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I’m on the porch. Hiding inside of my cabin would only make this harder, so I waited and tried not to gasp when he comes thundering up the stairs.
West is…disheveledis the only word I can think to use. His hair is mussed, sticking up on side; it looks like he rams his fingers through it, catching his claws on the strands and tugging them. Normally clean-shaven, his jaw is shadowed with the beginnings of a beard. His jeans have mud and—my wolf keens when she scents the rusty tang—West’s blood spattered on them.
In his hand, he holds a wildflower. The stem is mangled, but the petals are pristine. No matter what hell he’s been through, he made sure to bring me as flawless a flower as he could.
The Beta is the second-highest rank in a wolf shifter’s pack hierarchy. The right-hand male to the Alpha, their rank of wolf is characterized by a cool head and clear thoughts. That’s the reason why he has his trips into the woods, working off the worst of his wild urges where no one can see him.
Only this time? He didn’t leave them among the hickories. Like the wildflower, he brought them right to me.
“Helene.” The pain in his voice as he utters my name nearly breaks my heart. “Tell me it’s not true. Tell me you’re not going.”
There’s a wild look in his eyes, gold and glimmering andlostthat I’ve only ever seen once before: the day I told him that Rafael was my fated mate, and our relationship was over.
He didn’t believe me then.
For three years, he held onto the hope that he could change my mind—and now time’s up.
“I’m sorry, West.” I’m so, so sorry. “I can’t.”
He falls back on his heels, my whisper a blow his powerful wolf couldn’t dodge.
“So that’s it? You’re just… you’re going? You’re leaving Hickory. You’re leavingme.”
My chest hurts. My eyes burn.
And still, I murmur, “Yes.”
That one word is all it takes. As though the last three years of West holding onto the belief that I would change my mind and reject Rafael never happened, a sudden change comes over West.
“Well.” Everything about him ices over. “I… Bishop told me. I didn’t want to believe it, but you… you couldn’t make it any clearer, could you?”
“West—”
He steps down. Shaking his body, his wild side falls away. Suddenly, I’m face to face with the Beta of the Sylvan Pack. “He’s a lucky wolf. To have your loyalty after only meeting once. Then again, we all have our duty, don’t we?”
I open my mouth. Close it.
Nod.
Because wedo.
Without another word, he backs down the last few stairs. One last look, and then he walks away as if he’d only stopped by with a message from the Alpha.
It isn’t until he’s gone that I remember the flower in his hand. He never gave it to me. He was still clutching it tightly as he strode away.
And that, more than anything, lets me know that he’s finally—finally—stopped chasing me.
He should’ve known this would be the outcome. After all, we’re shifters. We live and die at the grace of our Alpha and the Luna. We have our duty.
And, whether we want to or not, we do it.
He’s the Beta. No one should understand that better than him.
CHAPTER4
QUINN
In the Sylvan Pack, West has a reputation.
