My heart pounded against my ribcage.
“They didn’t say it was a mate thing,” Gabriel added softly. “They didn’t even talk about bonds or fate. Just this strange pull. A feeling they couldn’t explain. Like they were already waiting for someone without knowing who.”
I closed my eyes. I didn’t know how to take this information, but I wasn’t taking it well. “Good night, Alpha Gabriel, I need to sleep,” I whispered. My mood was suddenly sour. o you Gabriel was silent over the phone and then hummed. “Goodnight, Olivia… t in the morning.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me and ended the call.
I curled in my bed, Gabriel’s words ringing in my head. A thought buzzed in my mind as I wondered what our life would have been if those letters weren’t sent to them. Perhaps I could have been living my dream life… my fantasy.
Sighing heavily, I closed my eyes to get some sleep, but sleep wasn’t coming.
I sighed and took off the blanket. “A walk will help,” my wolf whispered to me.
Agreeing with her, I put on a robe and left my room. I didn’t have any particular location in my head-I just kept walking around the pack house.
I didn’t know where I was going. I just needed to get away, to think. Gabriel’s words were still stuck in my head, and they wouldn’t stop playing over and over.
Somehow, my feet led me to the garden.
It was peaceful out there, with the night air cool against my skin. But when I stepped into the open space, I stopped suddenly.
There, lying on the grass, was Levi.
He was shirtless, using one arm as a pillow, his eyes closed like he was asleep. The moonlight made his skin glow, and for a second, I couldn’t breathe. He looked calm, like he belonged to the stars. A part of me wanted to leave, but I couldn’t move.
Then his voice broke the silence.
“I know you’re there.”
Olivia’s POV
I frowned and stepped closer to where he lay. “I was just taking a walk,” I murmured, lowering myself onto the grass. I didn’t know why I sat-when I should’ve kept walking.
His gaze lingered on me. “You always come here when you’re overthinking”
I frowned. He still knew me-too well. Even after everything.
“I could say the same about you,” I replied softly, folding my arms. “Why are you out here? What’s got you tossing and turning?”
Levi looked back up at the stars, sighing through his nose. “Just… stuff. Couldn’t stay in that room. Too many memories.”
The silence stretched between us, not uncomfortable, just… heavy.
Not able to endure it anymore, I stood up to leave, but Levi spoke. “Please stay,” he pleaded.
I looked at Levi for a long moment.
His eyes were still closed, facing the sky, but his voice… it shook something deep inside me.
“I’m running mad… please just stay.”
EN
My chest tightened. I felt it-the bond pulling at me, gently but strong. My wolf whined inside me, begging me not to walk away. And then I felt it.
His pain.
It was quiet, buried deep, but real. Like a slow, heavy weight pressing down on him. His energy felt dim, like a candle struggling to stay lit.
I didn’t understand how, but I knew it-he was draining. Like he had nothing left in him.
Without thinking, I walked back and sat beside him again, closer this time. I didn’t speak. I didn’t need to.
He didn’t look at me. Just whispered, “Thank you.”
We sat there in silence, the grass cool beneath us, the moonlight soft and silver. The air smelled like flowers and earth, and for a moment, I let myself breathe him in.
Then Levi spoke again, his voice low, almost like he was talking to himself.
“Do you remember your twelfth birthday?”
I turned my head slightly, frowning. “Of course I do. I wished for something impossible that day.”
He chuckled softly, but there was no real joy in it. It was a bitter sound. “You looked up at the sky with those big, dreamy eyes and said, ‘I wish the triplets would give me one of the stars.”
I blinked, surprised he remembered that.
“You were serious about it too,” he went on, still staring at the stars. “You didn’t want gifts or parties. You just wanted us to give you a real star.”
I let out a soft breath. “I was a kid. I didn’t mean it literally.”
Levi finally turned to look at me, and there was something wild and haunted in his eyes. “We did.”
My frown deepened. “What do you mean?”
“We tried to find a way to give it to you,” he said, his voice quieter now. “We were seventeen, and so damn stupid and in love with you. We actually visited a seer-one of those ancient ones.”
My breath caught. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not.” He gave another bitter laugh and dragged a hand through his messy “She looked at us like we were mad. Told us to go home.” hair.
I didn’t know what to say. My heart was pounding now, and part of me didn’t want to believe him. But the look in his eyes said it was true.
“Why would you do something like that?” I asked, barely above a whisper.
He shrugged, staring back up at the stars. “Because it was you. You asked for a real star, and we would’ve burned the world trying to give it to you.”
I looked away, my throat tight, emotions bubbling too close to the surface. No! Don’t feel like this… don’t.
I didn’t want to feel this. Not now. Not after everything.
Not after what they did.
But his words had already pierced through the walls I spent years building. And that was dangerous.
“No,” I whispered to myself, shaking my head. “Don’t feel like this… don’t.”
But my heart didn’t listen.
Neither did the bond.
Levi let out a quiet breath beside me, like he could feel my inner fight. Maybe he could. That was the curse of the bond-feeling too much, too deeply, even when we didn’t want to.
“You and Gabriel seeing each other now?” he asked, too casually.
So casually, I wondered what kind of wolf asks his mate-his wife-if she’s seeing someone else.
I studied his face, but he didn’t look at me. He just kept his eyes on the sky like it would save him from hearing the answer.
I frowned before responding. “Do you have a problem with that?”
He was quiet for a second too long.
Then finally, with a dry laugh, he said, “No. Do I even have a say?”
His words hit harder than I expected. Not because they were sharp, but because they were so… hollow. Like he had already let go.
He stood slowly, brushing grass from his pants, not once looking at me.
“Well then,” he muttered, voice distant. “Goodnight, Olivia.”
I didn’t reply. I just watched him turn and walk away. Slow steps, shoulders low, like the night itself was too heavy on his back.
I expected him to head toward the pack house.
But he didn’t.
He passed the path that led to the house and kept going-toward the main gate.
I blinked, sitting up straighter, unsure at first if I was imagining it.
But no.
He wasn’t heading back into the pack house.
I told myself not to care. Let him go. Let him do whatever he wants. It’s not your business anymore.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.