SWNOVELS Chapter 68
Chapter 68: Ayla
I ripped myself away from him, jumping up from the couch, putting distance between us. I couldn’t let this happen. The ring felt heavy on my hand. He may not have moved on, but I had. Or I had worked hard to try.
“I can’t do this, Theo,” I forced out, unable to face him. “I’m with Kingston. He’s a good man. He doesn’t deserve this.”
“I know,” Theo whispered behind me.
“I forgive you, Theo. I do,” I insisted. “But we need to find closure in that. So we can heal and move on.
I heard him stand. I felt him move toward me, but he stopped.
“If that’s what you want, Ayla,” he said quietly, agony dripping from his words. “I just… I just want you to be happy.
I felt him leave, listening to the door close behind him. I sobbed as a new deluge of tears began to fall. I sank into a chair at the kitchen table. I felt Dasha stir in my mind and I started to panic.
‘I’m sorry, Dasha. Please, don’t leave me again. You were right. I should have fought for him the first time. But we have another mate.’ I sniffed, hoping she still believed that. ‘And he doesn’t deserve to be hurt. I can’t do this without you.’
She went still, but she was there with me. She didn’t leave me again. I sniffled, wiping my eyes again. My phone started buzzing on the counter nearby. I got up and looked at the caller ID. It was Kingston. I took a few deep breaths and shook myself out. I didn’t want him to
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know I had been crying.
“Kingston, hey,” I said brightly.
“Hey, babe,” he replied. “I got your text earlier. I just wanted to call and see how the day went.”
“It was good,” I said with a smile. “Lunch with Mina was great, and it was nice catching up with Alpha Torin and Luna Grace. They send their regards, by the way.”
“Send them my best as well,” he said.
“How is everything over there?” I asked.
“Same old, same old,” he replied. “I miss you already.”
“I miss you, too,” I said. Although I wasn’t sure it was true right then.
“Everything okay, Ayla?”
“Yeah,” I insisted. “I’m just tired. It’s been a long day.”
“Okay, you get some rest. Try to relax some while you’re there,” Kingston encouraged. “Call me in the morning?”
“First thing,” I agreed.
“Sleep well, babe. Love you.”
“You, too,” I replied, feeling a pang of guilt in my stomach.
***
Theo
I stood outside the guest house, trying to pull myself together. I could
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hear Ayla crying through the walls, and it was tearing me apart. I forced my feet to walk away. I headed for the treeline, stripping my clothes off as I went. Shifting, I let Kieran take over.
I let him run. He was hurting. He led us deep into the forest before letting out an agonizing howl. I let him. I let him work through the pain and anger and loss he was feeling. He needed to. When his emotions and instincts finally settled, I shifted back, falling to the ground against a tree.
‘I want mate.’
‘I know, buddy,’ I told him. ‘Me, too.’
‘Doesn’t want us.’
I closed my eyes. ‘Yes, she does, Kieran. I felt it. You felt it. You know you did. She just wants him too.’
I knew this was a possibility. Mina had warned me, and I knew she was right. But Ayla did feel something for me. I felt the bond healing. But she wouldn’t hurt Kingston. It wasn’t in her nature. And putting her in a position where she had to choose was hurting her. I wouldn’t keep doing that to her.
‘I did this to us, Kieran. It’s time to accept the reality,’ I said. ‘We still have some time with her. Maybe she’s right. We should take that time to find some closure. In the end, if we have to let her go, we’ll let her go. She deserves to be happy.’
‘We can make mate happy.’
‘Maybe. But so can Kingston. And he can do it without hurting her first.’
Kieran whimpered. He was still being stubborn. He wasn’t anywhere
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close to severing the bond, but he was beginning to understand. I didn’ t know how we would get through the next few weeks. Going home wouldn’t be enough.
I pulled myself up, shifting back into my wolf. I made my way back to the lake house. I found my clothes folded neatly at the base of a tree. I sniffed them. My mother had put them here, but they still smelled like Ayla. I shifted and pulled them on, fighting the urge to breathe in her scent. I pulled my keys out of my pocket and headed to my car.
“Theo,” my mother’s voice came from the shadows.
I turned to her, meeting her eyes. She wanted to ask me what had happened, but I knew the look on my face said everything.
“It’s just the first step, Theo,” she said. “There’s still time. There’s still a chance.”
I went to her and hugged her.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “For bringing Ayla here. I love you.”
I left before she could say anything else. She wouldn’t understand. I slid into my car and cut the engine on, pulling
a the driveway to
head back to the packhouse. It would be a long drive. I hated how wrong it felt. I wasn’t supposed to be driving away from her.
But I had to do it.
She needed space from me. The least I could do was give her that much. I prayed to the moon goddess for the strength to make it through this.
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