The Snow Wolf's Mate

The Sister He Should Have Chosen:

[POV: Dayana]

He was late again.

I stood by the window of Cole’s quarters, arms crossed, lips tight, watching the last rays of moonlight flicker through the canopy. Every second of silence that ticked by made my jaw clench tighter.

He always had an excuse. A patrol ran long. A shift needed covering. A rogue spotted near the northern ridge.

Lies.

Because I knew where he was going. To her. To Aria. My pathetic, weeping, self-pitying excuse of a sister.

I breathed in through my nose, slow and practiced, then pushed the air out between my teeth. Rage wouldn’t work this time. The jealousy—the bitter, white-hot envy—would burn through me if I let it.

So I didn’t. Not yet.

Instead, I turned from the window, letting my expression crumple into something soft, broken. I sat on the edge of the bed and waited.

Cole entered minutes later, as expected—slipping through the door like he hadn’t been somewhere he shouldn’t. He paused when he saw me.

“Dayana?” he asked, cautious.

I didn’t answer. I dropped my gaze, let my shoulders curl inward, as if I were barely holding myself together.

He moved closer, a crease forming between his brows. “What’s wrong?”

“You’ve barely looked at me in days,” I whispered, just loud enough for him to hear. “I thought maybe I wasn’t enough anymore.”

His wolf stirred first. I felt it in the air—his aura faltering, guilt creeping in like a shadow. And that’s when he slipped.

He lowered the wall.

And Gale, my wolf, lunged through the opening before he even realized it.

She found what she needed in a flash—a flicker of his last memory with Aria. Her voice, her scent, the way his wolf frowned when hers was near. Still seeing her. Still thinking about her.

Still protecting her.

I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat and let my lip tremble instead.

Cole stepped forward quickly, kneeling beside me, cupping my cheeks in his palms.

“Hey, no—don’t say that. You’re more than enough.”

“You don’t act like it,” I said, dragging my voice through cracked glass. “I know something’s wrong. I feel it every time you look away.”

He reached for me, trying to cradle my face and kiss me. That’s when I snapped. I shoved his hand away and stood, fury burning through every bone.

“You think I don’t know?” I spat. “You think I haven’t seen it?”

Cole blinked, taken aback. “Seen what?”

“You’ve been sneaking off to see her,” I snarled. “My pathetic sister. You keep going to her like she’s worth your time, like she deserves anything.”

His face paled. “Dayana—”

“She doesn’t deserve your sympathy,” I hissed, my hands shaking. “She doesn’t deserve anything but pity. You think she’s changed? That she’s suddenly something better? She’s not. She’s still the same weak little nobody she’s always been. Crying her way through life and hiding behind anyone who gives her the slightest kindness.”

Cole rose slowly. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I do,” I said, voice rising. “She’s probably spreading her legs for the first wolf who looked at her sideways. Earning her scraps like the desperate little rejected whore she is.”

Cole’s face went cold. “Enough,” he said, voice sharp.

But I didn’t stop.

“You think she’s special? That she’s worth throwing me away for?” I laughed bitterly. “You’re such a fool. She ran away, Cole. She ran like she always does. And now you’re just another body she’s clinging to—”

“Stop it, right now!” His voice cracked like a whip, silencing me in a single, breathless moment.

Cole’s fists were clenched at his sides, eyes burning with something I had never seen in his gaze toward me—disgust.

“You know nothing about her,” he said, voice shaking. “You want the truth? Fine. Aria is doing better without you. Without any of us. She didn’t cling to anyone—she fought. She shifted. She won the tournament. She earned her rank as a warrior of the pack. She has friends. A pack that respects her. A happy life.”

My heart stumbled.

“She’s more than what you’ve always said she was,” he continued, breathing hard now. “And I don’t understand why you can’t let her go. Why does it kill you that she’s finally okay? You have everything, Dayana. Power. Rank. Me. And still—it’s not enough. You want to destroy her.”

I stared at him, stunned. Not because of what he said—but because he’d said so much. Too much.