I stared into Rhys's desperate eyes, finding none of the arrogance that had once defined him. The man kneeling before me was laid bare, his pride stripped away, replaced by raw vulnerability. Something stirred deep within me—an echo of the love I'd once felt, a whisper of what could have been.
My wolf paced restlessly inside me. *He's our mate*, she insisted. *He's changed. He's sorry.*
But the human part of me, the part that remembered the public rejection, the humiliation, the years of pain—that part held back, wary of being shattered again.
"Rhys," I said softly, taking a step back to create some distance between us. "Please get up."
He rose slowly, his eyes never leaving mine, as if afraid I might disappear if he looked away.
"I need you to understand something," I continued, wrapping my arms around myself protectively. "What you did to me... it wasn't just a bad day or a misunderstanding. You broke me."
"Elara—"
