He was gone.

I was shattered. Absolutely fucking shattered. Soren walked out, so damn confident that he was making the right choice and in doing so, he might as well have crushed my ribcage with a baseball bat. I watched him. Watched him glance around the cabin with sorrow in his eyes, and then he turned around and he left.

All because I couldn’t cope.

This was my own fault. I’d made my bed and now I was being forced to lay in it. Except the bed was lonely and the sheets still smelled of my Omega. His scent drenched my pillow in a bloom of spun sugar and hisbiscus and I could feel his presence lingering. But he was gone. He’d made up his mind and I was too much of a goddamn coward to change it.

I let him go. I let him walk right out that door, never to return, and now all I wanted to do was cry. Instead, rage roared in its place. With a scream that was more animal than human, I grabbed the old glass-domed lamp and yanked the cord from the socket, then threw it against the wall. It shattered with a crash, blue and violet shards crinkling onto the carpet.

My nostrils flared. My chest heaved.

I wasn’t done. I was far from done.

“Goddamnit!” I snarled and flipped the leather armchair that Soren had all but claimed. The wood frame gave a pained creak when it landed upside down, so I kicked it. I spun around and stalked into the kitchen, snapping and spitting and seething out my anger and my frustration—not at Soren, but at myself.

I didn’t fucking deserve him. I was a fool to think I did, and maybe he was a fool to believe I could ever be more than just a grumpy old bastard. Did I love him? Could I love him? Was that even possible? Was that hopeful emotion still lingering inside of my duct-taped heart? Is that why I suddenly felt so impossibly alone?

And so, my downward spiral began.

I dragged myself through work, forcing a smile though I felt like a puppet with a crazed grin painted on. I didn’t eat. I barely slept. I texted Soren a couple of times, but I was met with silence. Endless silence that reached on forever.

I’d lost him and I’d never regretted anything more.

The house was just that—a house. There was nothing homey about it, no happiness within these walls. There would be no child’s laughter as Soren played peek-a-boo with our baby. There would be no sweet Sunday mornings cuddled beneath the blankets with the little one tucked between us.

Since when did I want that? Since when did I start seeing us as a family?

Tears burned my eyes and I bowed my head. I fucked up. I’m sorry. I failed you, too. I wanted to call his number just to hear his voice, but I knew he wouldn’t pick up. Didn’t I deserve the silence? He was probably hurting. He needed distance from me, because I’d broken his heart, but never his spirit. Soren was stronger than that. I knew that he would keep marching to the beat of his own drum and someday, his silly smiles and sappy stories would belong to someone else.

“Dude. What the fuck is wrong with you?” Pike’s voice bled danger—it promised a fight. He slammed both palms down on the register counter, then jabbed a finger into my chest. Hard. “You’re seriously giving up? You’re gonna let him walk away?”

“He made his choice,” I uttered, but Pike sneered at me.

“Bullshit. You’re a coward, is what you are. You’ve been snarling and stomping around for over a week and it’s getting old, buddy, getting real old. All because you’re afraid.” He shook his head, his nostrils flaring. “You’re a goddamn idiot. Soren is a catch. Any Alpha in their right mind would be happy to have him in their bed.”

I growled, feeling my teeth sharpen in my mouth. “Shut the fuck up—”

“Let me tell you something, stag. I’ve had the hots for Soren for years—years—but he was always so damn skittish. I couldn’t even flirt before he’d backpedal. He shoved my advances away time and time again, and I tried. I did. And then you came along and I don’t know what he saw in you, but I ceased to exist. You seemed to have the magic touch. He didn’t flinch or jump around you. He trusted you, don’t you see that?”

The words were a slap to the face, but I clenched my jaw. Rage burned hot. I wanted to pin the bastard up against the shelving units and beat the shit out of him, but why? He was right. Soren trusted me and I’d thrown it back in his face.

Pike’s voice was softer when he spoke again, after what seemed like an eternity of awkward silence. “You’re being an idiot, Hunter. That man adores you. Don’t let him walk away, because if you do, he’s gonna find himself a real Alpha who will worship the ground he walks on and it won’t be you. Look at yourself. You’re a wreck. Isn’t he worth it? Trust me, I lost the only person that ever truly mattered to me because I was afraid. Don’t let fear be the thing that ends this or you will regret it for the rest of your life. I do.”

My chest clenched. I already regretted it. I’d spent the last week beating myself up for letting him go without a fight, thinking that he deserved better than me, but what if Pike was right? What if we were meant to be. What if he was my mate? Did shifters get second chances? I reached up and touched the scar on the side of my neck. Did I deserve a second chance after failing Wesley so badly?

Soren apparently thought I did, and maybe that would have to be enough.

It hit me hard and fast and more than anything else, I needed to see him. Needed to hold him. Needed to smell him. He was mine. My stag bellowed out his claim like a bugle’s cry, tossing his antlers from side to side. He wanted his mate. He wanted me to put my stupid human emotions aside for once and go to him.

I steeled my nerves and glanced over at Pike. “Can you cover me?”

“Depends,” he drawled back, looking me right in the eye. Challenging me. “Are you gonna do right by him?”

“I’m sure gonna fucking try.”

I meant every word of it.