Kade stared, his eyes flickering in shock. For a heart-stopping moment, he couldn’t quite believe his ears.
Ren, he… he was asking Kade to mark him…?
Before he knew it, Kade’s mouth had opened to say, “You… Ren, are you… are you choosing me?”
This time, it was Ren who just stared back at him, wide-eyed in shock and in growing realization of how Kade had interpreted his words.
Then his parted lips trembled, and he began crying again. He could only look at Kade with an expression filled with pain. He wasn’t able to give him an answer.
And right then, Kade understood.
Just as quickly as the spark of hope inside him had been ignited, it was extinguished—and in the cruelest way possible.
“You just want him to stop reacting to your pheromones,” Kade said, his voice hollow.
Ren’s only re
