Chapter 4

"You already signed. This morning. The folder I put in front of you — you didn't even look. You just signed and ran off to Celeste."

"Damon. Stop pretending. You've changed. Who are you crying for now?"

Damon looked down at the coffee table. He finally saw the agreement. His face went white. His mouth opened, but nothing came out. Only tears, not stopping.

"Aria, I was wrong. Where are you? Tell me. I'll come get you. As long as you don't leave me, I'll do anything. The pup — I can have her end it today. I'll cut Celeste out. I swear it."

Damon was kneeling on the floor, begging me, broken.

What threw me was that my chest didn't hurt anymore. Nothing did.

It looked like I was really done with him.

"Damon. One wrong step, and every step after it. The arrow's left the bow. I've let you go."

The boarding announcement called my flight. I had to end the call.

There was nothing left to say. He was still pleading into my ear. I hung up, took the card he'd given me, threw it in a trash bin, and walked away without looking back.

Hidden Hollow was far. Two thousand miles away. I took two flights to get home.

Our Pack settlement was hidden. The founders had brought their line up into these hills generations ago, cut off on purpose.

If you needed to leave, you needed the Elder's permission first.

One year, I wanted to see the outside world. The day I stepped past the border, I ran into Damon. He was with a scouting party, pushing through our side of the mountains. A Rogue had sunk a wolfsbane-laced bite into him. I was the one who got the poison out.

When he came to, he tried to thank me. Offered me a lot of money. I didn't want it. I said goodbye and walked away.

We met a second time because I didn't know the world. An old she-wolf had grabbed hold of me in the street and was faking an injury, refusing to let go. Damon's car happened to drive past. He saw me and got me out of it.

He saw how much I didn't understand, so he took me in and taught me one thing after another. That's how it started. I liked him. Then I loved him. He loved me back.

The night I was finally ready to tell him, old enemies came for him. Assassins from a rival Pack. I took the silver blade that was meant for him. The silver caught my eyes. That was how I went blind.

Damon held me outside the Pack Infirmary for a full day and night. He knelt at the door and prayed to the Moon Goddess, swearing he'd never leave me — that if I never saw again, he would be my eyes.

I don't want to remember it. He isn't the same man anyway.

At the border, Elder Rowan was waiting with the eldest members of the Pack.

Seeing my family after so long, something twisted in my chest.

I ran the last few steps and held on to them.

"Aria. You're home." "Are you really ready to let Damon go?"

Elder Rowan looked at me, conflicted. He kept sighing.

I answered without a flicker. Damon and I were over. What was there left to regret?

He'd let Celeste carry his pup. If I stayed, I'd have to watch them build a little family. I gave him chance after chance, hoping he'd come back, hoping he'd hold one last line. He didn't. He only got bolder.

"Then take it as a lesson. For you, this isn't a loss. Walking away, waking up — that's already a lot."

"You're young. Study with me. Later, you can take your skill out into the wolf world and use it well."

He was right. I was only thirty. I still had time. I still had a future.

From now on, I wouldn't waste myself on anyone who didn't matter.

A new start.

Three years slid by.

Elder Rowan and I worked on remedies — anti-venom, fever cures. We partnered with the Alpha Council Medical Aid Team. They took us out on missions. We had real success, again and again.

Elder Rowan softened. He thought the younger Pack members should go see the world, learn more than the Hollow could teach.

He lifted the seal. The Pack could come and go. What I didn't expect was that the day we opened the border, Damon would find a way back to me.

He came in with a Medical Aid team, picking up supplies. He saw me sitting in the Healer's Quarters, treating a patient.

His eyes went red on the spot. He dropped every bag in his hands and ran at me.

Before I could react, he had his arms around me.

The Alpha who used to cut down rivals without flinching, the one whole Packs feared — now he carried worry in every line of his face.

"I finally found you. Three years. I've been looking. I've been everywhere."

Damon choked on it.

He held on a long time, like I'd disappear again.

I made a small, cold sound and shoved him with everything I had. Damon hit the ground.

If it had been anyone else, he would've taken their hands off at the wrist. But now he didn't even get angry. He just looked up, nervous.

"Did I hurt you? I'm sorry, Aria. I'll be careful next time."

"Damon, don't. Whatever we were, it's over. Take care of yourself. Don't grab people like that."

Damon got up like he'd lost his mind, came back at me, and pressed his mouth to mine.