Chapter 63

Raven

My footsteps echoed faintly against the hardwood floors as I quickly moved from room to room, hastily stuffing what few clothes and essentials I might need for a quick journey into a travel bag. The pendant from my mother’s letter glinted faintly in the afternoon light, hanging around my neck; I hadn’t removed it since the moment I’d picked it up.

I paused as I was packing up a small vial of my father’s ashes, to ensure he’d always been with me, and glanced at the ivory knife lying on the bedside table.

The Lycan Queen’s gift.

My fingers hovered over the intricate carvings on its handle for the briefest of moments before I picked it up and strapped it to my leg, the leather sheath snug against my jeans.

It was a strange comfort, to have a weapon on me. Something that I never thought I would say out loud. But putting it back on felt like I was whole again.

“Alright,” I muttered to myself, zipping up the bag with a sharp tug. “Time to go.”

But just as I was about to bolt out into the afternoon light, leaving behind everything I had once known without so much as a second glance, a sharp knock at the door startled me.

My heart jumped into my throat, and for a moment, fear gripped me; was it the Lycans, coming to finish me off since I knew too much? But then, briefly, hopelessly, I thought it might be Neil. Maybe he’d come back for me, realized he’d made a mistake.

But the hope fizzled out just as quickly as it had begun.

Neil wouldn’t knock. He would have let himself in.

And Lycan warriors coming for my head would have killed me before I even knew what happened. It had to be someone else.

Frowning, I grabbed Neil’s cloak in one hand, slung my bag over my shoulder, and padded to the front door. I pulled it open, and my breath caught in my throat.

Nathan was standing there on my front stoop with a dozen red roses clutched awkwardly in his hands. His suit was perfectly tailored as always, but there was a nervousness in his posture, an anxiety I wasn’t used to seeing from him.

“Raven,” he said, taking a sudden step forward. “Can we talk?”

I instinctively moved backwards to put some more space between us and just stared at him, my stomach twisting. “What are you doing here, Nathan?” I finally managed once the shock faded away into something else.

“I…” He hesitated, then thrust the roses toward me like they were some kind of peace offering. “I brought these. For you.”

I didn’t take them, for so many obvious reasons. “Why?”

His jaw tightened, and he looked down at the roses, as if he hadn’t fully thought this whole thing through. Finally, he muttered, “Because I made a mistake. I made so many mistakes, Raven, and I’m sorry.”

I crossed my arms, leaning against the doorframe. “You’re going to have to be more specific. Which mistake are we talking about here? Cheating on me with my best friend? Marrying her? Or showing up on my doorstep now, thinking a dozen roses will magically fix everything?”

He flinched as if the words hurt him. “I realize now how stupid I was to let you go,” he admitted, his gaze flicking up to meet mine. “Seeing you with… with that man at the party last night. It drove me crazy. I realized I still—” He stopped himself, shaking his head. “No, I’ve always loved you, Raven. I never stopped. Dani… Dani was just a fling. She never meant anything to me.”

I stiffened, my stomach churning sickeningly. “She’s your wife, Nathan.”

“I know,” he said, his voice breaking a little. “And it was a mistake. A terrible mistake. I don’t love her, Raven. I love you. I’ve always loved you.”

For a moment, I just stared at him, unable to believe what I was hearing. This was the man I had once loved, the man I had dreamed of spending my life with, having children with. And now, here he was, on my doorstep, holding roses and begging for my forgiveness after he had ripped my entire world to shreds in the span of one afternoon.

Of course I wasn’t going to forgive him. Honestly, the thought of getting back with him made me want to vomit. Maybe once I would have weakly given in, but not now. I was too strong for that now.

As if reading my mind, he dropped to his knees, shoving the flowers into my hands before I could stop him. “Please, Raven. Please, I’ll do anything. I’ll leave Dani. I’ll make this right. Just give me a chance. Please!”

I felt nothing but disgust.

“You’re pathetic,” I said, my voice cold. He looked up at me, startled, but I wasn’t done. “You don’t love me, Nathan. You don’t even know what love is. If you did, you wouldn’t be here, on your knees, throwing your wife under the bus just to get back what you lost.”

“She’s not—”

“Don’t,” I snapped, cutting him off. I shoved the roses back at him, slamming them into his chest with enough force to make him fall back on his heels. “Take these. Go back to Dani. Give them to her. Not me.”

“Raven—”

“I don’t want them, Nathan. I don’t want you. Not anymore.”

Nathan just stared up at me, his mouth opening and closing like he was trying to find the right words, but nothing would come out. I didn’t care what he had to say, anyway. In fact, as an afterthought, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the key to the house, tossing it at him.

“Here,” I said sharply. “Take this, too.”

He blinked, confused as he caught the key in one hand. “What?”

“The house,” I said, gesturing to the mansion behind me. “It’s yours now. Yours and Dani’s. It was yours from the moment you slept with her in our bed, so now I want you to fill it with all the love and laughter I couldn’t. Make her the happiest woman on the planet. Stay by her side and never stray from her. Be the man you promised her you’d be, and never speak to me again.”

He stared at the key, then back at me, his face pale. “Raven, I…”

“If you want my forgiveness,” I hissed, “then that’s how you’ll get it.”

I didn’t wait for a response, not that he seemed to have one. Grabbing my bag, I brushed past him, my heart pounding in my chest. His eyes temporarily drifted to the knife strapped to my leg, but I didn’t care. I had a journey to make.

The driveway stretched on endlessly as I stormed down it, a path away from everything I used to be. A path away from my old life, from my old world, from my old self.

This was the end of one life and the beginning of something else. Something better, even if I died the moment I set foot back in the Lycan kingdom.

Whatever happened, it was worth it.