Cronan is angry. Angry that after years of waiting, he's mated to the one wolf he never wanted.
Fen is stuck. Stuck in a state of purgatory that he doesn't know how to escape from.
After learning of his mate's crimes, Cronan never expected to see h...
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The disapproving stares coming from my friends told me everything I needed to know. I'd just finished telling them about all that happened between Fen and me, leaving out some of the more personal details and anecdotes he'd told me, and I could tell they weren't happy in the slightest. Even Callie and Reuben, who both seemed to dislike Fen weren't pleased.
"Why do you do this to yourself?" Arlo asked quietly, having emerged from the bathroom to hear the story.
"I didn't try to hurt him," I muttered and it was the truth. Hurting Fen was never the goal. I never meant to make him break down like he had that day.
"Are you really trying to say you didn't even consider the fact that your 'relationship that wasn't a relationship' could be more to him? Goddess, Cronan! You literally let him believe he had a chance to win you over just to say it was a lie after he'd very clearly, from what you say, fell for you," Arlo scowled.
I turned to him with a glare on my face. "Why are you being such a dick about this, Arlo?"
Arlo crossed his arms, his expression unyielding. "Because someone has to be honest with you. You've been avoiding the truth for weeks, Cronan. You need to face what you've done."
"I'm not avoiding anything," I snapped. "I just... I didn't know what to do."
"You didn't know what to do, so you just did nothing?" Arlo's voice was sharp. "You let him think there was hope, and then you crushed him. And now you're wallowing in self-pity instead of fixing it."
"I tried to find him," I defended myself. "There isn't much I can do if he doesn't want to be found."
"You can take responsibility," Arlo shot back. "Stop pretending you're the victim here. Fen deserves better than that. You've got to stop doing this."
"Doing what?"
"You jump into things with others, wait until they get close to you, and then you pull out because you're afraid."
"Afraid?" I repeated with a scoff. "Please tell me what I'm afraid of, Arlo since you seem to know me so well."
"I know you better than you think I do," he challenged. "You're afraid of love."
"You're delusional."
"Am I?" He crossed his arms. "Can you honestly name one relationship you've had that hasn't gone up in flames once things started getting serious?"
I frowned, regretting how much I told him about myself in the past. Looking back on the previous people I dated before coming to Oakwood wasn't something I liked to do. There was Trent, who was an asshole so he didn't count; Erica, who wanted to move in together; and Wendy, who wanted me to visit her pack to meet her parents.
