Chapter 34 Chapter 34

Chapter 34 Chapter 34
His response came quickly: We all could. Especially with Silverclaw circling. Want to meet tomorrow? Somewhere NOT at school?

I considered it. Getting away from the Williams house, away from the constant pull of the triple bond and the weight of everyone's expectations, sounded like exactly what I needed.

Yes, I replied. Coffee shop in town at 10?

Perfect. And don't worry - I'll make sure none of your three shadows follow us.

Despite everything, I found myself smiling at that. I set the phone down just as another knock came at my door. Through the bond, I immediately recognised Asher's presence; his energy was different from Kyle's, more intense and tightly controlled.

"Dinner," he called through the door. "Can I come in?"

I sighed, too tired to fight the inevitable. "Fine."

Asher entered carrying a tray loaded with food - far more than I could possibly eat. His eyes darted around the room, assessing everything before finally settling on me.

"You look better," he said, setting the tray on the small table by the window. "Some colour back in your face."

"Don't sound so disappointed," I muttered.

Asher's face fell. "That's not what I meant. I was worried about you."

"Right. Worried." I crossed my arms over my chest. "Like you were worried about me at the council meeting when you called me fat and ugly?"

He flinched as if I'd struck him. Through our bond, I felt a flash of genuine shame so strong it made my own chest ache.

"I was lashing out," he said quietly. "Kyle had just told us about the bond, and I..." He trailed off, running a hand through his dark hair. "It's not an excuse. There is no excuse."

I studied him, trying to reconcile the Asher who had tormented me for years with this contrite version standing before me. Of the bond plused between us.

“Just say what you came to say, Asher, I’m too tired for you to dance around it.”

Asher straightened his shoulders, meeting my gaze directly for the first time since he'd entered the room. "I came to tell you that I've been in love with you since we were fourteen years old," he said, his voice steady despite the vulnerability in his amber eyes. "And that everything I've done to hurt you was because I was terrified of that truth."

My mouth fell open. Two love confessions in one day. This had to be some kind of record for the most emotionally devastating twenty-four hours of my life.

"Don't," I said, holding up a hand to stop him from saying anything else. "Just... don't."

But Asher didn't back down the way Kyle had earlier. Instead, he took a step closer, his expression intense. "I need you to hear this. All of it."

"Why?" The word came out sharper than I intended. "So you can feel better about yourself? So you can clear your conscience before we all pretend this bond makes everything okay?"

"No," he said firmly. "So you can understand why I've spent six years hating myself for every cruel word I ever said to you."

I pressed my palms against my temples, feeling another headache building. "I can't do this right now, Asher. I can't handle another emotional confession when I'm barely holding myself together."

Through our bond, I felt his frustration, his desperate need to explain himself, warring with his desire not to push me too hard. It was overwhelming, feeling his emotions layered on top of my own exhaustion and confusion.

"You asked me to just say what I came to say," he pointed out. "This is it."

I looked at him, really looked at him, and saw the same shadows under his eyes that Kyle had carried, the same tension in his shoulders. None of them had been sleeping well since the bond formed. I could feel their restlessness through our connection, their worry for me mixing with their own emotional turmoil.

"Fine," I said, sinking onto the edge of the bed. "Talk. But make it quick."

Asher moved to the chair Elise had occupied earlier, sitting on the edge like he was ready to bolt if I told him to leave. "That night at the council meeting, when I said those things about you... I'd just found out about Kyle's feelings. About the bond. And I was furious."

"At me?" I asked, confused.

"At myself. In the situation. At the fact that I'd wasted years being cruel to the one person who mattered most to me." His hands clenched into fists on his knees. "I was angry that you'd probably never forgive any of us, and I was taking it out on you because it was easier than facing my own guilt."

I stared at him, trying to process his words. "So your solution was to hurt me even more?"

"My solution was to be an ass," he said bluntly. "Because if you hated me, if I gave you more reasons to reject me, I knew that I deserved it after everything that had happened.”

“Let me guess, it was your idea that I was to shift in front of the whole pack rather than your father’s, which went against my birth pack's traditions?”

Asher's jaw tightened, a muscle ticking in his cheek. Through our bond, I felt a surge of shame so potent it nearly took my breath away.

"Yes," he admitted, his voice low. "It was my idea. I thought... I thought if you shifted in front of everyone, they'd finally see how special you are. How powerful. I wanted them to respect you the way they should have all along."

"You wanted to force me into a public spectacle," I corrected, anger flaring hot in my chest. "After six years of making me feel worthless, you suddenly decided I needed to be paraded in front of the pack like some prize show dog."

"That's not..." He stopped himself, taking a deep breath. "You're right. I was thinking about what I wanted, not what you needed. I was trying to fix things in the most backward way possible."