Chapter 4 4

Nikky Lumpo

Tobias's presence burned through the clearing like a wildfire threatening to consume everything in its path.

I felt him before I saw him, the pull of old wounds and shattered bonds clawing at my insides. He had always commanded attention- powerful, ruthless, untouchable. But today, he wasn't untouchable. Today, he saw me standing beside someone else.

Julio remained still, unwavering. The tension between them crackled in the air, thick with unspoken threats and challenges waiting to be met. He didn't bare his teeth or snarl like most wolves would. He didn't need to. His silence was louder than any growl.

Tobias's eyes locked onto mine. Not on Julio, not on the blood staining the earth, but on me.

The bond was gone. It should have meant nothing.

So why did it feel like he was searching for something in my face?

Memories of the rejection clawed at the edges of my mind, but they didn't hurt the same way. The pain had turned into something else-something sharper, something colder.

Tobias took a slow step forward.

"You're alive," he said.

The words weren't relief. They weren't warmth. They were something else entirely. Something unreadable.

My chin lifted, refusing to let his presence make me feel small again. "Did you think I wouldn't be?"

A flicker of something crossed his face, gone before I could name it. "You were never strong enough to handle this world on your own."

Julio shifted beside me, his voice a deep, measured hum. "Yet she stands."

Tobias's golden gaze snapped to him. "You think you can protect what's mine?"

My breath caught.

Mine.

He had rejected me. He had thrown me away. And yet, standing here now, watching another man at my side, he still had the audacity to call me his?

Julio tilted his head, considering Tobias the way a predator studies its prey. "She isn't yours."

His tone left no room for argument. Tobias's jaw tensed, fingers flexing at his sides. The air around him crackled with suppressed rage, his wolf fighting against the thin thread of control he held.

"You think you can take what I discarded?"

The words cut deep, but I didn't let them show. Not this time.

Julio stepped forward, his presence effortless yet overwhelming. "No," he said smoothly. "I think you were a fool to discard something you didn't deserve in the first place."

The air snapped. Tobias lunged. Faster than I could react, Julio moved, intercepting the attack with a brutal efficiency that sent Tobias skidding back across the dirt. The impact rattled through the trees, leaves trembling from the force of their collision.

Neither man shifted into their wolves. This wasn't a mindless brawl- it was a challenge, an assertion of dominance between two Alphas who refused to bow.

Julio barely looked winded. "Is that all?"

Tobias growled, his eyes flashing molten gold. "She belongs to my pack."

Julio's smirk was razor-sharp. "Then your pack failed her."

A second of silence. Then Tobias lunged again. Fists and claws clashed, bodies moving too fast for my eyes to fully track. The force of their strikes sent shockwaves rippling through the ground, the raw power between them unlike anything I had ever witnessed. Julio wasn't just fighting Tobias. He was proving a point. And Tobias knew it.

Sweat slicked his skin, his breath coming harder, more ragged. He was strong-one of the strongest. But Julio moved with the precision of a warrior who had spent years mastering his craft. He wasn't just strong-he was ruthless.

A final strike sent Tobias crashing into the base of a tree, the bark splintering from the impact. Blood dripped from his temple, his breath heaving. Julio didn't press the attack. He didn't need to. Tobias knew he had lost.

My chest tightened as I watched him struggle to rise, his pride the only thing keeping him from staying on the ground.

Julio turned his back to him. Turned his back to the man who had once ruled over my heart.

He stopped beside me, his voice low and even. "Are you coming?"

Tobias's gaze burned into me, waiting for my answer.

Everything in me wanted to hesitate. Wanted to cling to the past, to the what-ifs and maybes of a love that had never been strong enough to hold me. But I wasn't that girl anymore. I walked away.

Tobias Mattheus

The sound of her footsteps moving away was worse than any wound Julio had inflicted. She left. She chose to leave.

Something inside me howled, a sound that never made it past my lips. My wolf raged beneath my skin, furious, wild, but I forced him down. This wasn't supposed to happen.

Nikky had always been soft. She had always looked at me with those eyes full of quiet devotion, willing to wait, willing to stay. But she hadn't waited. She had found him.

My fingers curled into the dirt, rage burning through my veins. Julio had humiliated me. Nikky had abandoned me. And the worst part? I didn't even know who to blame more.

The moon hung high above the trees, casting long shadows across the clearing. Julio thought he had won. Nikky thought she had freed herself. They were both wrong. This wasn't over. Not by a long shot.