“There is a bond-breaking ceremony,” Garrison says.
I stop breathing even as my heart starts racing. “What?”
“You’re wasting your time.” Callum glances at his watch, bored and ready to go back to pretending I don’t exist. “She’s not going anywhere.”
“A bond breaking is dangerous,” Kylian says, watching me closely. “That’s why you wouldn’t have heard of it before. We can’t have omegas decidingtheywant to be the one to leave their alphas, can we?” he adds so sarcastically that I want to trust him more than I did before because he’s giving me a way out.
“How dangerous?” But even as I ask, I realize I don’t care how dangerous it is.
If it means breaking the mate bond, I’m willing to risk my life for it.
“How badly do you want to leave?” he asks me with a slight tilt of his head. There’s knowledge in his eyes. A look that says he already knows I want to leave my mates and his question is just to get me to admit it out loud.
“Would it be a clean break?” I ask, licking my dry lips.
“It’s a permanent break. No going back. You would still have their bites on your neck, but you would no longer be their omega,” Garrison explains.
“You’re wasting your time. She doesn’t want to leave,” Torin says. “She’s too well paid. If you’re through with?—”
“I’m not talking to you.” Garrison never takes his eyes off me, even as he interrupts Torin. As if only what I want matters.Notmy scent matches. “Juniper? What do you want?” he says softly. “That’s the only reason I’m here. To listen toyou.”
I twist my fingers together, my polite mask slipping the longer this unreal conversation goes on. Suddenly, I’m scared.
No, I’mterrifiedthat they’re all lying to me. That this isn’t a way out at all.
"Are you happy here? Do you want to stay with these alphas, or do you want to leave?" Kylian asks me quietly.
"She's fine where she is," Archer snaps.
Garrison doesn’t spare him a single glance. "I'm asking Juniper. I want to hear about her wants and needs.Notyours."
"She doesn't?—"
"You can wait outside for this interview." Garrison raises his voice for the first time, drowning out Torin completely.
I don’t know if Torin is scowling at him, happy or sad, and I don’t care. I focus all my attention on Garrison and on what he’s here to offer me. Freedom.Truefreedom from my scent matches. A broken bond would mean I can walk away, and they can never make me come back.
All this time, my scent matches didn’t want me, have actively avoided me, and now I’m trying to leave them; they want to stop me? Why? So they can torment me some more?
I’d have walked out already, but this decision doesn’t just involve me.
It means losing my family. Maybe forever.
My parents won't be happy if I cause a fuss, and walking away from my alphas will be the biggest fuss I could ever cause. They could forbid me from seeing River. And I haven’t forgotten the warning Archer gave me before. Leaving means exposing myself to someone who might hurt me. But I can’t stay here.
If I had a lifetime of cold indifference ahead of me, maybe I could have done it. But this isn’t cold indifference. This is hate. This is cruelty I did nothing to deserve, and I want no more of it.
"Juniper?" Garrison asks in a gentle voice. "Do you want to leave these alphas?"
I look at my scent matches who destroyed my hope in love. Walking away means starting over and my parents turning their backs on me, but this isn’t living.
"Yes,” I say firmly, “I want to leave.Now."
A beat of stunned silence fills the room.
“You don’t mean that,” Callum says, his tone disbelieving.
I keep my eyes on Garrison, hardening the wall around my heart. “Can we do the bond breaking today?”
