I swallowed hard, struggling to speak through my trembling and fear-clouded thoughts. Even the mate bond couldn’t cut through this terror. “Because I lost my wolf spirit,” I finally whispered.
“You lost your wolf spirit?” He released my chin, and I felt the small scratch his nails had left. “How?”
Relief flooded through me when he let go, allowing me to speak more clearly. “Because of the rejection.”
I gave him the condensed version of what happened, fighting to keep my voice steady.
Meanwhile, I noticed the scratch wasn’t healing.
Phoebe’s POV
There were two sacred moments for any shifter; first came your initial shift. That was when you bonded with your wolf spirit, the first time you could sense their presence, the moment that marked you as a shifter, blessed by the Moon Goddess’s power.
The second moment happened when you bonded with your mate through marking. That was when you received someone destined to stay with you forever. Someone created specifically for you.
If the first moment belonged to you and the Moon Goddess, then the second belonged to you and your soulmate. That’s how it was supposed to work.
But in my case, my first sacred moment got destroyed by rejection. I hadn’t shifted yet, so my wolf spirit was already fragile, and rejection dealt devastating damage to the soul.
It meant you didn’t value the Moon Goddess’s blessing, and the consequences could be brutal.
That’s why second chance mates were so rare. Almost impossible.
And me? I’d lost my wolf spirit, which meant I’d lost all my shifter abilities. I could pass for human now, but somehow I’d been given a second chance mate – with the king.
“He rejected you, but you still want him.” Perry’s eyes narrowed as he caught the panic in mine.
“I don’t want him,” I replied, but my trembling words made it sound unconvincing. I shook my head. “I don’t want him.”
“Liar.”
Despite his accusation, I could tell Perry saw I wasn’t lying. I was scared, yes, but I was telling the truth.
“I don’t.” I dropped my gaze again, unable to meet the king’s eyes directly. His stare was too intense.
Perry reached out and gripped my chin again, but this time his touch was gentler as he rubbed his thumb over the scratch he’d made on my skin.
I tensed up when he touched me again, bracing for pain, but to my surprise, Perry pulled me toward him. He placed his hand on the back of my head while his fingers tilted my chin up so he could kiss me.
My first instinct was to push him away. I pressed both palms against his chest, but instead found myself stunned by the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
Suddenly, my palms felt like they were burning. This was more intimate than anything Kevin and I had ever done.
For a split second, I forgot about him as I surrendered to my mate’s touch.
Perry’s lips were cool, and I could taste whiskey in our kiss.
I returned it clumsily as he nibbled my lower lip. The kiss didn’t hurt.
But when Perry’s hand moved down to my throat, I froze. My entire body went rigid, and Perry immediately sensed it.
He stopped and pulled away. His eyes bore into my pale face, and my rejection became obvious when I pushed him back on instinct.
“What is it? You don’t like it when I kiss you?”
Perry still had his hand on the back of my head, and we were so close.
The closeness suffocated me. I shook my head, but no words came out.
Whenever I panicked, speaking became impossible, as if my voice had been stolen from me.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Perry roared, frustrated. He wanted to understand me, but he didn’t have the patience for it.
I’d been fine a second ago, even kissed him back, but suddenly I’d tensed up and looked at him like he was the cruelest thing I’d ever seen.
The king couldn’t stand this, especially watching how I flinched and hunched my shoulders, trying to make myself invisible. He hated seeing me like that, and this surprised him.
***
Perry’s POV
I’d always thrived on my opponents’ fear.
Most people I met feared me, and I liked it. Fear was easy to control.
With fear, I could make people do whatever I wanted.
But when that same fear showed in my mate’s eyes, it agitated me. I hadn’t meant to scare her, so why did she act like I was about to slit her throat?
“Go back to your room!” I snapped harshly.
Without hesitation, Phoebe immediately stood up and ran out of the dining room. She didn’t even glance back at me as she slipped away and disappeared from sight.
After she left, I stared at the untouched food on the table. Barely eaten. She’d even absent-mindedly tried to eat the candle garnish.
How distracted had she been not to realize she was eating wax? She’d actually swallowed one before I noticed and stopped her.
Now the feast before me was a painful sight.
Rage built up inside me. I struggled to control my anger, and no matter what I did, the urge for violence always won out.
With frustration boiling over, I swept all the plates off the table, scattering food and shattering dishes across the floor. Sharp fragments jutted out from the broken pieces.
It was chaos.
My mind was in turmoil, and I couldn’t even control that. I felt like killing someone.
Phoebe’s POV
I slammed my fist against my chest, fighting to breathe steadily.
Whether this crushing sensation came from sprinting out of the dining room as fast as I could manage, or from the horrible feeling squeezing my ribs, I couldn’t tell. The moment Perry’s fingers closed around my throat, I was thrust back to those times when Kevin would choke me as he reached his peak – something he always did to me.
Sometimes Kevin maintained control, merely placing his fingers there, but other times he’d lose himself completely, and I’d black out with him still inside me.
So whenever anyone touched my neck, I’d break out in a cold sweat. I couldn’t stop it when those memories crashed to the surface of my mind.
It’s fine, it’s fine…
I whispered to myself as my body collapsed behind the door. I was still gripping my chest, touching my neck, because somehow I felt like Kevin was still choking me.
Sometimes your mind becomes your greatest enemy.
I rested my head against the door. My stomach remained empty since I’d barely eaten, but I had no appetite whatsoever. Fear filled me up instead.
When I finally calmed down slightly, I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. Sweat beaded on my forehead, and exhaustion hit me with full force, leaving me too weak to make it to the bed as I drifted off right there.
***
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