~ ROWAN
I sat in my mother's painting chair all night, staring at her unfinished painting.
The night was loud, crickets chirping everywhere and guards howling at intervals to alert the others to their positions but even the noise could not drown out the storm that was raging inside of me.
For the first time in my life I did not want morning to come because I knew what it would bring. I would be forced to say goodbye to my mate, to allow her run off to a life without me.
I could not keep her here, that much I knew. I had already done so much to betray her trust that the least I could do was give her this. A few days away from me would either make or break us.
"I don't agree," my lycan grumbled inside of me. "She needs to be here, with us."
"To what end? She will hate us forever."
"She already hates us."
"No, she does not."
