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Theo brought their still-linked hands to his mouth and kissed hers. “Things are going to be different now. I promise.”

Phoebe just pressed her lips to his shoulder, the only place she felt was safe enough to touch. Theo blew out a long sigh and gave her hand a squeeze. She stayed awake listening to the sound of his breath, so thankful she still got to hear it.

Things are going to be different now.

Phoebe would be different now, but what would everyone think about Fee and her wolf? She squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out the voices of her mother, of her aunties and her cousins. She knew perfectly well how they felt about her and Theo, and none of them understood. Not a single one could figure out why she’d kept the wolf around for so long.

Only she knew that Theo was funny and sweet and looked at her like he would tear the world down for her. Phoebe grew up surrounded by women who loved her, but she never had anyone make her feel like she was their heart. She’d always been one of many, flitting from place to place. She’d never had someone wanting her just for her. She’d never had something last this long.

And now maybe they had a chance to really be together.

Phoebe must have dozed off for a few hours, because when she woke up again, Theo’s arms were wrapped around her; he’d pulled her into the curve of his body. He whispered words into her hair, soft, sweet words. Words no one had ever spoken to her before.

“My little Mate.”

Her heart stuttered at the word, the implication.

“Mine,” he growled, his breath wisping across her neck. He sounded like he was fighting someone, arguing about what she was to him, and Fee didn’t realize he was still asleep until his words started to blend together and then fade out altogether.

Mine, her heart echoed.

Phoebe had woken up before Theo, sun slanting in through her window and the words he’d spoken in the night imprinted on her soul. She rolled toward him and studied his face in the early morning light.

He was right. The slash had already started to close up, the skin knitting itself together without any help from her needle and thread. But the bruises on his face and body remained. It would take a few days for him to fully recover.

His eyes fluttered open, and his gaze met hers, soft and vulnerable. She opened her mouth to speak, to tell him she’d heard what he’d said, to tell him she wanted that, too, but she watched as his expression shuttered. A furrow formed between his brows, his lips thinned to a stubborn line.

She watched as realization dawned on him. Realization about what he had done. About what he had said. And just like that, her hopes came to a crashing halt.

This is why we don’t get attached, Fifi. Trees are more reliable than men. Her mother’s voice rang through her head like the world’s most obnoxious alarm clock.

“Theo, I⁠—”

He sat up abruptly, shaking his head like he could erase the last twenty-four hours from his memory.

“Shit,” he said, resting his head in his hands. “Shit. I can’t believe Rafe fucking did that.”

Wait. What?

“You’re angry with him?”

Theo lifted his head, his eyes flashing with anger. “Of course I am. He broke the rules of the fight.”

Phoebe’s eyes widened in disbelief. “He saved your life.”

Theo scoffed.

“So, you’d rather be dead?”

“Maybe.”

“Theo, what the hell are you talking about? Rafe saved you. You’re free from your pack. We can finally⁠—”

“Don’t, Fee,” he said, his gaze hardening, every soft place he’d shown her last night turning to stone. “I’m not fucking free. I’m alone. I can never go back.” His voice cracked and she almost felt bad for him, almost felt sympathetic to the fact that he’d lost the only family he’d ever known, except she was too busy feeling devastated that he considered himself alone. Even with her sitting right next to him, even with her ready to bind herself to him forever.

Even with Phoebe right beside him, Theo felt alone.

There was nothing she could do about that.