Page 7 of Mated By Sunrise

She couldn't even say it. She couldn't even sayus.

"I just… This is important to me.”

“Important?” Caleb’s voice was a growl now, his wolf clawing at the surface, the anger burning through him. “More important than the bond? More important than what we have? You’ve been denying this for years. But it’s still there. It’s always been there. You can’t just leave.”

Rochelle’s breath hitched, and for the first time, there was fear in her eyes. Not fear of him, but fear of the truth he was forcing her to confront.

“We’re bonded,” he said, his voice low and dangerous now. “No matter how much you try to run, no matter how much you pretend it doesn’t exist, it’s there. And it’s not going anywhere.”

The silence that followed his words was deafening, thick with the weight of what had been said, what couldn’t be unsaid. Rochelle stared at him, her chest rising and falling rapidly, as if she were fighting to catch her breath.

Caleb’s hands trembled with the force of his emotions, the anger still boiling beneath the surface but mixed with something raw and desperate. He wasn’t just angry. He was terrified. Terrified of losing her. Terrified that she would leave, and this time, there would be no coming back.

CHAPTER SIX

The air between them crackled, heavy with words unsaid and emotions too raw to be tamed. Rochelle's eyes locked on Caleb’s, her mind spinning. She had never seen him like this before. His normally calm and steady demeanor had fractured, revealing a storm underneath that she hadn’t known existed. And now, that storm was aimed at her.

"You have to decide. It’s either the job or me."

The job or him. It wasn’t a question. It wasn’t a negotiation. It was an ultimatum. A line in the sand that he had drawn without warning. Now she stood on the edge, unsure of what to do next.

Rochelle opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Heat rose in her chest, a mixture of anger and panic swirling together in a dizzying rush. Caleb’s gaze bore into hers, unyielding, fierce. There was no softness there now. None of the warmth she was used to. His wolf was close to the surface. She felt the beast simmering just beneath the skin.

“You can’t ask me to choose.” But even as she said it, she knew that wasn’t true. He was asking her to choose.

“I’m not asking you. I’m telling you. This is it, Rochelle. You can’t have both. You either take that promotion and leave, or you stay here. With me. With the pack. But you can’t keep running. Not anymore.”

The job meant everything to her—her career, her independence, her freedom. She had worked so hard to get to this point, to prove that she could make something of herself outside of the pack’s expectations, outside of the bond that had tied her to Caleb since they were young.

But Caleb wasn’t just some passing phase. He was a constant, always there, always watching, always waiting. And now he was pushing her—pushing her to make a choice she wasn’t ready to make. She felt the pull of the bond in her chest, the undeniable connection that linked them, even when she tried to ignore it. But she couldn’t let it define her. Not now. Not when she was so close to achieving everything she had dreamed of.

“I…” She hesitated, the words catching in her throat as a thousand thoughts raced through her mind.This isn’t fair, she wanted to scream.You can’t make me choose.

But Caleb’s eyes were burning with an intensity she had never seen before, and the air between them felt too thick to breathe.

“I deserve more than to be your second choice," he said. "I’ve waited for you. I’ve followed you. I’ve let you live your life the way you wanted because I thought… I thought eventually you’d come to me. But now… I can’t keep doing this. Not if you’re going to walk away.”

“I never asked you to wait for me.”

“No, you didn’t. But I did anyway. And now I’m done.”

What was she supposed to say? That she wasn’t sure? That she needed time? That she didn’t want to lose him, but she didn’t want to give up her dreams either?

Caleb didn’t wait for her answer. His body tensed, his shoulders tight as he looked at her, his expression hardening once more. “That’s what I thought.”

Before she could even process what was happening, he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. The sound echoed through the small space, reverberating in the silence that followed.

Rochelle stood there, the weight of his ultimatum pressing down on her like a vise, making it hard to breathe. The room suddenly felt too small, too suffocating, and she couldn’t move. Couldn’t think.

Tears burned at the edges of her vision. She blinked them away, refusing to let them fall. She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t let him see her like this, even if he wasn’t here to witness it. She had to be strong. She had to prove that she could make her own choices, that she wasn’t just some pawn in the bond that tied them together.

But deep down, beneath the anger, beneath the defiance, something else stirred. Something deeper.

The bond.

It pulsed inside her, aching, raw. And for the first time, Rochelle wasn’t sure if walking away would give her the freedom she craved—or if it would leave her more lost than she had ever been.

Caleb had always been her constant, her rock. No matter how much she pushed, no matter how much space she claimed for herself, he was always steady, always patient. He never raised his voice, never showed anger. His emotions were a deep well. But tonight, that calm had shattered, and the force of his anger had hit her like a hurricane.