My Wolf Smelled The Bitterness On Him Chapter 08
Drystan’s voice cracked beside my ear, wrecked and raw.
“I found you, Primrose.”
“I knew you’d come to Frostfang Lake. You always.
wanted to see this place.”
His arms locked around me like he was terrified I’d
vanish if he loosened his grip.
“You haven’t given up on me completely, have you?”
“I can explain everything.”
I used to crave the way he held me. Now it made my skin crawl.
The sweetness coming off him was overwhelming, and
I didn’t believe a second of it.
My wolf’s back arched, teeth bared. Not a mate’s
greeting. A warning. He was a threat now.
I broke free and shoved him away.
“Don’t touch me!”
“You think showing up here proves something,
Drystan? That you actually know me?”
“This whole devoted act you’re putting on makes me sick ”
Something in his face broke.
But he didn’t argue. He dropped his gaze, his jaw tight,
hiding whatever was in his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’ll admit it. I only agreed to be with you to stay close
to Jessamy. And I never fully ended things with her. Not in all those years.”
He raised his head, his eyes red.
“But people change. I fell in love with you, really fell,
and I didn’t even know it was happening. You’re my only mate.”
A bitter laugh tore from my throat.
“Love?”
“You want to know how I found out? I’ve been able to
smell emotions since I was a kid.”
Drystan went still. He didn’t know.
I continued.
“Every time you were around Jessamy, you smelled
sweet. On her wedding day, the grief coming off you
was so bitter I could barely stand it.”
“I watched you hold each other. I felt both your wolves
go quiet the second you touched.”
“So stop pretending.”
Drystan’s gaze dropped. His face was a mess of guilt and pain.
“That was obsession, not love. I didn’t understand the
difference until I lost you.”
“Primrose, I love you.”
“I’ll swear it before the Moon Goddess.”
I turned and walked away.
I didn’t want to hear another word.
Drystan caught me from behind and dragged me back against his chest.
He was shaking, all of him, and I could feel his wolf whimpering where we touched.
“Don’t go, Primrose.”
“I’m begging you. Don’t leave me.”
“Hit me. Scream at me. Whatever you need to do.”
“Just don’t walk away for good.”
His arms around me used to be the safest place I knew.
Now they made my stomach turn.
My wolf snapped. A feral snarl ripped from my throat
as I shoved him back with everything I had.
I turned around and slapped him hard across the face.
“Don’t touch me.”
He stood alone in the wind and snow, completely still.
I watched him collapse in the blizzard. Pack attendants rushed out and carried him to the pack hospital down
the road.
I pulled the curtains shut.
Early the next morning, an attendant delivered a letter from him.
[Primrose, I’m sorry.]
[Please, one more chance.]
I wrote a reply on the back of the note and asked the
attendant to deliver it after I checked out.
Then I packed my things and left Frostfang Lake.
When Drystan got the note at the pack hospital, his whole face came alive.
He tore it open.
The hope left his face before he finished reading.
One line. That was all.
[Never come looking for me again.]
Drystan sank back onto the cot.
His wolf let out a thin, broken whimper. Tears spotted the paper.
“I’m sorry…”
“I did this. I lost you, and I have no one to blame but myself.”
I was already gone. Frostfang Lake was behind me, and whatever came next was mine alone.
My wolf lay still inside me, calm and quiet. She didn’t look back.