Chapter 31

Drew

The sounds of the party at the packhouse faded behind me as my steps took me further into the forest and away from the celebration.

The closer it got to midnight, the more I felt the need to be somewhere else, to be anywhere other than in the crowd of waiting, unmated males. I hadn’t even waited to see Everly come out of the house. I wanted to leave before I saw her, because I knew I would change my mind once I had.

Logically, I knew this was the ending we had been hurtling towards since the first time we kissed, but emotionally, I was still not prepared to see her claimed by her mate, to find out that what happened with June and Luke was repeating itself with us.

Call me a coward, a wimp, a pussy; I would be the first to admit that I was all of those things. The previous week was already painful enough, rejecting her and pushing her away when she asked for just one night with me, but I knew it was the right call.

I knew that if she found her mate on her birthday, he would kn