SHADOWFELL - ALPHA'S STUDY - 5:00 PM
Finnick Shadowclaw gave it a full hour before it fully sunk in: she was not coming.
His fated, second-chance mate, had looked at the schedule, looked at the clock, and decided that tonight, Finnick Shadowclaw could go screw himself.
Apparently his custody night was optional because she had two other mates. Two goddamn safety nets that would take her in a heartbeat so she could skip him and nobody would notice.
Serena Frostborne, who had faced down kings and queens and ancestors and squids and every goddamn thing the universe had thrown at her, was avoiding a conversation with her own mate because the conversation was going to hurt and she had decided that distance was preferable to damage.
She was wrong. That was bullshit. Absolute, weapons-grade bullshit. Distance wasn't a strategy. Distance was cowardice wearing a sensible coat, and Serena Frostborne was not a coward, which meant she was choosing to act like one.
