Arya.
“Let her go! Let her go!”
The statement that began as a quiet rumble from Lauren had spread like wildfire among the crowd and now became a loud chant that threatened to burn them down to the ground.
I winced, my heart thundered against my rib cage. Once upon a time, I’d stood here with Tyler, surrounded by the Rogue, with a promise that one day they would accept me as their Luna. But now, all hopes of that were gone. It didn’t matter that the elders' verdict had not yet been announced. What mattered was that the Rogues didn’t want me.
The air in the rogue city is charged with hostility. Whispers of dissent cling to the shadows, and the once-unified pack fractures under the weight of hatred. I never anticipated that my presence would become a catalyst for such unrest.
“Tyler…” I whispered, clutching his hand tighter. “Do something, please.”
Fear gripped me and it was not because of the chants. The look some of the wolves wore as they stared at me was enough to make my skin crawl. Would they…? I shook my head internally. They wouldn’t.
As if sensing my apprehension, Natalie appeared by my side and Nate was next to her. I knew they wouldn’t let any harm come to me but it wasn’t enough to dispel my fears. Lauren had definitely worked overtime on this. None of her past plans had worked but I wasn’t so sure about this one.
It looked like she was winning if the gleam in her eyes was anything to go by.
“Let her go!”
“Save our city!”
“Save our children!”
“She’s tainted!”
The protests grow louder, a cacophony of discontent echoing through the rogue lands. The rogues demanded my return to the Crests. To Ethan. The same man who had rejected me, thrown me in prison, married my sister, and left me for dead.
How could they expect me to go back to him? I’d left once; I was sure as hell that Ethan wouldn’t let me leave again. This time, it would be worse. He’d torture, bend me, and finally break me until there was nothing left.
Last time, I’d barely left with all of me intact. This time, I would definitely die.
But I couldn’t stay. If I did, the Rogues would hate me. But if I left, Ethan would kill me.
Either way, I was stuck.
Then it hit me. I would rather go back and have Ethan do to me whatever he wanted if it meant Tyler would keep what he’d fought to build her all these years. I couldn’t take it away from him. Not when Ethan had taken his birthright already.
This place, Rogue City, was his legacy.
I tugged on his hand in mine. “I have to go.”
“What?” Tyler said, his gaze snapping to me. “What the fuck does that mean?”
I let go of his hand, swirling around and walking straight to the city in the direction of his mansion. The tears had gathered in my eyes and I increased my speed, almost breaking into a run.
I had come to the realization that I was doomed to be alone; unloved and lonely. Not only had I grown up with a family I’d always thought was mine and had to find out the hard way that I was a direct descendent of the moon goddess, my first mate had rejected me.
Now, I was about to leave my second chance mate.
This was supposed to be my life. Sad and lonely.
“You’re not going anywhere, Arya. This is all Lauren’s doing and I’ll put a stop to it.”
The forest disappeared and the city came into view. “Lauren did nothing but air what everyone else was thinking! I don’t belong here. I don’t belong anywhere.” I took a deep breath to calm my beating heart but the tears kept falling. “I have to leave, Tyler. I can’t put your city at risk when I can do something to stop it.”
“You don’t, Little One,” he replied, his eyes pleading. “We can fight Ethan.”
“How?” What was he thinking? I was trying to make it easier for him to let me go. If I just walked away, then maybe he would find the strength to move on.
“Could you not talk about leaving like it’s easy for you?” I watched his pained expression.
I needed him to see reason, but that wasn’t working. I steeled myself as I replied lowly, “It is easy for me.”
A muscle in his jaw ticked. “Arya, Don’t.”
The expression on his face broke my heart to pieces but I jutted my chin out and willed my eyes blank. “I was rejected by an Alpha once; a second time wouldn’t hurt as much.”
I almost broke into a sob as he took a step forward, his jaw hardening. “You should try something else, Arya. You cannot change my mind by thinking you can hurt me.”
“Don’t be so sure, I had a mate before I met you,” I replied coldly, pushing him further. “And it was easy to fall in love with you. Something tells me it won’t be hard to fall for another.”
Tyler’s eyes darkened into an almost-black color. For a fraction of a moment, I was scared of what he would do. The anger radiating from him was strong, almost palpable like I could touch it if I reached a finger out. But I forced myself to hold my ground, to stand there and hold his furious gaze.
It was only when he stormed away from me and towards the direction of the house that I finally let out the breath I was holding and broke into a sob. It hurt. Saying all those things to him. But they were necessary, otherwise he’d never let me go.
I cried for a few moments then straightened, wiped under my eyes, and headed for Tyler’s mansion. We’d already said our goodbyes. Now it was time for me to go.