BATISTA POV
Two weeks. For two long, cold weeks, Rain and I had not set eyes on each other.
Not a single word. Not a single look. Nothing.
I had tried. Goddess knows I had tried everything I could to get through to her. But every time I got near the pack tent, the guards turned me away. And I knew they were following her orders. Orders she gave without hesitation.
She made herself Alpha. Declared it in front of the whole pack. And ever since then, she locked herself away.
I didn't hate her for it. I could never hate Rain. But it hurt.
She was shutting me out, and with every door that closed, my heart cracked a little more.
I was in my tent with Eric, barely speaking, both of us drowning in our own thoughts, when Mara came in.
She didn't knock. Just slipped in, quiet but determined.
"Can I speak to you in private?" she asked, her eyes flicking toward Eric with a polite nod. "Greetings to both of you."
