CHAPTER 126
The morning mist clung to the damp grass of the Blackwood Pack territory. Aleric walked toward the main training house, his boots thumping against the dirt.
He was shirtless, the cool morning air biting at the sweat-slicked muscles of his back, but he didn't feel the cold.
All he felt was the heavy, gnawing silence of the last three days. Ever since Selena's eighteenth birthday, the pack house had felt like a funeral parlor instead of a celebration.
The Alpha's son and the Beta heir—everyone had whispered it for years. It was supposed to be a done deal.
The "Golden Twin" of the pack, the perfect match. But when the clock struck midnight on her birthday, there had been nothing.
No sudden pull in the chest, no intoxicating scent, no spark when their skin brushed. Nothing but the sound of his own heart, beating in a vacuum.
"Aleric! Wait!" He didn't need to turn around to know who it was. The sharp, demanding click of heels on the gravel was enough.
