Hale Pov
I should have known letting Ivy go was going to be problematic. The moment Damian and James found out what I had done, they had a field day with me. They didn’t understand, though.
They didn’t understand Ivy the way I did.
Talon was important to our circle, and without him, the union would never be completed. I knew the moment I let the ancient wolf inside me claim her as our mate there was no going back.
It unlocked something deep inside her that had laid dormant and would have until she awoke the beast within me and released something I had tried to keep hidden for so long.
Even when I had claimed her the first time, I did it in a way I was connected, but not completely mated. I couldn’t release the venom in my body through her. I couldn’t allow her to go through the change.
A change would turn her life upside down more than it already was.