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He’d slept alone ever since. Every night the empty bed beside him caused a gnawing ache in his chest.

“Why did it stop being fun, do you think?”

“I think you’re cheating at this game, Fee.”

She cleared her throat. “Sorry. Truth or Dare?”

“Dare.” He’d had about as much truth for one day as he could manage.

Fee’s mouth turned down in a disappointed frown. She wanted more juicy details. Would she spread this around the grove? Would all the local nymphs know that Theo was suddenly celibate?

He glanced at her again.

No. Fee wouldn’t do that. He’d always been able to trust her with the truth about himself. She was one of the few people that he let really know him. Especially now. She might be the only one left.

“Um … I dare you to answer one more question.” She bit down on a giggle like she was so damn clever.

Theo shook his head with a laugh.

“Fine.”

“What were you looking for with all those women?” she asked, her voice no more than a whisper. “What do you really want?”

He blew out a long sigh, his resolve already cracking.

What did he really want?

He wanted what he’d wanted since he was a scrawny eighteen-year-old.

He wanted her.

And sometimes he forgot why he couldn’t have her.

Sometimes he let himself forget. Sometimes he imagined what his life would be like if he’d been honest. If he’d told Fee everything he felt for her in the broad light of day.

But he had been so fucked up that morning after the last fight. He was on his own for the first time in his life. And he’d still felt so alone in those first weeks and months without his pack. Werewolf packs were more than families; the bonds were stronger, harder to break, woven over centuries of being together, of relying on each other for everything. There was a reason wolves didn’t just leave, didn’t try to fight the Alpha, even if they disagreed with his methods. Wolves didn’t survive without their pack. At least, not well. Not without a lot of pain. Not without feeling like they were living without a limb. He still felt the ache; the phantom appendage would always be there.

What could he have possibly offered Phoebe that day?

She deserved so much more than a broken man.

So, he smirked, let the laughter shine through in his voice.

And he lied.

“I just wanted to have a good time. And those women were a good time.”

“Right,” she said, sliding the sunglasses back over her eyes like she didn’t want him to see how his words made her feel. Like he didn’t already know.

“Truth or Dare, Fee,” he said as though he could make amends by continuing the game.

“I’m regretting picking this game.”

“Truth or Dare, Fee.”

Her gaze flicked to his and then back to the road.

“Truth.”