Mate.
Home.
The only soft thing fate had ever given me.
“You know how this ends,” I whispered.
She broke apart at that.
Actually broke.
A sob tore out of her chest while her fingers clutched harder at my shirt and f**k—seeing my mate cry because of me never stopped feeling like somebody carving into my lungs with dull blades.
“I can protect you,” she whispered desperately.
No.
No she couldn’t.
Not from him.
Not from Mother.
Not from the kind of sickness that had lived inside Noah since birth.
My brother had always been wrong.
Even as kids.
Our father used to laugh whenever Noah hurt animals.
Said it meant he’d grow into a ruthless Alpha like him someday.
Meanwhile Mother looked at him like he hung the f*****g moon every time he made somebody bleed.
The perfect son.
The s
