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It was over.
In that Estate, I was trapped forever. It was life that I could not keep living. Endless and alone, as I was buried slowly with every breath. The Lincoln pack were the impossible gift I was never supposed to have. Find them, forge a bond, and then I could live my life, never having to fear that the Institute would hunt me down.
I remembered the first time I’d caught their scent. On the suppressants, I’d become no one once more. Every day stretched into infinity.
The world turned grey.
And then the Lincoln pack had visited.
I’d stepped into the house one afternoon, Aunty Lauren at my side, as she took me on my daily walk. There had been three scents in the air. Alpha’s scents. Colour had blossomed across the pages of my life like an ink stain, lighting up pathways in my brain long worn and wasted away.
I remembered that moment viscerally. It was a shard lodged in my heart.
I’d turned around and looked back through the door. The grass was yellowing from a heatwave, and there were flowers in late bloom like it was summer. But the last time I’d been… anywhere, snow had been falling.
That moment had held as much devastation as it had hope. Seeing, in a single breath of clarity, what was happening to me.
I was dying, slowly, absolutely, while breath still entered my lungs.
But I didn’t think this miracle of mates could be real, so I waited until I was sure. But when I told Aunty Lauren who I thought the Lincoln pack were, no one believed me. They said it wasn’t possible…
Imagining things…
Wishful thinking…
They locked me up until the Lincoln pack were gone.
So… I ran away.
I’d managed the symptoms of my hormones, returning with vengeance in the four months it took me to get here. But I’d made it, knowing my mates were waiting on the other end, that with them, everything would be okay.
It was a simple plan. A simple plan he was derailing with every day that passed.
A dark bond wasn’t an option.
Was it?
That thought was jarring. Never, before now, had I even considered it a possibility. But I’d never, before now, met alphas who liked my scent. Who liked my scent and maybe wanted me?
“No.” I told myself.No no no.Even the thought came with a flicker of fear. And certainly not when there was still the possibility of a princess bond. Perhaps Eric didn’t like me right now, but we hadn’t even had a chance, yet—not really. And Flynn and Gareth had been nothing but charming when I’d seen them.
I hugged myself. I didn’t even remember choosing these golden eyes. Why couldn’t I want more than a dark bond for my future? It was for life.
The Kingsman pack was a fragment of reality in a bubble destined to pop.
Still, I couldn’t stop staring at Dusk. What if I left and reached my mates and he found a way to bring me back here?
I should… make sure I had backup. Just in case…
Numbly, I took Dusk’s keys and hurried down to his room. There, I chose a corner window and unlocked it. He wouldn’t notice, not if he thought they were locked. It would be there for me, anytime.
To leave, or… or come back?
I wasn’t coming back.
I steeled myself, returning to the front door and cracking it open, knowing my scent was leeching out into the hallway beyond. Once they knew who I was, there was no going back. My hands were sweaty and clammy as I remained at the cracked door like a coward.
This. Was. It.
