Profound Devotion

Chapter 10

July 23rd
Cassius

"My fated mate rejected me nearly seven months ago." Monaia's eyes pried open, and they swarmed with raw emotions that siphoned the breath from my lungs. "He cast one look to me and decided I wasn't worthy of his time, so he discarded me as if I were less than nothing." She spat, her features darkening as if she were reliving the very moment. "Every full moon from that moment, I lose control of my wolf and wake up hours—if not days—later, somewhere new and far from home."

  I turned my head and peered out over the calm water before us. I had been here once before with my mother, the moment she had explained the existence of mates to me; the deep-rooted connection two wolves shared, and how detrimental they were to their survival.

  I had never known of someone to be rejected, as they were meant to be together by the fate of the goddess, and the pain was meant to leave them a fraction of themselves.

  "Atticus mentioned your state the last time they found you." I forced my attention back to her, picking up on the way her body radiated with tension.

  "It—" She began, clearing her throat and shifting her weight against the hard ground. I remained silent, not wanting to scare her from opening up and letting out whatever it was she had to say. "It started as all the other months had. I awoke someplace new, somewhere far from our territory." She swallowed hard and forced herself to continue. "I'd only been gone about a day, so it couldn't have been too far of a distance and therefore began walking back home."

  I could hear it in the base of her voice almost as much as it was plastered over her tormented visage—fear. "But?" I mumbled, urging her on.

  Naia drew her knees to her chest and rested her chin against them. Her eyes glossed over as if the memory was too painful for her to dig up.

  "I was ambushed. I still don't know how, but he found me, and he wasn't alone." Her bottom lip trembled, and she blinked back the wave of unshed tears. "He claimed he couldn't live with himself for allowing me to continue breathing without him, and that it was keeping him from moving on with his life."

  With a shaky hand, she reached for the collar of her shirt and tugged it down enough to expose the skin of her right shoulder. A substantial, deep scar in the shape of teeth was permanently embedded into her body to serve as a reminder of her mate's betrayal.

  The bite mark was made from a massive wolf, stretching from her collar bone down to her upper chest and outer bicep. It was meant to be a fatal blow, and a painful one at that.

  "Atticus found me days later. I couldn't move from the spot he left me. Every breath I took was painful, and I was losing so much blood, yet I couldn't bring myself to tell him how I'd gotten there or who had done this to me." She let the shirt go, the material lifting to covering her marks once again. "It's only a matter of time before he realizes he'd failed and will return to finish the job."

  Her face fell to a blank stare, her eyes dull and lifeless as she watched the soft breeze ripple the surface of the water.

  I was not sure what I was expecting her to say when I coaxed her into opening up. It was not enough that her mate tore her soul in half and left her a gaping mess, he needed to make sure she had no life left for her to continue living.

  My body relinquished a deep sigh from a place within me that sympathized her. I leaned my own body at her side against the tree, leaving little distance between our arms to the point where I could feel my heat transferring to her chilled skin.

  "For what it is worth, I am sorry." It was the first time I had spoken so gingerly, and I expressed my emotions the only way I truly knew how. "I have never found it fair how you wolves must rely on another person to be truly complete."