Chapter 157

NICO’S POV The goddess had a cruel sense of humor. First, she’d taken my Carlotta away. Then, she’d dangled the prospect of a new mate before me, only to have it be a younger human woman who didn’t want me. The cuts on my face and arms from the glass shards Bella threw barely stung. No, the wound in my heart that was worsening by the second was caused by something far deeper—my mate’s harsh words, and the pure hate in her eyes as she glared at me. “Reject me!” she screamed for what felt like the hundredth time. “I don’t want you, so reject me!” Funnily enough, her words, her demands, shouldn’t have hurt as much as they did. After all, I’d already decided I would reject her. I didn’t have to hear her cruel words to know Bella would never want me. I was a werewolf, and she was human. I was much older than her. Why would she want to be saddled with me when she had a whole life ahead of her? So, after Andrea left, I was prepared to reject her as soon as possible. Better to rip off the Band