waiting on a shelf."
"I'm not claiming you," he said. "I'm fighting for you."
"I don't want you to."
His expression didn't change. "I don't believe that."
I laughed bitterly. "Of course you don't. You never listened to me before, why start now? Stay out of my life Cade! I don't need you in it."
Daniel stepped in, placing a hand gently on my arm. "Ayla, what is going on?"
I turned to him and the warmth in his touch almost made me cry.
"It's biological," I said, voice trembling. "An ancient tie between our kind. It doesn't mean love. It doesn't erase history. It's just… nature pulling strings."
"Can you break it?" he asked.
"I don't know," I said honestly. "But even if I can… it hurts."
Daniel's eyes searched mine. "Do you want to break it?"
"Yes." I said it without flinching. "Because I chose you."
"Daniel," Cade called his voice low, "are you aware that wolves mate for life? And no wolf would ever be happy living a life with someone who's not their destined mate? Do you know that it's never happened in the history of werewolves? Do you know that with the breaking, she loses the desire to mate with any other guy?"
With every word, Daniel's eyes widened and the urge to punch the hell out of Cade kept growing.
Why was he so hell bent on ruining my life?
"I'm going to say this just once Cade, GET LOST! I don't care what you say but this was a very big mistake and I'll give anything I can to get out of it."
"Ayla you can't just toss this away like it doesn't mean anything."
"It does mean something," I whispered. "It means I have to fight harder to stay in control of my life. It means I don't get to have peace without a war first."
I looked between them.
"If you think that this means I get to forget everything then you are mistaken."
"I'm not asking you to forget, Ayla. But however you feel…you are mine!"
I recoiled like he'd struck me. "Don't say that."
"I'll never say it like it's a cage," he said. "But I won't lie to you, Ayla. I am not letting this bond go."
Daniel flinched.
"Stop," I told him.
"I'm not. I just—" He exhaled. "I lost you once. I don't want to lose you again."
"You never had me," I said. "Not in the way that matters. You were just the loudest voice in a world that silenced mine."
Cade didn't respond.
Daniel's hand curled tighter around mine. "You said nothing has changed. I want to believe that."
"It hasn't," I said, even though the lie tasted like ash. "I still love you."
And I did.
But it wasn't the same anymore. No matter how hard I tried to deny it - there was no denying the bond that was taking root between Cade and I.
Cade didn't speak again. He just looked at me—quiet, fierce, wounded.
I turned away, dragging Daniel with me, because I couldn't look at Cade another second without shattering.
We were several feet away from him when I heard a soft growl in my head that made me halt mid step.
Then it was followed by Cade's voice — in my fucking head.
/"I'll let you have your fun tonight with your human, lil wolf. But you can't run from me. You are mine - and no matter how you fight I'll keep coming for you. You are Mine, Ayla."/