Danae’s POV
The bus hit a pothole hard enough to jolt me out of my thoughts.
Another rejection glowed on my phone.
Horizon Media Group had turned me down two days ago.
Since then, nearly every waking hour had gone into applications, each one another attempt to find a way forward.
My old teaching job had been filled months earlier.
I’d surrendered it to organize a wedding and support Galen’s future.
The joke was almost cruel enough to admire.
“Look further,” I muttered, scrolling.
“Try something else.”
Cleaning.
Shops.
Anything.
I had a degree, but that didn’t seem to translate into many skills employers wanted.
I’d made room for Galen’s ambitions by putting aside my own work, and now there was nothing solid beneath my feet.
Dad’s bills returned to my mind.
Treatment wasn’t getting cheaper.
Without Galen’s money, helping pay for it was my responsibility again, and I hadn’t found a way to meet it.
Eirwen had given me somewhere to sleep without hesitation.
I couldn’t turn her generosity into a permanent solution.
I wouldn’t.
By the time I looked up, I’d missed my stop.
Downtown was falling behind us.
The bus was heading toward Oak Park.
I sighed and decided to get off at the next stop instead of riding back around. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping.com.
I wasn’t ready for Eirwen’s apartment anyway.
Her kindness wasn’t the problem.
She had been nothing but supportive.
I simply couldn’t face another evening of reassuring words and hopeful plans when all I wanted was a little room to feel miserable without explaining it.
Early evening lay peacefully across Oak Park.
Families sat on checkered picnic blankets.
Couples walked hand in hand while children chased each other near the playground.
Ordinary lives, apparently proceeding as ordinary lives were supposed to.
I went further in, away from the bustle, until I found an old oak standing apart from the other trees.
Sitting at its base, I leaned against the rough bark and watched the sun lower over the small lake.
Blue water became orange.
Then a darker, deeper red.
Across the lake, a young man had his arm around a woman’s shoulders.
They looked happy in that careless way happiness sometimes had, as though there was no reason to protect it.
Did they know how quickly a life could come apart?
My phone vibrated.
Mom again.
I silenced it.
My parents were still furious about the canceled wedding, the expense, the waste.
They didn’t know the whole story.
How was I supposed to fit werewolves and hidden affairs into an explanation they could accept?
As far as they understood it, their daughter had developed cold feet after years of planning and thousands of dollars.
“Idiot,” I whispered toward the dimming sky.
What use was regret when Dad needed treatment I couldn’t afford?
My fingertips found the indentation on my left ring finger.
I caught the movement and pulled my hand away, disgusted by the habit.
Five years, and my body was still searching for the ring as though it belonged there.
Five years of devotion to a man who had another woman, another family, and a plan for the moment I became disposable.
Eirwen had been steadfast through everything.
Even that couldn’t fill the hollow inside me.
I felt alone.
Worse, I felt like the common failure in every part of my life: not enough to keep my fiancé faithful, not qualified enough to earn a decent living.
Knowing I was hurt didn’t stop those thoughts from finding their way in.
At last, with most of the sun gone and twilight gathering through the park, I stood and brushed my jeans.
Time to go back.
A deep voice carried through the evening.
My heart missed a beat.
Caspian.
I froze, then slipped behind the oak.
After the clinic, another confrontation was the last thing I could bear.
Especially now that Eirwen had explained the laws—the ritual needed to reject a mate, the danger of offending an Alpha.
Carefully, I looked around the trunk.
He was walking toward a bench some thirty yards away with a woman beside him.
Tall, slender, elegant.
Perfect blond hair swept into a sophisticated arrangement.