It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

You were just going to the bonfire. Nothing special, just a gathering. But the second you stepped onto the sand, you felt it. A shift in the air. A strange stillness. Eyes glancing your way, then quickly looking elsewhere.

And there he was. Paul Lahote.

Standing close to Rachel Black, laughing. His hand brushed her arm. Her eyes sparkled up at him like he was the only one in the world.

It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

You weren’t expecting the sting.

Not when you’d already prepared yourself for distance, Paul had been pulling away for weeks now, moody even by his standards.

Embry noticed you first. His expression shifted, lips parting like he wanted to say something. Warn you. But it was too late. You were already walking toward them.

And then Paul turned, his eyes landing on you. For a second, something flickered there. Guilt, maybe. But it was quickly replaced with that distant look. The one he never used on you before.

Rachel turned too, her expression open, kind, completely unaware she had just stepped into the wreckage of something once whole.

You stopped a few feet away. “Is this…?” you started, voice thin.

Paul didn’t deny it. “I didn’t choose this,” he said quietly.

That’s when it clicked. Imprinting.

Your heart cracked right there. You’d heard of it, how it overrode everything. How nothing else mattered. You just never thought you’d be the one left behind.

You didn’t cry. Not yet. Not here.