"Pull over," she said.
"Ali—"
"Pull over and let me out."
"I'm not letting you walk away in the middle of nowhere."
"You don't get to let me do anything anymore."Ali's magic exploded outward, shorting out the truck's electrical system and plunging them into sudden silence."You want to protect me?You want to save me from making mistakes?Then give me the space to make my own decisions."
Tim guided the powerless truck to the shoulder, his movements mechanical.When they stopped, Ali could hear her own heartbeat in the sudden silence.
"This isn't how I wanted this to go," Tim said.
"But it's how you planned it to go."Ali grabbed her camera bag and reached for the door handle."The moment that call came in, you were already figuring out how to get rid of me."
"I wasn't—"
"You were.Just like you've been making decisions for me since the moment we met.Where I sit, where I sleep, whether I get out of the truck during confrontations."Ali's laugh was bitter."I thought it was protective.Turns out it was just controlling."
"Ali, please.Don't leave like this."
She paused with her hand on the door, looking back at the man she'd fallen in love with.He looked lost, younger somehow, like a boy who'd just broken his favorite toy and didn't understand why it wouldn't work anymore.
"I love you," she said."But I can't be with someone who loves me so much he's willing to destroy us both to keep me safe."
The mate bond stretched between them like a rubber band as she climbed out of the truck, pain radiating through her chest with each step she took away from him.By the time she reached the convoy vehicles that had stopped behind them, she was doubled over with the physical agony of separation.
Luna was there in seconds, her werewolf senses probably picking up the distress from a mile away.
"What happened?"the alpha asked.
"He wants me to take a federal deal," Ali gasped."Testify against Cottonmouth in exchange for immunity.But he'd have to surrender himself as part of the arrangement."
"And?"
"And he's trying to make the decision for me.Says I should take it, that I'll be better off without him."Ali straightened despite the pain lancing through her body."I need a ride to the nearest airport."
"Ali—"
"I can't do this anymore, Luna.I can't be with someone who thinks loving me means controlling me."
Behind them, Tim's truck sat silent on the shoulder, its massive frame somehow diminished without the rumble of its engine.Ali didn't look back as Luna helped her into the werewolf's rig, but she could feel Tim's anguish through their bond like a physical wound.
Maybe this was what growing up was like.Maybe this was what it meant to choose yourself instead of settling for whatever scraps of love someone was willing to give you.
The pain would fade, eventually.The mate bond would weaken with distance and time.
At least, she hoped it would.
Because right now, walking away from Timothy McGraw was like dying by inches.
***
GRIZZ
Sheriff Grizzley T.Lawman sat in his patrol car on a hill overlooking the werewolf community and tried to figure out exactly when his thirty-year law enforcement career had turned into a complete clusterfuck of biblical proportions.
Below him, the convoy had finally reached its destination—a collection of cabins and trailers that looked more like a summer camp than the criminal hideout he'd been expecting to bust wide open.Supernatural truckers were unloading medical supplies, while convoy supporters formed a protective perimeter around the area like they were guarding the goddamn Hope Diamond.
