Chapter 146: The Goodbye That Wasn't

ADAM

A human? My mate?

The thought clung to me like thorns. I paced the edges of the abandoned alleyway, my breath coming out in shallow bursts despite the crisp night air. My wolf stirred beneath my skin, unsettled, confused. This couldn’t be real. I was the crown prince of the Nightshade pack the next Alpha. My mate was supposed to be strong. Fierce. One of us.

Not... human.

And yet, there it was. The invisible thread between us the unmistakable pull. The bond.

I rubbed my chest, the ache deepening. No. This had to be a mistake. Maybe I was imagining things. Maybe saving her triggered something primal in me.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said, keeping my voice firm as I took her hand. Her skin was warm. Too warm. The bond buzzed under my fingertips, tightening like a rope every time I touched her.

The entire night, I couldn’t shake the feeling. Even after dropping Emmanuelle at her house and watching her disappear behind her door, I was still restless. My wolf wouldn’t settle. My thoughts wouldn’t stop circling the same impossible truth.

A human mate? It had never happened before. And I wasn’t about to be the first.

A sharp knock broke my spiral of thoughts. I knew who it was before I even opened the door.

“James,” I said, stepping aside to let him into the cabin.

The moment he stepped in, he glared at me like I’d dragged him through fire. “Do you know what time it is?” he snapped, brushing pine needles off his coat. “If I wasn’t a werewolf, I’d be dead walking through that forest alone.”

“I know it’s late,” I said, motioning toward the chair by the fire. “I wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t important.”

He narrowed his eyes, but sat anyway, his jaw tight. “This better not be about that human girl.”

I sat across from him, elbows on my knees. The fire crackled in the silence between us.

“I need to ask you something,” I said quietly.

“Can’t it wait till morning?” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. “The coronation’s tomorrow.”

“I know. That’s exactly why it can’t wait.”

James sighed, defeated. “Fine. What is it?”

I hesitated for a moment, then met his eyes. “Is it possible for a werewolf to have a human mate?”

His entire body stilled. For a moment, all I could hear was the firewood popping. Then slowly, he leaned forward, brows drawn low. “You’re not serious.”

“I am.”

"Adam..." James stared at me like I’d lost my mind. "It’s not just impossible it’s unheard of. The Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes."

The fire crackled in the hearth behind him, casting flickering shadows along the cabin walls, but all I could feel was the weight in my chest.

“I thought so too,” I said quietly. “I told myself it couldn’t be. That maybe I was confused. But tonight, after I pulled her from that alley… something changed.”

James’s jaw tightened. He crossed his arms, but the tension in his shoulders gave him away. He was bracing himself.

“I felt it,” I went on. “The bond. It wasn’t weak or muddled. It hit me like a storm clean, powerful, undeniable.”

James blinked. “Are you saying… Emmanuelle is your mate?”

I didn’t speak. I just nodded.

His mouth parted in disbelief. Then he shut it, his hands flying to his head. “You’re hallucinating, Adam.”

“I want to believe that,” I said, barely above a whisper. “Fck, I want to believe it’s not real. That I’m just overwhelmed. But James… when she was in pain, I felt it. I felt it in my chest like it was mine. Her heartbeat synced with mine. Her fear clawed through me like it was my own.”

He stepped back a pace, like he needed space from the truth I’d just dropped between us. His face was pale, jaw clenching and unclenching like he didn’t know what to say next.

“You’ve been here too long,” he finally muttered, voice low and strained. “You’re too close to these humans it’s messing with your senses. You need to return. Before this… illusion gets worse.”

He wasn’t wrong.

Every word had logic behind it. My mission was complete Vallaire & Co secured, Emmanuelle no longer in danger. I had done what I came for.

And yet, the thought of leaving felt like cutting off a part of myself I hadn’t known was missing until I found her.

“Maybe it’s a test,” I said softly. “From the Moon Goddess. Maybe this bond is temporary. Something that’ll fade when I go.”

James exhaled, the sound sharp in the silence between us.

“I’ll leave after tomorrow,” I said at last. “Once the press announces her as the new face of Vallaire & Co… I’m gone.”

I didn’t say it aloud, but we both knew the truth: I wasn’t just walking away from this world.

I was walking away from her.

And I wasn’t sure I’d survive it.