All Chapters of Fated Vengeance: A Mate's Reckoning : Chapter 11 - Chapter 18

I continued walking until I was in the pack house, fingers digging into the edge of the sink in my bathroom, my breaths too fast, too shallow.I could still feel him.Even when we were separated by walls and even when my back was turned, the weight of Gabriel’s stare tugged at my neck, an imprint of his presence wedged into my brain like a brand I could not rub off.Why?Why now?Why, after all these years, after all the pain, after I had built a life without him, was he doing this?I closed my eyes tight, gripping the porcelain so hard, my knuckles turned white.I wanted to be angry.I wanted to hate him.But the truth — the ugly, brutal, terrifying truth — was that my anger wasn’t as powerful as it had been.Not when he looked at me like that.Not when his voice broke at every mention of my name.Not when he confessed he never stopped loving me.Damn him.Damn him for making me remember.For years, I had convinced myself that Gabriel Rennon never cared. That it had come easy for him

Running wasn’t doing it anymore.Not when Gabriel was right there, golden eyes fixed on mine with that look — the one that sent my pulse spiking, the one that made my wolf skittish, the one that whispered we’d never really been over.And I hated him for it.Hated him for knowing me, for seeing me, for understanding the way I resisted this, even when I claimed not to care.Because the reality was I did care.I always had.I tightened my jaw, willing my voice to remain steady. “You think you know me, Gabriel?His lips barely twitched. “I do know you.”I scoffed. “Then you must know that I never stop. I don’t break. And I damn well don’t return to those who left me in the dirt.”A muscle in his jaw ticked. “You think I don’t know what I was doing?”I crossed my arms. “You’re only playing the tortured hero, Gabriel.He breathed out, dragging a hand down his face, exasperated. “I’m not trying to.”“Then what exactly are you doing?” I challenged.Gabriel stepped closer. Too close. His pres

The second my lips touched his, the world halted.There was no pack watching. No past between us. No pain. No mistakes. No years of silence and regret.There was only him.Only us.Gabriel’s body went rigid against mine, his breath hitching, but the moment he registered what was happening, he lost his mind.He wrapped me tighter in his arms, those huge hands sliding down to my waist, holding me as if he feared that I would vanish. He kissed me back — ferocious, hungrily, like he had been starving for this, for me, for years.And maybe he had.Maybe I had too.I didn’t think. I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t fight it.I poured myself onto him, drowned in the taste of him, the heat of him, the claim of his body into mine as if it had always been his place.Like he belonged there all along.And damn me — it was like home.A sharp inhale. A low growl. His hands curved tight, his mouth shifted over mine as though he’d never stop.And I let him.Until—A throat cleared loudly.I tore free from G

It should have felt like surrender to give Gabriel a chance.As if I were returning to a war I’d fought and lost.Like flaming myself just to check if he’d catch me this time.But standing there, looking into those golden eyes, watching the way his breath stuttered at my words—It didn’t feel like capitulation.It felt like power.Because this time, it was my choice.”Not fate’s.Not his.Mine.Gabriel nodded, slowly, as though he couldn’t believe what I had just said. His lips parted a hair, his chest hitching too fast, like he was inhaling each syllable, like he gleaned every unspoken truth behind my words.“One chance,” he said again, voice gruff.I tilted my head. "Don’t make me regret it."A ghost of a smile passed across his face. "I won’t."I swallowed. "Good."Silence stretched between us.Thick. Unyielding. Familiar.And terrifying.Because what the fuck had I just done?After five years of running, after five years of telling myself that Gabriel Rennon was nothing more than