****************
CHAPTER 121
~Dristan's POV~
The hallway was too quiet.
Kai had gone to check with one of Valerie's team members again, leaving me alone in the corridor outside Isla's wing.
I sat on the stone bench by the window, elbows on my knees, the silence around me only amplifying the war in my chest.
Was I a terrible mate?
The thought had been gnawing at me since Valerie walked away without a word. And no matter how many times I replayed it—her silence, her glare, the way she didn't even hesitate—it all came back to that one painful conclusion.
"You're not going to say it out loud?"Soren's voice rang through my mind, low and sharp like flint striking steel. "Because I will."
"Don't start," I muttered mentally, running a hand down my face.
"You're acting like a lovesick fool who just got rejected. You're more than that. We're more than that."
"She's ignoring me. Blocking me out like I never mattered."
"Do you?"
I glared at him internally.