"Say that again," Nathan growled, his voice rough and edged with something feral. His eyes flickered between red and molten gold, the shift uneven and unstable, as if his wolf were clawing its way to the surface, fighting against the last threads of restraint he had left.

The tension in his body was obvious, coiled tight like a predator on the verge of snapping, ready to lose control at the slightest provocation.

Maddison jolted in shock, her body nearly springing back as Nathan’s sudden appearance shattered her thoughts. For a split second, panic flashed across her face, but she quickly forced it down, pulling herself together as if nothing had happened.

Instead, she lowered her gaze and let her expression crumble, tears welling as she clung to the role she knew best. Crouched on the ground while Nathan loomed over her, the contrast alone made her look fragile, pitiful, and exactly how she wanted to appear.

"Nate... what are you talking about?" she choked out, her voice trembling as if on the verge of breaking. "I... I was just talking to myself... I just don’t understand why all of you are treating me like this..."

Her words spilled out in a rush, laced with hurt and quiet accusation. "Wasn’t my return supposed to make everyone happy? And you... you’re my fated mate, but you won’t even look at me. It’s been days, Nate, you’ve shut yourself in here, not eating, not sleeping properly... I was just worried about you..."

Her breathing hitched as she pressed on, her tone soft but insistent. "You promised me a mating ceremony... said I could stand proudly by your side, show your mark to everyone. But now, what is this? Everyone treats me like I don’t even exist. That happiness you all showed me... it just disappeared, like it meant nothing, and I’m the one left like this."

She lowered her head, shoulders trembling as if overwhelmed. "Did I deserve this...?"

Behind the fragile act, however, her thoughts were sharp and deliberate. Rather than letting Nathan corner her with his questions, she turned the situation on its head, shifting the focus onto him, onto his neglect, his broken promises, and the hurt she claimed to feel.

If she played it right, she could throw him off balance, bury what she had said beneath a flood of emotion, and force him to respond to her instead.

And just as Maddison intended, her barrage of questions struck their mark. Nathan froze, the edge in his expression faltering as her words disrupted the momentum of his anger.

The question he had stormed out to demand slipped from his grasp, buried beneath the weight of her accusations. He stood there, unmoving, lips pressed into a thin line, his gaze clouded with something far less certain than before.

He hadn’t expected her to turn the situation around so abruptly, to force him onto the defensive instead.

For a moment, he said nothing.

Because the truth was, he didn’t understand what was happening to him... or perhaps he did, and that was exactly why he refused to face it.

Deep down, he knew, knew with unsettling clarity, that everything unraveling around him, everything he was feeling now, had been set in motion by his own choices. And acknowledging that truth would mean confronting the weight of it, the consequences he could no longer escape.

It would mean breaking, piece by piece, under a realization he wasn’t ready to accept.

In the end, he couldn’t face it. The weight of everything pressing down on him, the questions, the truth lurking beneath them, was too much, and so he did the only thing he could: he ran.

Without giving Maddison an answer, Nathan turned abruptly and stormed past her, his footsteps heavy as he left the hallway and headed straight for the forest. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

If he stayed any longer, if he remained in the same space as her, he felt like something inside him would snap beyond repair.

The moment he reached the trees, he let it all loose.

Branches cracked, earth tore beneath his steps, and the forest bore the brunt of his fury as he ran without direction, without restraint. It was the only way he could keep himself from completely losing control.

Because nothing made sense to him anymore, Maddison was supposed to be his fated mate, the one his instincts should have drawn him to without question. And yet, ever since Ashley’s death, something had shifted so violently within him that he could barely stand to be near her.

Even his wolf was turning unstable, restless, and feral, as if rejecting something it once accepted.

The realization clawed at his mind, threatening to break it apart.

And so, instead of staying... he chose to flee.

Watching his retreating back, Maddison let out a sharp, bitter snort. The pitiful mask she had worn just moments ago shattered, her tear-streaked face twisting into something far colder, almost unhinged.

"I thought so..." she muttered through clenched teeth, her voice laced with resentment.

Nathan hadn’t even hesitated, hadn’t spared her a glance, hadn’t shown a hint of guilt, despite everything she had just poured out. She had meant those words, at least in part.

No matter how dark her heart had grown, there was still a piece of her that craved it, the warmth of a family, and the love of her fated mate.

’So why was he treating me like this?’

The question gnawed at her, twisting into something sharper and more dangerous. A flicker of unease crept in, and her expression faltered as a new thought took hold.

What if Nathan had noticed something? What if he had already begun piecing things together, something that could lead back to Ashley’s death?

The possibility made her face pale, then flush again, her emotions tangling into a volatile storm of fear, anger, and frustration. But above all, one feeling burned the strongest, consuming everything else in her mind.

Her hatred for Ashley, blazing fiercer than ever.

"Damn you, Ashley... you bitch! This is all your fault. You deserved to die." The words came out in a harsh whisper, dragged through Maddison’s clenched teeth, the fury in them barely restrained.

If not for the lingering fear that Nathan might still hear her, she would have screamed it at the top of her lungs. Instead, she swallowed it down, her nails digging viciously into her palms until thin lines of blood welled up and dripped onto the floor.

The urge to lash out, to hurt someone, to tear something apart, rose violently within her, demanding release.

But she couldn’t afford that. Not here. Not in Nathan’s territory. Because she had a role to maintain, an image to protect, the composed, graceful Luna everyone believed her to be. Not the rabid, unraveling version of herself clawing to break free beneath the surface.

And that restraint only made it worse.

Keeping it all buried felt suffocating, like being trapped inside her own skin, a caged beast pacing endlessly with no escape. The longer she held it in, the more it festered, twisting her thoughts, sharpening her resentment, pushing her closer and closer to the edge of something she might not be able to contain for much longer.