Sleep refused to come.
No matter how tightly I curled under the blankets, no matter how many times I shifted on the massive bed, my body remained stiff with fear and exhaustion. My mind replayed every moment of the night over and over until it felt like needles pricking behind my eyelids. Chase’s anger. My confession. His wolf reacting. His retreat from the room. And the crushing silence he left behind.
He was furious.
He was disappointed.
He was betrayed.
And though I had not been the one who created the deception, I was the one who stood in that dress and lied without meaning to. The guilt sat like a stone in my chest.
The room felt too big, too cold, too lonely. The wedding gown felt heavier by the minute, the layers of lace and silk trapping heat and suffocating my skin. I had be
