Page 35 of Oakheart

“Do you need something, Cash?” she asked gently. “Dinner’s almost finished if you want to stay.”

I shook my head. I could barely talk when I opened my mouth. “Viktor?”

She looked over her shoulder.

Leo was blinking owlishly at me from inside the kitchen, but he nodded. “I’ll go get him.”

He came outside a few moments later, and I stepped off the porch. I?—

What I was going to ask him wasn’t fair, and I didn’t want his brother or mother listening in while I stole his future from him. But I couldn’t do it, and there wasn’t anybody in the pack I trusted more than Viktor.

Maybe it was because he’d trusted me first, or... I didn’t know. He’d just always been honest and steady and generous, and I knew I could count on him if I could count on anybody.

“You’re afraid. What’s wrong?” he asked after following me toward the trees.

“Grant. He—he wants Evie, and I?—”

Viktor’s low growl vibrated in the air, and I shook my head. I wasn’t asking him to put his life on the line, to go to war for me.

I was just asking him to give up on a potential future he’d never speculated on to me. So maybe it wasn’t that bad. Maybe he wouldn’t mind just... keeping her safe.

“If it comes down to it... I need you to do something for me.”

Viktor’s growl quieted and he tipped his head. Subtly, he raised an eyebrow.

“Will you take Evie as your mate?” I asked. “Not like... well, you know what not like. Just, she’d be safe, with you. You could protect her, and no one else would dare?—”

When I took a shaky breath, Viktor stepped closer. He set his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Yes, Cash. I would never hurt her, and if there is anything that I can do to protect your family, I will. I swear it.”

His promise should have strengthened me, but it didn’t. Agony and relief stole the air from my lungs, and I sank onto my knees, my hands folded in front of my face. I breathed into my palms, but it was no good.

My chest spasmed. I was dying.

I was definitely dying, and that wouldn’t have been so bad, except that everyone I loved was in trouble and if I died kneelingthere on the ground, I couldn’t do a damn thing for any one of them.

“Cash?” Viktor’s voice was closer now. He crouched in front of me, both his hands on my shoulders now. I got the sense he was the only thing keeping me upright, but who cared? “What is it?”

I couldn’t get a single breath of air. I shook my head, my eyes squeezed shut tight because they were stinging and a horrible wave of emotion had bubbled up my throat andfuck.

“I can’t,” I hissed into my hands.

“You can’t what?”

“I can’t live like this anymore. Everything is so fucked, and I can’t change it. I can’tdoit.” Anything. Take another breath. Face another day like this.

“Yes, you can,” Viktor said. He pulled my hands down, and I sucked an inhale through my nose.

His eyes said he’d confronted the same feelings before, and while I didn’t doubt it, I had no idea how he’d gotten to the other side. It was impossible.

“When there is no one left for you to fight for, that is when you can give up. Not before.” He squeezed my wrists hard. “You have people. Evie and your father. Aleks, Leo, and me. You haveyou, and you are worth fighting for. You are a long way from having the freedom to give up.”

I didn’t know if that was a comfort, exactly, but I needed to hear it anyway. Tears streamed down my face unchecked, and I nodded.

My next breath was deeper. It went all the way to my stomach.

“Good,” Viktor said, “so we will keep our people safe and move forward.”

I swallowed hard. “Whatever it takes.”