17. Dirge

SEVENTEEN

Dirge

M y mate rejected me. She finally shifted. We shared that time together. At last, we were equals.

And her response was to reject me.

I'd always known I was unworthy. But her confirmation of it cut deeper than any blade.

I sat in her room and howled until my throat was raw. And then I howled some more, my pleas to the Moon Goddess falling on deaf ears.

Mercy wasn't mine to have.

Not now, not ever.

And so I howled, and nursed a broken heart.