Chapter 217 The Regret

Chapter 217 The Regret
Everywhere she went, she saw reminders that life had continued. Nothing had stopped because her heart had broken for the second time.
Warriors still trained in the fields. Voices still filled the halls. The festival still moved forward as everyone worked to make sure everything was ready.
Everywhere she looked, she saw the same thing.
A future that no longer included her and Archie.
She had spent the short time they'd spent together believing it, there was one person who would always choose her.
Archie.
She had believed that when the moment came and he was forced to decide between duty and what they had, he would find another way. She had believed their bond meant enough for him to fight for it.
She had believed she was worth choosing.
The worst part was not that Archie had been forced to make a decision.
It was that he had made it without her.
He had stood there and chosen the path everyone expected him to take, and Piper had been left wondering if what they had ever mattered as much as she thought it did.
She had been wrong.
That realisation hurt more than the breakup itself.
Because losing someone was painful.
But realising you had been holding onto something they were willing to let go of was worse.
Unable to stay around the noise and the endless reminders of what she had lost, Piper eventually found herself walking toward the forest.
She sat beneath the trees, her eyes fixed ahead without truly seeing anything.
She wanted to cry.
She wanted the tears to come because maybe then the ache inside her would have somewhere to go.
But they never did.
Instead, there was only an emptiness she couldn’t explain.
A quiet acceptance that something she had believed was unbreakable had finally shattered.
“You're here again?”
Piper didn’t turn around.
She already knew who it was.
“Rollins.”
His footsteps slowed as he approached, stopping a few feet away from her.
Usually, Rollins carried himself with confidence. There was always a sharpness to him, an arrogance that made it seem like nothing could truly affect him.
But not of late.
“I heard what happened,” he said quietly.
Piper kept her eyes on the forest. “Everyone did.”
Rollins lowered his gaze.
“I’m not here to tell you he was wrong.”
That finally made her look at him.
She had expected excuses. She had expected another person to explain why Archie’s choice was necessary, why his duty mattered more, why she was supposed to understand.
Everyone always had a reason.
“He had a responsibility,” Rollins said. “A pack depending on him. A future he was expected to protect.”
He paused, his expression tightening.
“But I know what it feels like to lose someone”
Piper became still.
Rollins looked away, his jaw clenching slightly.
“I know because I did it first.”
The confession settled between them. Piper didn’t know what to say. Rollins had never spoken about it like this before.
Like he regretted something.
“I rejected our mate bond,” he admitted.
His voice dropped lower.
“And for a long time, I convinced myself it was the right decision.”
Piper watched him silently.
“I told myself I was doing what was best for both of us” A faint, bitter smile crossed his face. “But the truth was simpler than that, I guess elsa happenedat dome point.”
He looked down at his hands.
The honesty caught her off guard.
His eyes lifted back to hers. “And in the end, I lost you anyway.”
Piper looked down.
She understood that kind of regret.
The kind that came after realising fear had decided for you.
Rollins took a slow breath before continuing. “Rejecting you was the greatest mistake of my life.”
There was no desperation in his voice. No attempt to make her feel sorry for him. Just the painful truth of someone finally admitting what he had done.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
Piper looked at him.
“I don’t expect you to forget what happened.” He shook his head slightly. “And I don’t expect another chance.”
That surprised her more than anything else. Because Rollins wasn’t standing there trying to replace Archie.
He wasn’t trying to convince her that he was the better choice.
He wasn’t asking her to look at him differently.
He was simply giving her the apology she had never received. “I just needed you to know that if I could go back and make that decision again…”
He paused for a moment. “I would choose you.”
Piper’s chest tightened.
Not because she wanted Rollins.
She didn’t.
But because those were the words she had been waiting to hear from Archie.
Not excuses.
Just the simple reassurance that when everything became difficult, she would still be the person someone fought for.
Rollins stepped back.
“I’m sorry, Piper.”
For once, there was no pride behind his words.
No expectation that she would forgive him.
Only regret.
Then he turned and walked away.
Neither of them noticed Elsa hidden between the trees as she came back from a phone call.
She had heard everything.
Every apology.
Every confession.
Every word about choosing Piper.
Her expression hardened as she watched Rollins disappear into the distance.
Because Elsa didn’t hear regret.
She heard her mate putting Piper above everyone else.
Her mate making Piper the centre of everything that only made the anger burning inside her grow stronger.
In Elsa’s mind, Piper didn’t just take one person’s loyalty.
She took everyone’s.
Her eyes moved toward Piper, still sitting alone beneath the trees.
Elsa turned away before Piper could notice her.
The hatred she carried had only deepened.
And this time, it wasn’t because of something Piper had done.
It was because of what everyone else was willing to do for her.
Quickly she dialled the other number she had on speed dial. “Go ahead and get rid of her,” she said into the speaker before cutting off.