"I'm always working." Callum sipped his coffee. "Keeps me out of trouble. Keeps me from thinking too much about lions who show up in Hollow Oak without bothering to say hello."
The words hit like they were meant to. "I should've come sooner."
"You should've called." Callum set his cup down. "Ten years, Dante. Not a word. Not a message. I had to hear from Varric that you were back. Had to learn from Emmett that you're investigating whether my cousin's being sabotaged. You couldn't pick up a phone?"
"I didn't know what to say."
"How about hello?" Callum's voice carried an edge. "How about 'hey Callum, I'm coming to town, thought you should know'? How about anything that wasn't silence and avoidance?"
"You're right." Dante met his gaze. "I was a coward. Didn't want to face what I'd lost by staying behind."
"What you'd lost?" Callum pushed off the desk. "We didn't take anything from you. We left because staying was killing us. You chose to stay. That was your call, not ours."
"I know that now."
"Do you?" Callum moved to the window, staring out at snow-covered pines. "Because you showed up here carrying guilt like armor. Like we're the ones who abandoned you instead of the other way around."
The accusation stung because it was true. Dante had spent ten years feeling left behind, nursing hurt like a wound he could pick at whenever he wanted to feel justified.
"Maybe," he admitted. "Maybe I did blame you. Both of you. For walking away while I tried to hold things together."
"And how'd that work out?" Callum glanced back. "The pride we left. The one you stayed to protect. It still intact?"
"No." The word tasted like failure. "Fell apart about three years ago. Hector took the worst of the traditionalists and formed his own pride. The rest scattered."
"So you stayed for nothing."
"I stayed because I thought loyalty meant something." Dante's hands tightened on his cup. "Thought walking away was giving up. Thought if I just tried harder, worked longer, I could fix what was broken."
"You can't fix broken people, Dante." Callum's voice softened. "You can only choose whether to break with them. Maeve and I learned that the hard way."
"By leaving me behind."
"By saving ourselves." Callum turned fully, his expression honest in a way that hurt. "We didn't leave you behind. We escaped a toxic situation and hoped you'd follow. When you didn't, we respected your choice and built new lives. That's not abandonment. That's survival."
Dante wanted to argue. Wanted to say they could've fought harder to bring him along and show him their side of things. But that was the guilt talking. The ego that insisted he'd been wronged instead of admitting he'd been wrong.
"I should've followed," he said quietly.
"Yeah." Callum moved back to his desk, settling into the chair. "You should've. Would've saved everyone a lot of pain. But you made your choice. We made ours. Now here we are, ten years later, trying to figure out if there's anything left to salvage."
"Is there?"
Callum studied him for awhile. "That depends. You here to help Maeve, or you here to ease your own guilt?"
"Both, probably." Dante set his cup down. "But mostly her. Hector's coming after the Silver Fang. Using Council petitions and sabotage to strip her of everything she's built. I can't let that happen."
"Why not?" Callum's eyes sharpened. "She's made it clear she doesn't need you. Doesn't want your help. Why push?"
"Because I can’t let that happen to her and well.. Because she's my mate."
The words hung heavy with truth.
Callum's expression didn't change. "Does she know that?"
"She felt the bond. When our hands touched." Dante ran a hand through his hair. "She knows. She's just refusing to acknowledge it."
"Can you blame her?" Callum leaned back. "You stayed behind once. Chose duty over her. Why would she trust you not to do it again?"
