This chapter provides insight into this moment from both Gabriel and Miesha's perspectives.

Gabriel

My attention was pulled from reading the emails in front of me by Adrienne's mind link.

"Gabriel, we need to talk urgently."

"What's wrong? Is she okay?"

"Yes.But she has disclosed a lot of information, if you can get back, it's best if I relay it in person."

Jesus. I leaned forward from my chair, making a quick attempt to organize my things before leaving early.

"James, I know Clara's at home waiting with the pup, but I need you to finish up here for me. Can you reschedule our meeting with Greyson and his Beta from Sand Stone?"

"Too easy. Just finished the training session with the juveniles. I'll be right over."

"Cheers, I owe you."

I passed the pack dining hall, brushing past Eliza as I headed back home.

Grabbing my bicep, she pressed against me, her breath fanning against my stubble,
"Why so stressed Gabriel? Need to release some tension tonight? It's been a while..."

I paused. It wasn't the time for the conversation that we needed to have, so I put it off as best I could. I knew this was going to bite me in the ass eventually...

"Not now Eliza, we'll chat about this another time soon, I'm sorry."

Moving past her, I ignored her glare of intense indignation and got to the car. The tires tore through the gravel as I headed back to my place, unsure of what was awaiting me.

~

"She's walking the grove with Neve. We have an hour before they're back."

I nodded, my jaw clenched and eyes narrowed. I held the gaze of the hills and cabins across the pack land from my veranda as Adrienne stood beside me.

"What do you know?"

Adrienne sighed, resting her arms across the balustrade. "Your mate is Miesha, Alpha heir to the Shadow Moon Pack. It was her mother who died, but not in childbirth like we were told. Though with child to Miesha's future sibling, it was Jacob who murdered her, seizing control of their pack with the other rogues."

I gulped, gesturing her to continue, "Christ, I don't know how else to put this.... She thinks Jacob is her mate." Shifting nervously, she continued, taking a deep breath in before just pouring it out. "He capitalised on sensing that she is yours and given you're brothers... she would have felt some level of affection toward him initially, although to much lesser extent obviously. He has manipulated this, to ensure you can't have her. I don't think he expected her to survive. You know what happens if your mate dies..."

"That. Fucking. Cunt!!!"

Turning from Adrienne, my wolf surged through... there was no holding back.

"Wait!!! Gabriel, please!!!"

Ignoring her, I thudded down the steps to the drive way below, each step was a shift closer to my beast taking full control. As my last step hit the pavement, his paws ripped through the cobblestone as he took flight into the trees below.

His pain echoed my own as I let him grapple with his sorrow. Each muscle rippled as he charged ahead, sending shock waves through earth beneath him. Scrambling. Leaping. Panicking. His actions were loose and unhinged, he was out of control. Howling in misery and despair he continued his manic bounding through the trees, obliterating anything in his path.

No fucks given who would see. Who would hear. He needed this moment to grieve and to let the anguish out. I'd lost track of time, but after what seemed close to an hour pelting at full pace through the forest, he began to slow down and settle into a slow hypnotic rhythm as he regained his own composure.

As we continued weaving through the mountain side, he eventually slowed, becoming entranced by what I knew was being carried by the breeze. Honey. Vanilla. Lavender. His head tilted back as he closed his eyes, soaking in her scent. She was still out with Neve, and we were close.

I knew there was no fucking way he could hold back without me coming closer to the surface, but I also didn't want to take away his first opportunity of seeing his mate either. I made my presence known, ready to shift he lost it and let him tread quietly to the clearing ahead. Fur bristling in anticipation, his every nerve twittered like a forest full of starlings.

And there she was.

We halted. Immediately he submitted, laying on the dirt below, watching her intently. We couldn't be seen between the trees from our distance, but his sullen sadness became a soft symphony that cascaded through the valley below.

"I know you're there Gabe, whine any louder and the whole pack will too."

"It's under control Neve. He just needs to see her."

Her scoff wasn't lost on me, nor was the fact that he'd turned into putty in a matter of sheer seconds. I chuckled at him. Soft. But there we laid, watching our mate before us in her unfiltered beauty.

She was as pure as the driven snow in winter. Her sky blue dress trailing the grass as she carefully stepped through the grove. A perfect grace, her raptured form clouded us both in a daze as we bathed in her celestial hue.

We were both speechless as we eyed her in wonderment, knowing that no amount of rain could douse the fire we felt for her. And in that very moment, I was blindsided by something I was completely unprepared for... For despite the distance between us, her eyes looked up and transfixed on my own, holding me hostage as I watched her mouth out one word that would change everything forever...

"Mine."

Miesha

"Mine."

"Jesus, fuck! Adrienne, I need help!"

Neve's words were lost on me as she held me tightly at my side. She knew what was happening. And so did I. Neve was strong, but my wolf was stronger and she wanted out.

"Miesha, listen to me! You can't let her shift, it will kill you!"

"Adrienne!!!! Please, please, fuck!"

Out of shame and embarrassment, my wolf had hidden herself and refused to communicate with me for what felt like forever. I knew she was still there, but the cloud of depression had consumed her. All her glory replaced with scars of the past.

I felt her tentatively peek through the windows of my mind when she spotted the large wolf at the top of the terrain, some distance from where we were. As soon as she locked eyes with him, she surged out of nowhere, refusing to listen to my attempts to subdue her.

"Help me... I can't... hold her back..." I was panicking, sweat beading on my forehead, wrestling with my wolf, fruitlessly attempting to pin her down.

My own screams rippled through the trees as I felt my bones start to crack. Falling to the dirt, my fingers clawed at the earth as I desperately tried to hold on. My back arched, as I felt my ribs splinter one by one. I hadn't shifted in years and her impulsiveness was going to kill me.

"That's what you wanted wasn't it? To let us die? You gave up on me!"

In between gritted teeth I voiced my reply to her, "He... is not... our mate! Our mate left us to die! He rejected us! Stand... down!"

"You're wrong."

"Neve, please hurry, I can't... much... longer...."

Neve had her knee on my back, pushing her body weight down, holding my neck in an attempt to get my wolf to submit, "Adrienne is almost here, it --- "

Shrill, uncontrolled snarls spilled from my mouth, as my wolf continued her quest for dominance, her eyes locked on the stranger who was still watching from afar.

I heard Adrienne run up beside me, her voice laced with urgency, "I'm here, I'm here, Miesha, drink this. Now."

As Neve held me down, Adrienne thrust a bottle of liquid to my lips, the foul substance dripping down my chin as I threw it down my throat.

Agony consumed me as I writhed on the ground, clutching my stomach in despair as my wolf wailed, an unrepentant and unforgiving lament for all to hear. The valley drowned in her feelings of betrayal, and she didn't care who felt it. Whatever Adrienne gave me made her retreat, turning her back on me once more.

My tears cascaded down my face as I felt Neve's hand slowly release from my neck. Both her and Adrienne rubbed my back as I yielded to my emotions, blanketed in confusion, fear, and the realisation that my wolf hated me, just as much as my mate did. I had nothing. And it was all too much.

As I lay in the dirt, I kept my eyes locked on the stranger on the hill... Minutes passed in silence as I felt myself descend into the darkness, the familiar friend I'd danced with so many times before...

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