I froze when I saw who was waiting outside my apartment door.
Ethan Rumero leaned against the hallway wall, his tall frame casting shadows in the dim light. His dark hair was shorter than I remembered, and the fine lines around his amber eyes told me the years had not been kind to him either. He straightened when he heard my footsteps, his wolf stirring beneath his skin. I could feel it even from this distance.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded, walking toward him with my keys clutched tight in my fist.
"Waiting for you. I have been waiting for weeks now. I am glad you came around today." His voice was calm, measured. Too calm.
I glared at him, my wolf rising to the surface in anger. "Do I owe you anything? Why are you waiting for me?"
"On the contrary, I am the one owing you. I owe you a lot and I have come to see you based on that." He paused, watching my face. "Please spare me an hour. Please, Aurora."
"Well, I do not have time to spare. You get out of my way." My hand trembled as I raised my keys. I could not waste time with this man. Not after everything.
"Please, Aurora. Just this once and I will never bother you again."
I wanted to slam the door in his face. I wanted to shift and let my wolf tear into him for daring to show up here. But something in his expression stopped me. Guilt. Raw, devastating guilt that made his wolf whimper in submission.
I unlocked the door and let him in.
The apartment was small. Shabby. Nothing like the pack house I had grown up in before everything fell apart. Ethan looked around, taking in the worn furniture and peeling paint, and I saw the realization dawn on his face. I had not been alright these past five years. The room told that story better than any words could.
"How have you been, Aurora?" he asked, settling onto my threadbare sofa.
"I am not interested in silly questions. Your one hour started five minutes ago. So go straight to your reason for coming." I crossed my arms and stayed standing. I would not give him the comfort of casual conversation.
"Alright." He sighed and rubbed his palms together. "I want to apologize to you for what I did to you a few years ago."
He looked away, unable to meet my eyes.
"Which of the two?" I kept my voice steady even as old wounds tore open. "That you mated my friend, my supposed best friend and my supposed maid of honor on my mating ceremony day? Or that you told the entire pack I was cheating on you with another wolf and you caught me before the ceremony, which is why you chose to mate with Daisy instead?"
His ears turned red. He swallowed hard and stared at the floor.
"You cheated, betrayed me, and murdered my reputation in the pack. Tell me, which one are you apologizing for?"
"Both. Everything. I am sorry, Aurora. I am really sorry." His voice cracked. His eyes had gone as red as his ears.
I just stared at him. I did not have time for this. The anger I had carried for years felt distant now, like it belonged to someone else. I had bigger problems than holding grudges against Ethan and his mate.
"On behalf of Daisy, I apologize. Please forgive her too. We both hurt you in every way. Please forgive us. My mate and I really regretted our actions." He clasped his hands together, almost begging.
I sneered and glanced at my watch. I was about to tell him I forgave them, just to get him out, when he spoke again.
"Daisy was pregnant once. But she had the baby too early. We lost her. A daughter. Since then, we have not been able to have another child. We have tried different healers, different Moon Goddess ceremonies, but it all ends the same way. Each time Daisy misses her heat cycle, my guilty heart tells me it is karma."
I froze. The Moon Goddess did not play games with such things.
"Please forgive us both. And I wish that you find a mate who will truly love you like you deserve. Someone better and more devoted than I was. Someone who will make you happy forever." His voice grew thick with emotion. "You do not deserve an asshole like me, Aurora. You are a sweet, kind hearted wolf. You deserve someone better to love you. I made you lose faith in the mate bond."
He looked up at me finally, tears threatening to spill.
"That person who loves you will make you have faith again. You will be loved by him and he will treat you with pure and truthful devotion. He would be glad that you did not end up with an idiot like me."
Meanwhile, across the pack territory, Daisy left the restaurant where she had been waiting for Ethan. He had not shown up for their lunch. He had deliberately avoided her, even after she reminded him that morning.
She drove toward her mother's house, needing someone to lean on. But as she passed through the lower district, she spotted a familiar black truck.
She hit the brakes and reversed. The license plate confirmed it. Ethan's truck. What was he doing in this rundown part of the territory?
She parked and walked to his vehicle. Locked. Windows up. He was somewhere nearby.
She tried calling his cell phone again. No answer. Just like before.
Daisy returned to her car and found a spot to wait. Whatever Ethan was doing that made him ignore her calls, she would find out. But she hoped to the Moon Goddess he was not with another she-wolf.
If Ethan was seeing someone else, Daisy would kill the woman herself. No one would share her mate. He belonged to her alone. His bond was hers and hers only.
She waited, her wolf pacing anxiously beneath her skin.
Finally, she saw him emerge from an apartment building. He walked toward his truck, but he was not alone.
The she-wolf he was with made Daisy's blood run cold. Aurora.