Page 12 of Forsaken

“I do,” he says. “You’re going to take Ebon’s advice. You’re going to go to Daybreak, and you’re going to show Sean what he’s missing out on.”

I fret over my lip. Those are a lot of pushy words, urging me toward someone else, for a guy who just sucked my clit.

“It’s the only choice you have,” Nathan says, as if he’s answering the question I haven’t voiced yet. “It’s the only choice we both have.”

I grind my teeth together. “You’ll be next.”

“I’m well aware.”

“It’s not fair,” I grind out.

“It never is, Mia.” He steps away, eyes back to their normal blue hue again. “So, when are we leaving?”

I rub the back of my neck. “I didn’t actually tell Ms. Ebon yes,” I explain. “Actually, I’m pretty sure I said no.”

His hands turn to fists. “I can’t believe these words are going to come out of my mouth. Mia, you have to go. If no one else, it has to be you.”

His skin ripples, his wolf peeking through here and there. I can feel his explosive anger vibrating off him, reverberating through my chest.

“I know,” I say quietly.

My heart fissures like the splinter of wood when the axe comes down.

Nathan roars, his voice thinning into a howl as he shifts on the spot. Tattered clothing scatters everywhere, and he turns toward the moon, the glowing sphere silhouetting his dark muzzle. Before he lunges away, his blue eyes find me, and through their reflective surface, I see myself staring back at him.

Pain. It’s the one word that comes to mind as he runs away.

My wolf feels me crumble to the rocks at my feet, so she takes over, shifting into her true form as I lose myself. I long for a friend, and she’s the closest one I’ve got. Kinsey is off living the life she should have, and I can’t imagine telling Nadia what Nathan and I just did. She’s the innocent, sweet type. She’d probably keel over from shock.

My wolf’s paws gently maneuver around the rock on the flat surface of the hill. Lightning shoots through the air, and several seconds later, thunder follows, rattling our ribcage. The first drop of rain hits her pelt, and my wolf takes off at a full run, narrowly avoiding the natural obstacles of the forest, until she clears the tree line and heads right for the little hut so I can change back into my clothes. Once I’m inside, the sky opens up. Raindrops pummel the roof as I shift back to human form and pull on my clothes. I would’ve liked her to stay in control for a while longer, but I’d only be delaying the inevitable. Nathan and Ms. Ebon are right: my future lies in Daybreak.

A crack of thunder follows my train of thought.

I’m no longer Sean’s little rejected shifter. I’m going to Daybreak, and I’m coming back swinging. He’ll either fall in line or his ass will be gone.

When it comes down to him or me, I choose me—something no one has done for a very long time.

My stomach flips, and I realize that’s not true. Nathan’s in my corner. Only, we may have just fucked that up for us both.

The door to the hut creaks open. I blink toward the doorway, finding Nathan’s black wolf strutting in. We’ve run together so many times that I know his wolf almost as much as I know my own. He comes up to me, nudging my hand, and I pat his soaked head. He nudges me again, then uses his teeth to grab at the hem of my skirt. Before my mind goes into the gutter, I realize he’s telling me he doesn’t have any clothes since he shifted on the spot.

It’s against the rules to enter Greystone Academy in your shifter form. “Wait right here,” I tell him, scratching behind his ears. His tongue lolls, and I head into the pouring rain to check the other huts for clothes that someone may have left behind. I score two hoodies in different huts, so I run back to Nathan, shaking off the raindrops as I enter.

My friend sits on one of the benches, his legs crossed to obscure any view of his package. A package that, only a few minutes ago, was hard for me.

My breath hitches, but I avert my stare and throw the two hoodies at his feet.

“You were right earlier,” Nathan says, his smooth voice filling the hut while the rain still pitter-patters overhead. “We should’ve talked about the kiss.”

“Shh,” I whisper, looking around.

He moves into view, one hoodie tied around his waist with the fabric draping down his backside and the other tied the opposite way, the fabric obscuring his front. It looks like he’s wearing a sweatshirt-skirt. Honestly, he could wear whatever he wanted, and he’d still look good.

“No, I can’t,” he says. “I’ve been pushing down these feelings for fucking months because of the conflict rolling inside me, and I finally realized the thing that will make me the most upset. It won’t be if I don’t get to touch you like I want, it’ll be if you end up Feral. Alone. So, I’m going against everything I want in this moment, and I’m telling you to go to Daybreak, and you’ll either fully mate with Sean or we’ll figure something else out. You’re not going Feral because of him. And you’re certainly not going Feral because of me.”

For months?

He’s been harboring feelings for me for months?

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