Maddox rolls in the nick of time, and the stone cracks against the edge of a plank before vanishing into the abyss. “You bastard. That almost hit me.”

“You should not talk about females like that.”

He blinks at me, his brow furrowing. “Why not? Wren likes it.”

Gryffin grabs another log from the pile we gathered, adding it to the top of the fire. “That is not what Ivan says.”

“What does that mean?”

Stab. Stab. Stab. “Sounds like a question for Wren. I heard she proposed to him last night.”

“Fuck off. She did not.” Maddox looks to me for the truth.

“I am afraid he is right. When I saw her this morning, she bore his mark.” There is sure to be an announcement soon.

My stomach grumbles with hunger; the venison we had for dinner was not nearly enough to keep me sated. I retrieve a piece of dried jerky from my pack and bite off a chunk, but the peppered seasoning burns the shit out of my tongue.

This is the last time I let Gryffin make the food.

Maddox catches a handful of stones and chucks them into the void. “Well, that is a knife to the bollocks…”

Flickering firelight dances in Gryff’s eyes when they meet mine from over the fire. “Maddox is right, though. You should let Leah Locke down easily.”

I love that the two of them think me completely heartless. Leah has been my friend since we were children. I am hardly going to make her feel like shit because she had the terrible idea to choose me as her mate. “Who says I will not accept?” Binding myself to Leah might finally silence the whispers that follow wherever I go.

Maddox’s hoot of laughter makes my teeth grind. “No offense, but the orphaned son of the village pariah does not belong with the chieftain’s daughter.”

I would take offense if it were not true. I have done everything possible to shed the humiliating titles earned through no fault of my own. Trained harder. Volunteered for the most dangerous hunting expeditions. Stood guard day in, day out, doing my duty to my people.

Mating with Leah is my chance to finally make everyone see me for who I am and not as my parents’ mistake.

The problem is that I feel nothing for the woman beyond friendship.

While that might be enough for most of the males of our clan, I am not sure it is enough for me. Especially when my mother’s final words ring in my ears every night before I go to sleep and every morning when I wake.

“Find love, Ever. Promise me that you will settle for nothing less.”

I made the promise, not knowing how difficult it would be to keep.

We are warriors created to survive the harshest conditions. Trained to kill.

Love is not meant for our world.