I had run for a while, chasing some small prey, taking out mine and Aspen’s frustration on the small animals we found in the forest. But I struggled to focus and wasn’t doing brilliantly. My mind and Aspen’s kept focusing back on Esme, on our apparent mate, the mate that didn’t want us, the mate that had run from us. Knox and Lilah had mindlinked us numerous times. Aspen howling when he shifted must have disturbed them, so they knew something was wrong as they had seen me shift and go for a run. So they knew I wasn’t in my house making sweet love to my new f*****g mate the way I should be. How f*****g twisted fate ended up being. I had clearly messed up in a past life to end up being punished like this. I had ignored their links, continuing to run, pushing myself to the point it hurt,