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Just in case, I turn the lock on my door before retreating to my couch.
I’d grabbed a book from one of my shelves, cozying up with it. Since Quinn’s return, I’ve been hiding out in my cabin. Call it cowardly, but even if I am the Omega, if she needs me, she can come to me like the rest of our packmates. I would never want her or her wolf to suffer from her time with the feral, but pack gossip says she’s suffering more without him.
Besides, though she’s never made it the pack’s problem, Quinn’s recent dislike of me wasn’t something I could easily ignore. For her sake—for West’s sake—Idid,but while the rest of the Sylvan Pack think I’m some kind of saint, I’m not.
I’m hiding out, and I don’t care if it’s pretty obvious why.
Barely ten minutes after that fateful howl, someone is rapping at my door. It’s not too late for a packmate in need to request a visit with the Omega so I don’t question it. I just set my book to the side, straighten the skirt of my dress, and pad over to the front door to open it.
I don’t know who I was expecting to find out there, but when I find West’s smiling face staring at me from the porch, the difference between tonight and the last time I saw him is as stark as night and day.
He throws open his arms. “I’m free, baby. I’m finally free.”
What—
Oh.
Oh.
Now I see it. The relief from both West and his wolf is obvious. It pours off of him, mingling with an emotion I’m far too familiar with.
Hope.
Oh,no.
I’m not quick enough. I start to wish him good night, telling him it’s late, we can talk tomorrow as I begin to ease the door shut, but I’m not quick enough.
He grabs onto the doorjamb. He doesn’t step inside of my cabin, but there’s less than an inch separating the tip of his boot from the threshold. “Don’t you have something you want to say to me?”
It’s nothing he wants to hear.
He tightens his grip, knuckles gone white with the force. “I don’t have a fated bond anymore, Lane. I’mfree. All you have to do is reject Gravetail and we can start over. Neither one of us will have to worry about fate getting in the way. Quinn gets her feral,hecan find a mate of his own, and we… Helene? This is fucking amazing. Why aren’t you as happy as I am? This is what we wanted.”
No. Getting out of mating Quinn Malone without being the bad guy, then convincing me to do the same with Rafael… that’s whathewants.
West’s gaze locks on my face. As an Omega, I can meet a dominant wolf’s eyes directly and never have it be taken as a challenge. For the first time in a long time, I can’t meet West’s stare.
I look at the pale pink nail polish on my toes instead.
Over my head, West sucks in a pained breath. “You’re still gonna go through with it, aren’t you? Go to Gravetail… you still won’t choose me.”
Through the fringe of my eyelashes, I dare a peek up at him. In a gentle tone, I remind him, “I never said I would. You know that.”
“But I thought—”
I know exactly what he thought.
“Good night, West,” I say softly. And then, before he can say another word, I close the door. He pulls his hand away from the doorjamb a split second before it would’ve been closed on.
Just like I thought he would.
For the next few seconds, I’m on one side of the wood, West standing motionless on the other. I don’t move, either. Fingers pressed to my mouth, holding back my sob, I wait for him to go.
Only after I sense his wolf’s reluctant retreat do I let the first tears fall.
CHAPTER3
ALPHA
