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I fall, landing in a pitiful, broken heap on the ground. In the dirt.

On my knees.

Where I probably belong.

Without me to support him, Vae doesn’t even try to stay upright. He falls to his hands and knees beside me. I watch absently as his fingers dig into the soil like it’s the only thing tethering him to reality.

I ruined it. I ruined everything.

I’m a monster.

I’m the only Alpha in existence to purposely hurt the Omega given to him by Fate.

The one Omega I’ve always believed I could trust… is the Omega I punished for being untrustworthy. I blamed her for my own fears instead of dealing with them like an Alpha. I made them her problem. Her burden to carry. I hurt her over and over and over, until she almost broke.

Bile burns the back of my throat. I choke it back, fisting my hands and curling my fingers into my palms and using the pain to focus.

“What do we do?” Vae whispers. His voice is raw. Agonized.

I can feel Vae vibrating with tension beside me. My eyes fall on his—the pleading way he looks at me is so familiar. I blink heavily, trying to sort through my thoughts.

The way I see it, we have two options.

We could leave. Permanently. Give Idril the space she deserves and hope Caelan and Soren spend the next couple thousand years giving her all the love and care we clearly fucking couldn’t.

Except… my entire fucking soul rejects that option immediately. Everything in me rejects the idea.

So that leaves option two.

We stay. Give Idril the space and time she needs to heal while proving to her who we really are. We need to find a way to confront the awful, hateful parts of us. The things we’ve ignored that made us the males who would torment an Omega.

And we’ll grovel. Apologize. Fucking beg and plead and crawl over glass naked if that’s what she wants.

I feel something shift in my chest. Click into place.

Yes. This is right. This is the right decision.

I push up into a sitting position and turn to my Packmate. His green eyes latch onto the side of my face with an almost feverish intensity.

“Daxen?”

Like a compass drawn toward true North, my gaze wanders across the clearing and lands on Idril. She and Caelan stand close, heads nearly touching. I can’t see her face, but I can see the pain and fear on his.

At her side sits Vharax, silver-scaled tail loosely coiled around Idril’s ankle, head constantly swiveling, searching for anything that could be considered a threat.

My answer, when it comes, is not only for Vae. It’s for Idril. It’s a promise. A vow. The most important one I’ve ever made in my life.

I pull my eyes away from my Omega and turn my attention to my Packmate. “We fight, Vaelenor. Whatever it takes. We fight until we can’t fight anymore. And then we get back up… and we keep fighting. You know why?”

His eyes harden with determination and his chin lifts. “Because she’s worth it.”

“She’s not only worth it,” I say, my voice strained with emotion. “She’s everything. Every star in the sky. Every dream I’ve ever had. I don’t care what the fuck I have to do. I’ll do it. I will not let this be the end of our story.”

“It’s too late for that.”

The words are soft. Feminine. Full of conviction.

I spin around, and my eyes land on Idril. She’s a few yards away, arms wrapped tight around her middle.