CHAPTER 89: _ COME, LITTLE WOLF

Heidi’s eyes sting with tears. She feels a desperate need to defend herself, explain, apologize, scream... every emotion jumbled. She opens her mouth, but the words get stuck in her throat. Her body trembles. Her heart aches. She’s humiliated. The shame is so profound it feels like a physical weight, holding her down and trying to bury her in the dirt.

Amias, while watching her, sees the change in her expression. He sees the hurt, the shock, the shame. His face softens again, the contempt melting away, leaving behind a profound sorrow. He reaches out a hand, but stops himself, knowing she’ll only recoil.

"I understand," he sighs in a gentler tone now. "I understand the bond pushed you. I understand the circumstances. Darien... he’s known for his strong indifference to women. He never takes a second look at anyone. So for him to have sex with you, who is a low-ranked pack member, it just shows how deep a mess we were all in. It’s not just you. It’s all of us. But Heidi... I won’t lie to you. And if you want to know one thing about me... I hate infidelity and having multiple sexual partners, so I will not do this with you."

The way he says it makes her feel like a cheap prostitute. Like she wants to seduce the brothers and have them wrapped around her fingers for fun.

Having multiple sexual partners.

This almost sounds familiar. It sounds like a story she read while researching the pack. It sounds like...

HOLD ON!

The Alpha’s wife who cheated on him is Amias’s mother, isn’t it? Is that why... is that why he hates cheating so badly? Oh, poor thing—he must have been traumatized by the whole thing. Whilst battling the shame she feels, Heidi’s heart goes out to him.

He looks at her, his silver eyes filled with a raw, honest pain even though he isn’t aware of what’s running through her mind. "So now you have a choice. You can either listen to me, let me teach you how to survive the labyrinth tomorrow, and learn to harness the power of your wolf. Or... you can put your emotions first and leave. You can run back to the school and hide, but I promise you, you won’t survive the labyrinth without my help."

He holds his hands out, his palms open, in a gesture of surrender. "The choice is yours. Now what will it be? Your ego or your life?"

Heidi stands there, frozen. The words are a brutal, unforgiving slap of reality. The choice is stark, and the consequences are dire. Her mind was so caught up in the emotional whirlwind of their rejection just a while ago, but now... Now, it’s forced to face a cold, hard truth. Her life is in danger. She has an Alpha, a person who can train her, standing before her, but he’s also the man who just broke her heart.

She looks at Amias, at the raw, honest plea in his eyes, and her confusion deepens. He looks so utterly defeated, so pained by his own words, yet his stance is strong. He’s giving her a choice, but it’s a choice between her pride and her very existence. The humiliation and heartbreak still burn like fire, but the wolf inside her, the beast she just met, whimpers at the thought of death.

"Choose him, little one. Choose life."

The words are a whisper, a gentle urging that contrasts with the snarling rage her wolf had expressed moments ago. It’s as if even the beast understands the gravity of the situation. Her wolf is a survivor. A hunter. It knows a predator when it sees one, and it knows that Amias is the only thing that can keep them from becoming prey.

Slowly, her gaze drops from his silver eyes to his outstretched hand. His palm is open in a gesture of peace and surrender. But the rest of him... the rest of him is a breathtaking sculpture of raw, male power. His abs are a roadmap of sin, the ridge and valley are a testament to years of rigorous training. Below them, his shaft hangs heavy and full in a promise of a pleasure she’s already tasted and craved. The sight of it sends a jolt of heat through her, a quick, hot flash that makes her insides clench and her mouth go dry.

This is the man who just told her he hates infidelity. The man who just told her that he won’t have sex with her because of a girl who, by all accounts, has him wrapped around her finger. And yet, here he is, naked, beautiful, and offering his help. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but it’s the only one she has.

Taking a deep breath, Heidi lifts her hand. It’s shaking, but she forces it to be steady. She reaches out, her fingertips brushing against his warm palm. His skin is rough, calloused, but there is a strange comfort in the contact. It’s a simple handshake, a non-sexual touch, but it’s also a promise. An agreement and a temporary truce.

The moment their hands connect, a familiar current: the mate bond—zaps through her body in a flash of white-hot lightning that makes her gasp. Amias’s jaw tightens. He feels it too. The undeniable, undeniable power of their fated connection, a force that both terrifies and enthralls them. He holds her hand tightly, his thumb stroking the back of her palm in a slow, hypnotic motion.

"Good. You made the right choice."

He lets go of her hand, and the sudden absence of his touch leaves her feeling hollow and cold. She clutches her arms around herself, trying to fight the shiver that runs down her spine. The raw vulnerability of her nakedness feels more acute now that the emotional whirlwind has died down. She’s standing in the middle of a dark forest, exposed to a man who just gave her the worst kind of emotional flogging.

He seems to notice her discomfort. Without a word, he kneels and grabs the emerald silk dress she had so carelessly ripped off during her shift. The fabric is tattered, torn, and covered in mud. It looks like a dead thing, and she wonders if he picked it up on his way to her.

He holds it up with a silent question in his eyes.

She wants to tell him she’s probably in trouble for ripping Daphne’s dress should she later decide to come for it. However, she shakes her head.

A pathetic sob escapes her lips in the process. "It won’t fit. I... I mean, it’s all torn now. I can’t wear this."

Amias nods in understanding. He discards the ruined dress and reaches for his own clothes that are now a pile of silk and cotton on the ground.

Lucky guy; Heidi thinks internally. He had the time to pull off his own clothes before shifting, unlike her who almost went feral. Now, she is paying for it by remaining naked under the night’s breeze.

She watches him pull on his pants, his muscles coiling and flexing with every movement, and then his shirt. He leaves his jacket open, his broad, muscled chest still exposed in a tantalizing display of power that makes her heart pound. He glances at her, his eyes softening a little, and then he does something unexpected. He holds out his hand and says, "Come on. We’ll find a cave or a rock formation. The cold is getting to you."

"The cold is getting to us and he wore his shirt instead of offering it to us?" Her wolf scoffs, probably still pissed at him for refusing them the pleasure like it wasn’t her who was urging Heidi to accept his offer just now.

Heidi hesitates. The thought of going anywhere with him, of being alone with him after everything that’s been said, is terrifying. But the cold is a sharp, biting thing, and her body is starting to ache. Her wolf whimpers with a familiar cold. She takes his hand again, her palm sliding against his, and lets him lead her deeper into the forest and back towards the pack.