Chapter 0136
I gaze at him with sorrow,
“Maybe what we had was a toxic relationship, but we were together for three years. And look at you—you never truly understood me. What right do you have to say you love me?”
Alaric’s lips tremble. “…Cara, I…”
He leans forward, ready to argue. Cutting him off deflates him somewhat–his nature as Alpha King usually grants him dominance in every conversation.
“If I go back and become your beta again, what would that change?” I ask. “Would I have to marry you? Marry a man who doesn’t understand me, who doesn’t truly love me? Would I have to spend my life chasing after your love -just like before?”
“You need to calm down, Cara,” Alaric says, standing up.
He presses his lips together, as if at a loss for words. He reaches for my hand, but I slap it away.
I use force this time. A faint redness blooms across the back of his hand, but he says nothing.
“I am calm,” I say firmly.
“I regret nothing about our past, Alaric. I don’t regret loving you or making sacrifices for you.” I meet his gaze. Love is a wonderful, beautiful thing, and neither of us should feel ashamed for having loved.”
“I don’t regret loving you. But do you know what, Alaric?” I take a deep breath. “A woman has the right to choose to love a man—and the right to walk away from a man who is utterly undeserving of her, even if he is her fated mate.”
Alaric’s eyes widen.
“I’ve spent far too much time bound to the past.”
I take the last sip of my coffee.
“From now on, I only want to move forward into the future.‘
For too long, I lived my life for Alaric–always hoping to please him, to win his heart, no matter how many times
he pushed me away or hurt me, treating me more like an employee than his fated mate.
“Neither of us should be trapped in the past anymore,” I say. “We made the choices that brought us here. Now, we both deserve to be free.”
“…We’re over, Alaric.”
***
Alaric’s POV
“I want to live my own life.”
Her smile turns sad, melancholic.
And at this moment, I finally realize just how much of a bastard I am.
After being confronted by the Auburn brothers, I started questioning whether I truly loved Cara–or if this was just about my own pride.
Chapter 0136
+25 BONUS
On the way to the coffee shop, ordering our drinks, sitting here, listening to Cara… trying to understand her…
I want to be sure. I don’t want to toy with either of our emotions.
Cara’s repeated rejections frustrate me. She has never spoken to me so harshly before. The Cara I knew was always gentle, always forgiving.
“…You never truly understood me.”
Cara accuses me.
“…What right do you have to say you love me?”
She looks at me, sorrow in her eyes.
And suddenly, I remember her as my beta.
Cara was never weak. If she were, she wouldn’t have become my beta in the first place.
Why did I forget how brilliant she was? Why did I overlook so much?
She looks like a queen–radiant, confident, powerful.
And yet… she just said-
We both deserve to be free.
She wants me to be free too. But I-
“…Cara.”
When I finally come back to my senses, her seat is already empty.
“You idiot, she’s been gone for ages!” My wolf, Grey, sneers in my mind. “She tore you apart–how does it feel? This is exactly what you deserve.”
I ignore him.
Instead, I think about the one question Cara left me with:
Do I truly love her…?
I completely understand what she means, yet her words still leave me feeling lost. I can’t tell whether I truly love her or if what I love is merely the Beta Cara—the one who was gentle and devoted to me.
But every time I recall the firmness in her voice and the way she smiled, I can hear my heart pounding fiercely in my chest.
-I can’t find my answer.
But my heart tells me-“I love her!”
I completely understand what she means, yet her words still leave me feeling lost. I can’t tell whether I truly love her or if what I love is merely the Beta Cara–the one who was gentle and devoted to me.
But every time I recall the firmness in her voice and the way she smiled, I can hear my heart pounding fiercely in my chest.
-I can’t find my answer.
But my heart tells me- “Win her back!”
