Fenris looked at me with open disappointment. "Ravenna is my sister. You're really going to make an issue out of a few family letters?"
"Seraphina, we haven't seen each other in three years. When did you become so jealous?"
His sister. The same excuse. The same lie, told to me and to himself.
I wiped the smile from my face. "What I've become is none of the Alpha Commander's concern."
"The courtship contract has been returned. We're both free. Don't let me keep you."
"Seraphina Blackthorn!" Fenris seized my wrist. His grip burned with an Alpha's strength, and I felt the ghost of where his scent used to sink into my skin and find welcome there. It found nothing now. "There's a limit to throwing tantrums."
"Our scent-bond courtship was settled before we were even born. You can't just tear it apart!"
He thought I was throwing a tantrum.
He had no idea that reaching this moment had cost me two lifetimes.
I spoke each word like a nail driven into wood. "I will not mate with you, Fenris."
His grip on my wrist tightened. "If not me, then who?!"
He was banking on the fact that the Blackthorns needed the Vargr pack's protection.
And he was certain my heart still belonged to him alone.