Nash’s pov
My boots dragged through the black mud as Shaun and four broad-shouldered rogue guards hauled me across the outer perimeter of the Dead Pines forest. Heavy iron cuffs bit deep into my wrists and ankles, the iron chains clanking against the rocks with every ragged step I took.
My body was completely broken.
My broad back was a ruined, bleeding lattice of dark red gashes from the ten lashes Chloe had been forced to give me. Blood was soaked deep into my leather trousers, dripping down my legs into the dirt, but the physical agony paled in comparison to the agonizing void in my chest.
Her words were still ringing in my head, sharp, icy, and brutal.
Go back to your pack and your true mate.
She had rejected me. She had pulled her dark wool cloak out of my bloody fingers, turned
