COLE

I waited for dawn, my back against the wall of this shitty cabin, watching the sky shift from black to gray through a dirty window.

Sleep was a joke at this point. I hadn’t really slept well in months. Maybe longer.

Freya and I hadn’t gotten to talk last night because the second the full moon rose, she had to go underground into the cellar. Carlos locked her in with this heavy iron door while I just stood there listening to the locks click into place.

He told me it was because her power surges during the full moon, becomes dangerous and uncontrollable. Witches and full moons don’t mix well apparently.

I sat there for hours listening to her down there. Screaming. Breaking things. Scratching at the stone walls like an animal trying to get out.

It reminded me of when we were kids and she’d have nightmares. I’d sit outside her room until she stopped crying.

I kept thinking I should just leave before she came up. Just get the fuck out of here like I’d been doing for an entire year. Easier that way.

But that would be pointless. I came all this way specifically to see her and talk to her. Might as well actually do it instead of being a coward.

I pushed off the wall and went to the kitchen. My boots were too loud on the wooden floor in the quiet morning.

Carlos was already outside chopping wood. I could hear the ax hitting the logs over and over through the window.

Thunk. Crack. Split. Thunk. Crack. Split.

I found a pan in one of the cabinets and set it on the ancient stove. Might as well make breakfast while I waited for her to emerge from whatever hell she’d been in all night.

There were eggs in the small fridge. Some bread that looked a few days old. Coffee grounds that looked ancient.

I cracked eggs into the pan, watched them sizzle and pop. Freya had taught me to cook when we were kids. We used to sneak into the coven’s kitchen late at night and she would show me how to make different things. Said it was important to know how to take care of yourself.

That felt like a lifetime ago. Everything did.

Then I heard footsteps in the hallway.

I turned around, spatula still in my hand.

Freya stood in the doorway, one hand gripping the frame like she needed it to stay upright.

She looked exhausted. Whatever happened during the full moon had drained her completely.

She was wearing this long black dress that covered everything from neck to ankles. Long sleeves even though it was warm in the cabin. Hiding the burn scars that covered most of her body. I’d seen them yesterday when I first got here.

Her face was the only part of her that remained unmarked. Still pretty. Still recognizable as the girl I grew up with.

Then she smiled at me.

That smile. I remembered it from when we were kids. When things were simpler and less completely fucked up.

She walked over slowly and sat down at the small kitchen table. Her movements were stiff and careful, like her body hurt everywhere.

"You were always in the kitchen when we were kids." Her voice was raspy and raw. Probably from screaming all night. "Even when everyone else was outside training or whatever."

I flipped the eggs, watching them brown at the edges. "You taught me how to cook."

"I know I did." She leaned back in the chair. Almost proud.

Then her voice changed. "I thought you’d be gone by now. Thought you’d run before I came up."

I put the eggs on a plate. Shoved the bread in the old toaster that barely worked. Started the coffee machine that made concerning noises.

"I wanted to see you." I kept my back to her.

"Could’ve fooled me." She picked at a splinter on the table. "You didn’t want to see me for an entire year. Not once."

My hands stopped moving. I stared at the coffee slowly dripping into the pot.

"It wasn’t like that." I turned to face her. "You know how fucked up everything is. How complicated the whole situation became."

She exhaled loudly. "I know." She rubbed her face with both hands. "I’m still glad you’re here now." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

I brought the food and coffee over and sat down across from her at the small table. Our knees almost touched underneath. We ate in silence for a while. Just the sounds of forks scraping plates and coffee being sipped.

"What are you actually going to do now?" I finally asked. I set down my fork and looked at her. "Corvin knows you’re alive after last night. He felt it through the bond, right?"

She nodded slowly, pushing her eggs around her plate. "Yeah. He felt it. The bond lit up like a beacon during the full moon."

"So you’re not safe here anymore." I picked up my coffee cup. "He’ll come looking for you eventually. Are you planning to move somewhere else? Go further away?"

She set down her fork with a clank. Stared at her plate. "What’s the point of running? He’ll find me every single full moon no matter where I go or how far I run."

She looked up at me. "The bond doesn’t care about distance or hiding. It just pulls and pulls. Until it’s broken, I’m completely fucked."

I leaned forward, my elbows on the table. "Then break it. Sever the bond." I gestured with my coffee cup.

"He’s got Amaris now. He’s planning to mate with her soon. He’d probably agree to let you go."

She laughed but it sounded nothing like her real laugh. "It’s not that simple, Cole." She wrapped both hands around her coffee cup.

"Let’s start with the fact that your best friend Ryker would probably kill me on sight. He thinks I murdered his mother in cold blood." She took a sip. "And then there’s the problem that I don’t even know if Corvin actually wants to break the bond."

I watched her carefully. "Do you? Want to break it?"

She was quiet for a long time. Her fingers traced random patterns on the wooden table, nails scratching lightly.

"I hate the bond." She said it quietly, looking at her hands.

"I curse it every single day. Every hour." She looked up at me. "I wouldn’t be here living like this, covered in scars, hiding in the middle of nowhere if it wasn’t for that fucking bond."

"You wouldn’t be here at all if you’d listened to me about Victor." I set down my cup harder than I meant to. "I told you going after him was a bad idea. I told you it would blow up in your face."

Her head snapped up. "I only targeted Victor to try to get close to you." She leaned forward.

"Don’t you understand that? If I’d married him, we would have been in the same pack together. We could have been near each other."

Her voice got louder. "I didn’t know I’d end up being fated to Corvin. How the fuck does a witch even get fated to a wolf Alpha anyway? That’s not supposed to happen."