"So think what you like, because I already told you the truth."
Jasmine's voice came out raw, scraped clean of pride. Her eyes burned with tears she refused to let fall, though a few had already escaped, tracking silver lines down her cheeks.
"You were the last person I ever thought would show interest in me. And I was desperate to stay in this pack."
The admission hung in the air, ugly and honest. She didn't care anymore, didn't care that she sounded pathetic, that she was laying her soul bare for a man who might not even want it.
The Blood Moon Festival loomed ahead, a merciless force that would reshape everything, and she had no shield against it. Everything would change.
New pack members would arrive, bright-eyed and hopeful. Old ones would leave, torn from their homes by the cruel hand of fate. She-wolves without mates would be forced to change packs, if their fated mates weren't from Grimroot.
