Page 89 of Primal

I stare at him, and my wolf lets out a soft, mournful whimper inside me. She wants to believe him. Needs to. But I don’t know how.

“That won’t fix the trust, Ren,” I whisper, my eyes threatening tears. It’s a fight to will them away. “It won’t undo what you’ve already done. It won’t stop me from thinking you’ll hurt me again—worse than before. And if that happens… I won’t survive it this time.”

It’s the truth, just without the nitty-gritty details.

He doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t argue.

“I know.” He steps around the bed and tries to close the distance between us. My wolf is ecstatic, not appreciating that I’d put space between us soon after we’d let him…do what he did.“And I get that words aren’t enough. I can say I’m sorry until it doesn’t mean anything anymore, and I will. Every day. For the rest of my life if you’ll let me. But more than that, I’m going to show you. Prove it with actions, because words will only get me so far. I failed you once by not choosing you. But I’m choosing you now, Noa. Every day, every hour, for as long as you’ll let me.”

I want to scoff. Want to laugh or cry or fall into him all over again. But I don’t move. Don’t say anything. Because this feels like a turning point. And I don’t know which way it’s going to take me.

“We were meant for each other,” he murmurs, voice low and hoarse, hand raised toward me in offering, but I can’t bring myself to accept it. “I denied it, fought it. But it’s so fucking obvious. Fuck, baby, I’ve been dreaming about you for months. You were always there—your voice, your eyes. Telling me it was time to remember. I even dreamt of us being in this very room.” His gaze sweeps the space like it’s hallowed. “You were standingright there, begging me to choose you. I didn’t. And I’ll regret it forever. But I’m going to fix it. I will.”

The knot in my chest tightens. Because if he’s been dreaming too—if my mother wove messages into his subconscious the same way she did mine—then she really went out of her way to ensure I’d find my way back to him.

She wanted me with him. But in all her wisdom and weaving, did she know that he was going to be the one to break me? It hurts to believe she’d known this was my fate, and still left her meddling spells to push us toward each other.

She had to have a good reason, the trusting—maybe to a fault—piece of me whispers.

Before I can get lost in that, I shake my head and try to pull myself back from the edge.

“I can’t do this with you right now, Ren. Not when you’re still betrothed to someone else.”

My eyes flick to the bed—the one we just tangled ourselves across like it meant something. Like it could be the start of something for us. “Technically, you cheated on your intended with me.”

His snarl is instant, ripping through the air with such violence it has me recoiling half a step.

“That’s bullshit. Talis?—”

My wolf whines at the name, a visceral response I can’t control. The pitiful sound is past my lips before I can even attempt to stop it, and it makes him wince.

“She means nothing to me. She never did.”

“But you need her,” I remind him, the crushing knowledge that there are more lives on the line than just mine. Not just any lives. Omegas. Omegas just like Siggy. He said he was going to put me before all of that, but that doesn’t seem fair.None of it is fair, Noa.“You need the alliance with her father.”

“I need you more,” he breathes.

And Goddess help me…I want to believe him.

More emotionally wrecked than I’d like to admit, my eyes flutter closed and I breathe for a second. Knowing that I’m past the point of being able to look at this logically and afraid of reacting out of emotion or, worse, my needy omega instincts, I gather all the resolve I can muster before returning my gaze to him.

“Canaan and Rhosyn are waiting for you downstairs.” Wordlessly, I grab the green hoodie that has become an unofficial token of our half-broken bond, and the first item collected for my nonexistent nest. It actually hurts to pull it free of the pillows and bedding, going against every omega instinct I have to give up the precious item. His face falls when I hand it to him. “You need something to wear home.”

“I thought you might want to keep it?” He looks genuinely devastated to ask this. “That you’d want it for your…”

I cut him off, feeling like an ass when I do. “It’s just a hoodie, Ren. I’ve got plenty. But thank you for letting me borrow it.” My eyes flick to the dark spot at the front of his pants. “I’ll go see if I can find you another pair of sweats while you wash up.”

I turn away before I can be sure, but I swear to the Goddess, I think Rennick blushed.

It’d find it cute if I wasn’t aching again.

Chapter 30

Noa

Turns out when Rhosyn said her impromptu return to Ashvale worked out for her, she meant it was the perfect time to start on her side quest of schmoozing with Amara and Lowri. Her plan was to butter up the High Priestess and the Ashvale Alpha, and win them over to the Fallamhain Pack cause before Rennick made his own plea to them at a later date.

“They probably wouldn’t help him if he were on fire right now.” She’d scoffed, arms crossed as she explained why she was going to be staying behind for the next day or two.

---