Leo’s POV
It had been two days since Scarlett blocked our bond.
Two days of absolute, freezing darkness. I couldn’t feel her. Nothing. No warmth, no sparks, no whispers in the back of my mind—just a massive, thick wall of solid ice. She had practically blocked me and Leonard out completely, locking her heart away where we couldn’t reach it.
And my wolf? My wolf was going completely crazy. He was clawing at the edges of my mind, howling in pure agony at the sudden silence. A fated mate’s bond wasn’t meant to be shut off like this. Without her presence, my chest felt like an empty, bleeding cavern. The silence was driving me insane.
To make matters worse, she only talked to Liam. She didn’t break his mind link. She didn’t shut him out. Somehow, she was always with him—eating with him, training with him, looking at him with the same soft eyes she used to use for all of us. Every time I saw them together, a vicious wave of jealousy and grief nearly choked me. She was protecting the brother who sold us out, while Leonard and I were treated like the villains.
By the time night fell on the second day, I couldn’t stay in my room any longer. The walls were closing in on me. The heavy silence was eating me alive.
Driven by pure desperation, I left my room and marched down the hallway to her bedroom. My heart hammered against my ribs, heavy and painful, as I stood before her door. I took a sharp breath and knocked.
A few seconds later, the lock clicked. The door swung open, and there she stood.
Scarlett looked at me, her beautiful face blank and completely expressionless. She didn’t look excited to see me at all. There was no warmth in her eyes, no familiar spark of love. Through the wall she had built, I couldn’t even sense a flicker of what she was thinking.
I swallowed the hard lump in my throat, my voice rough and cracked from the pain. "Scarlett, we need to talk."
She crossed her arms, leaning slightly against the doorframe. Her gaze was steady, cold, and entirely unbothered.
"What?" she asked.
I couldn’t take her coldness for another second. Without waiting for an invitation, I stepped forward, forcing my way past her into the bedroom.
She let out a sharp breath but closed the door behind me, turning around to face me with her arms still crossed tightly over her chest. The complete lack of her scent and feelings in my mind was making my wolf claw at my throat.
"I can’t do this anymore, Scar," I choked out, taking a step toward her. I hated how desperate my voice sounded, but the pride of an Alpha meant nothing when my mate was treating me like a stranger. "Please. Just lower the wall. Let me in. My wolf is going crazy inside my head. It feels like I’m starving to death."
"You chose this, Leo," she replied, her voice smooth and completely unbothered. She didn’t move an inch. "You decided to treat me like an enemy in front of the whole pack. You chose to think I was a killer alongside Liam. Why would I open my heart to someone who doesn’t trust me?"
Her words cut deep, but the mention of Liam made the hot, ugly jealousy flare up in my blood again.
"How can you say that?" I snapped, my fists clenching at my sides. "We almost died out there, Scarlett! The facts point straight to him. And yet, you spend every single second with him. You eat with him, you train with him... do you even look at Leonard and me anymore? Or did you always prefer him? Are you actually happy that we are pushed out of your life?"
"Listen to yourself!" Scarlett yelled, her cold mask finally breaking as anger flashed in her eyes. "Liam is your brother! He is hurting just as much as you are, but instead of acting like a family, you and Leonard are acting like monsters. Liam is the only one using his brain right now!"
"Because he’s winning!" I roared, completely losing control. I closed the distance between us and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her body tightly against my chest.
I just needed to feel her. I needed the bond to spark. I needed my wolf to calm down. I wrapped my arms around her waist, burying my face in the crook of her neck, begging silently for the warmth to return.
But nothing happened.
Scarlett didn’t push me away, but she didn’t hug me back either. She stayed completely still, stiff as a board in my arms, like a statue of ice. There were no sparks. No warmth. Just a dead, empty silence.
It broke my heart completely.
"Get off me, Leo," she said quietly against my chest.
I slowly let my arms drop, stepping back as a cold tear finally slipped down my cheek. I looked at her, completely defeated.
"How long?" I asked, my voice cracking under the weight of the heavy silence between us. "How long are we keeping this up, Scarlett? How long are you going to keep us locked out?"
She adjusted her posture, her eyes meeting mine without a single hint of softness. "Until you and Leonard get back to your senses. Until you remember what it means to be a family."
Just then, the doorknob turned, and the bedroom door swung wide open.
Liam walked right in. He was holding a large shopping bag, looking like he had just gone out to get her some things. The moment he stepped inside, his green eyes locked directly onto mine.
The air in the room instantly turned hot and violent again. Seeing him walk into her bedroom so easily, acting like he belonged here while I was being treated like a ghost, made the furious, ugly jealousy inside me explode. My blood boiled. My wolf was roaring for blood in my head, and my anger intensified until I completely lost my mind.
I couldn’t stop the words from pouring out of my mouth. I took a step back, letting out a harsh, bitter laugh as I glared at my brother.
"Well, look at that," I sneered. "Have her to yourself now, Liam. But never forget that, after all, I was her first. I had her first. While you were mourning her fake death like a pathetic fool, I was fucking her behind your back."