I didn’t know any more. It was too much to process.
“Savannah.” He stepped forward, but I stepped back, keeping my
distance.
“Sorry, Jaxson, but I can’t do this.”
Then I turned and left, pulling a dark cloak of shadow around me.
My thoughts pounded in my mind as I strode down the beach. Were we
really fated mates? Did I really have no choice?
The implications were staggering. If it was true, then everything between
us was fake. A lie. A byproduct of our mate bond.
My heart felt like it was cracking, and a lump of sorrow and
embarrassment rose in my throat.
Jaxson hadn’t tried to save me because he cared. He hadn’t healed me
because he cared. He was compelled to. Forced to by the bond.
The sorcerer had said almost as much. Jaxson would have watched
everyone die before he let me go. Because he had to. Not because he chose to
or wanted to.
And everything he felt, it was because of our mate bond. Not because of
his heart.
Hell, I’d smelled his bitterness and resentment when he’d told me we
were fated. He said he hadn’t wanted it—because of course, how could he
have truly cared for me? I’d killed his brother-in-law, and my monstrous
family had killed his sister.
He’d had to watch Kahanov start to cut the souls from his pack, helpless
to choose them over me. Helpless to save his wolves and to do his duty as
alpha. It was horrific.
My skin suddenly felt overheated, and my breaths were coming too
quickly. I couldn’t breathe, I needed to get out of there.
I began to run.
Sam’s voice erupted from behind me. “Savy! Where are you going?”
She was running after me, but instead of slowing, I quickened my pace.