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I return to Diana’s apartment just minutes before the ten o’clock curfew to find her wrapped in a giant blanket on the couch, staring out at the city with tears streaks on her cheeks.
“Oh, no, what’s wrong?” Kicking off my heels, I hurry across the room to settle beside her, resting a gentle hand on her back.
“He broke up with me,” she says numbly. “He said he couldn’t see a future for us and…ended it.”
Brow furrowing, I sigh. “I’m so sorry, honey. He didn’t give you any more explanation than that?”
“He said we’re going to end up on opposite sides of history,” she says with a sniff. “Whatever that means. He said the only way it could work was if I went with him tonight and never came back home or talked to my brother again.” She shakes her head. “But I couldn’t do that. This is my home. Maxim is my family, I…couldn’t do what Jacob wanted. I just couldn’t.”
“He shouldn’t have asked you to, babe.” I rub my palm in a slow circle between her shoulders. “You shouldn’t have to choose between family and the person you love. You should get to have both. Especially in your case. I know you and Maxim clash sometimes, but it’s clear he really cares about you.”
She exhales and draws her blanket closer around her. “And it wasn’t just Maxim. He said I should stay away from you, too. He acted like you and Maxim are both bad news.” She snorts in bleak amusement. “Like you’re going to hurt me or something. You’re like…the nicest person I’ve met in forever. You would never hurt me.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” I say, but her words make me frown.
I sit back against the pillows, nibbling on my lip.
“You don’t sound as sure about that as I would like, Miss Sparkly Pink Aura,” Diana says.
“No, no,” I rush to assure her. “I absolutely would never hurt you, of course not. I’m just trying to figure out why he would think something like that. And I wonder…” I’m about to suggest we head to the bathroom for her to “fix my hair” so we can talk without being overhead when I realize we’ve already probably been saying stuff we shouldn’t. I widen my eyes and hiss, “Should we be having this conversation in here?”
Diana sniffs again. “Yeah, it’s fine. For now, anyway. When I came home, I was so pissed at Maxim that I went a little crazy and destroyed all the bugs.” She shrugs. “He’ll just have them replaced with better, harder to find ones, but it’s worth it to be able to cry in peace tonight without him listening in.” She turns shining puppy dog eyes my way. “Do you think maybe Jacob will change his mind, Willow? And beg me to take him back because he loves me more than he hates you and my brother?”
“I don’t think he hates us, sweetheart,” I say. “I think he’s just…confused. Or being manipulated. Maybe both. It sounds like he’s been swept up into the prophecy madness, too.”
Recognition sparks in her eyes. “Shit. You’re right. And he thinks you and Maxim are going to be the evil king and queen, I guess?”
I lift my shoulders. “I guess? Maybe? That would explain why he’d want to take you away from us and this pack. If he thinks we’re dangerous, in his mind he was just trying to protect you. It’s still misguided, but…”
“But understandable, at least a little bit,” she says, but the hope animating her features only lasts a second before it falls away. “But that means he probably knew about the attack. Maybe was even a part of it. And I can’t forgive that. I mean, it looks like everyone’s going to pull through, but no one could have known that. The people who set off that bomb put innocent people’s lives at risk. I can’t be with someone who is okay with violence like that, no matter how much I love him.” Her expression crumples. “But I really do love him. It hurts so much, Willow, it feels like my ribs are imploding and stabbing into my heart.”
I wrap her up in my arms. “I’m so sorry, honey. Broken hearts are the worst.”
But I don’t really know that for sure. I’ve seen my friends suffer the effects of lost love, but my heart has never been broken. I’ve been too careful with it, too afraid I’d put my family at risk if I let myself fall for someone before the mate claiming ceremony.
This is the first time in my life that I’ve been free to take my heart into consideration, but…I’m not really free at all.
Maxim is going to be my mate. Whether we end up finding a way to work together or I’m forced into a takeover attempt—all roads lead to, and end with, Maxim. Either we end up remaining married—miserably or not—or I end up ruling alone to ensure I never have to worry about another Alpha taking control of my life again.
Or I end up dead when my takeover fails, and Maxim has me flayed alive.
Any way you look at it, love doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards for me.
Holding Diana while she sobs in my lap, that shouldn’t seem like such a sacrifice, but it does.
And when I go to bed, I dream of Maxim holding me in his arms, kissing my forehead, and swearing he loves me more than every star in the sky.
More than power. More than control.
More than saving face in front of his people or proving no one can rule the North Star pack better than he can.
But it isn’t a prophetic dream; it’s a fantasy, a fairy tale that’s never going to come true for me, a fact that’s proven when I awake to Maxim standing at the foot of my bed, looking like he’s debating the fastest way to separate me from my skin.
Chapter Ten
Maxim
My fiancée is a thorn in my fucking paw.
