Chapter 1841:

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“It isn’t,” I swore. “I only have one thing left to lose, and I won’t lose it.”

She held out her hand, palm up. She still hadn’t looked away from the drive. I wasn’t even sure she’d blinked.

“What do you want?” she asked. “Money? A hideout?”

That would have been the smart choice, wouldn’t it? Somewhere safe, resources to keep me hidden from the dogs snapping at my heels while I plotted my next move.

But I had stopped being smart the day Mireya walked through my door and that bond had clicked into place.

“I want what I’ve always wanted,” I said. “Help me find my mate.”

𝖱𝘦сo𝘮me𝗇𝘥 𝗴𝘢lnо𝘷е𝗹s.с𝘰𝗆 𝘵о 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝘳 𝗳𝗋i𝗲𝘯𝘥𝘀

Astrid’s gaze finally lifted from the drive. She turned to face me and let out a disbelieving breath.

“That little Omega is going to be your ruin, Rooke.”

Mireya’s face rose in my mind: the deep brown of her hair, the pale gray of her eyes, the tiny dimple in her chin.

And then came everything else — her odd, hesitant smile, the soft cadence of her voice, the silken strands of her hair tangled between my fingers, the familiar curve of her body beneath my hands. The hole in my soul throbbed. No amount of werewolf genes could heal it, not while my mate remained somewhere beyond my reach.

I should have been unsettled by how far I was willing to go to get her back.

I would burn the entire world down and dig through its ashes for Mireya.

“Yeah,” I murmured, almost to myself. “Maybe it will be.”

But then, destruction had never been a stranger to me.

MIREYA’S POINT OF VIEW

“There,” Evelyn announced, stepping back as she lifted her fingers from the nape of my neck.

A cool gust from the air conditioning brushed against my skin, raising goosebumps as it passed… but that was it.

It was ridiculously anticlimactic, absurdly disappointing.

I glanced over my shoulder, blinking at the witch standing behind me.

“That’s it?”

She lifted one shoulder in a half shrug.

“That’s it.”

I had expected… something. A spark, maybe, a surge of magic, the sensation of a heavy chain hitting the floor or a leash snapping free.

I was supposedly free now, but I didn’t feel any different.

I let my hair down and let it fall in waves down my back, covering my neck until even the goosebumps faded away.

“Um…” I started, glancing at Evelyn before quickly looking away.

How were you supposed to feel about the healer stitching up your wound when she was the same person who had stabbed you in the first place?

I heard her soft sigh and the rustle of her clothes, as if she were restless.

“I really am sorry, Mireya. I made so many mistakes in Catherine’s service, and I…” Another sigh.

It was hard, but this time, when I looked at her, I forced myself to hold her gaze.

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