Pain shot through my body like liquid fire, setting every nerve ending ablaze. My bones felt like they were breaking one by one, splintering beneath my skin. I gasped, clutching at my chest where the worst of it centered—a searing, twisting agony that threatened to tear me apart from the inside.
"I reject you."
His words echoed in my mind, each syllable driving deeper like a knife twisting in my heart.
"Rhys," I whispered, my voice a broken thing as I crumpled to the ground. The concrete of the rooftop scraped my palms, but I barely felt it through the greater pain consuming me.
Inside my mind, my wolf howled—a sound so full of anguish it shredded what little composure I had left. She clawed and thrashed against the mental walls of my consciousness, desperate to break free, to chase after our mate despite his cruel words.
"No, no, no," I sobbed, curling into myself as another wave of pain crashed over me.
