[POV: Evan]
He was screaming again. Dominic paced across the room like a storm, his voice sharp as broken glass, cutting through the air with vicious intensity. I'd seen him angry before—plenty of times. But this was different. This was feral. This was something darker, something unhinged.
"He doesn't deserve anything!" he spat, knocking over a glass with a sweep of his arm. It shattered on the floor, shards glittering like ice, but he didn't even flinch. "Not friends. Not a pack. Not power. He's a mistake! He's nothing. He should be nothing!"
I stood near the doorway, watching him unravel, the heat of his fury closing in like a fire I couldn't put out, couldn't contain. The rage radiated off him in waves, suffocating and overwhelming.
"I told you to leave!" he snapped, rounding on me, his eyes blazing with something wild and dangerous. "What are you still doing here, Evan? Or are you hoping to run back to him and tell him everything I said?"
I didn't move. I couldn't. Because something inside me had broken too. This wasn't just a tantrum. This wasn't anger born from hurt or betrayal. This was him. The real Dominic. Ugly, seething, full of poison he'd been saving for years, letting it fester and rot inside him. And suddenly, I couldn't lie to myself anymore.
This wasn't who I'd fallen for. I don't even know who I thought I loved. Had I ever truly known him?
"Weakness," Rau hissed inside my mind, disgusted by my hesitation, by the doubt creeping through my thoughts. "You always knew what Atlas was. Stop fooling yourself! Dominic is strength, ambition—power. Atlas was your weakness. Dominic is your true mate, the one who can give us everything we deserve!"
I clenched my fists, trying to silence the voice, but Rau pressed harder, his words twisting through my mind like thorns digging deeper into flesh.
"Atlas was pathetic, unworthy. Dominic's hatred is his strength. You see obsession—I see purpose. He is the fire you lack! Stop resisting and embrace his darkness!"
Dominic's screams echoed around us, Atlas's name spilling from his lips like a curse, like poison he needed to expel. His hatred was tangible, burning through the room like venom spreading through veins.
I had always known there was bad blood between them, but I never truly understood why. Never saw it like this—never witnessed the depth of it, the sheer consuming nature of his hatred.
Because nothing Atlas had done—nothing he could do—could warrant this kind of obsession.
And yet, Rau's voice grew louder, drowning out reason, drowning out everything except his insistent demands. "This is your mate. Accept it, or be consumed."
My breath came unevenly, heart torn between horror and desire. I wasn't sure who would win—me, or Rau. Wasn't sure which voice would claim victory in the end.
Dominic wasn't angry that Atlas had done something wrong. He was angry Atlas had survived. Angry that his brother was thriving, living, breathing when Dominic wanted him erased.
"I mean it!" Dominic barked, pointing toward the door with a trembling hand. "Get out, Evan! Before you end up on the wrong end of this."
I met his eyes one last time, searching for something—anything—of the person I once held close, the one I once imagined a future with. But he was gone. Maybe he had never been real. I turned without another word and walked out.
* * *
I moved fast, feet barely touching the ground as I crossed the compound, pushing through the night air. I didn't stop. Didn't slow. The image of Atlas kept flashing through my mind—his smile, quiet and genuine, the way it lit up his face when he finally felt safe.
His eyes when he finally believed he could belong somewhere. That proud glint when he spoke about shifting for the first time, the wonder in his voice. When he said he'd won the tournament. How he'd stood taller, stronger, more confident.
Happier. And all I could think was—it should've been me beside him. Not Dominic. Never Dominic. Rau—my wolf, the darkness inside me—wanted him, craved his cruelty, was drawn to the power he would hold. But that was not truly me. That wasn't who I wanted to be.
I'd been drawn to Atlas from the start. Even when we were kids, even when I'd convinced myself I was just protecting him as a friend, looking out for him because no one else would. There was warmth in his presence. Calm. A sense of rightness that settled into my bones. I'd never felt that with Dominic. Not really. Not genuinely.
The dizzying happiness I always thought a mate bond would bring? I never found it in Dominic's touch. In my memories of Atlas… in the way he looked at me when he trusted me… there it was. That feeling. That rightness.
But even as his name echoed like a plea in my mind, Rau growled low and dark, refusing to be silenced completely.
"You're weak," he sneered, contempt dripping from every word. "You'd abandon everything for someone who ran away? Who left you?"
"He didn't leave me," I muttered aloud, picking up speed through the trees, branches whipping past. "He left them."
"He left the pack," Rau hissed, his voice sharp. "He left his duty. And now he's aligned himself with a larger, stronger force. He's a threat, Evan. A threat to everything we've built."
"No," I growled. "He's not."
"You think he'll come back? That he'll choose you? That you'll undo all the damage by running to him like a fool in heat?" I flinched at the accuracy of the accusation.
"Dominic is our true mate. The only path forward if you want to be Alpha. You fight for him. For your pack. Not for some reckless dream of someone who's already chosen his place—and it's not here."
My fists clenched, fury rising with every word, every poisonous suggestion. "Shut up."
"You're pathetic. Ruled by sentiment. You could have power. Status. But you'd throw it away for—"
"I said shut up!" I roared, slamming my palm against the nearest tree. Bark cracked under the force, wood splintering. Blood bloomed across my knuckles, hot and sharp. And then—silence.
I forced the connection to be closed, slamming down mental walls. Rau's presence retreated, snarling and snapping at the edge of my mind. But I locked him out. I couldn't bear his voice anymore. Couldn't bear him or his twisted logic.
Because he wasn't wrong. Not entirely. I had waited too long. I had chosen wrong. And now, Atlas was gone. But not too far. I could still find him. Still look him in the eyes and say what I should've said the night he left.
I'm sorry. I was wrong. I should've gone with you. Because whatever bond Dominic and I once had—it wasn't real. It was desperation. Control. Manipulation. Prophecy and ambition and everything except what it should have been.
But with Atlas… it had always been something else. Something pure and real. And I'd never understand what he saw in me, never know if he could forgive me for standing by and doing nothing when he needed me most.
But I had to try. I had to tell him. Because this ache in my chest—the one that got worse the further he drifted—it wouldn't let me breathe. It was never Dominic. It was always Atlas. And I was done lying to myself.
I broke into a run, heading toward the distant border I'd memorized long ago. The same one I knew he sometimes crossed for brief moments, like he still felt the pull too. He was the one who should've had my heart.