The air leaves the parking lot. The hopeful expressions on their faces shatter, replaced by instant, crushing devastation.
“Sierra?” Jalen’s voice is a broken thing. “Did we... did we do something?”
“No,” I say, wrapping my arms around myself, trying to hold my trembling body together. “But I can’t just... slip into your lives like the last two years didn’t happen. I can’t move in with the people who spent twenty-four months trying to put me out of business.”
Malik flinches like I slapped him. “Sierra, we told you. We were idiots. We regret?—”
“I know you regret it,” I interrupt, my voice gaining strength. “I know you love me. I believe that. And God help me, I think I love you too.”
Hope flares in Cole’s eyes, but I hold up a hand.
“But love isn’t enough. Not for me. I’m not just an omega. I’m a business owner. I’m Sierra Smith Events. And you guys... you hurt me. Professionally, financially, and personally. You poached my people. You snatched my contracts. You made me feel small so you could feel big.”
I take a deep, shuddering breath. The scent of distressed alpha is filling the parking lot, sour and sharp, but I don’t back down.
“If I go home with you right now, I’m just giving in to thebiology. I’m letting the heat decide. And if I do that, I will wake up in a month, and I will resent you. I will wonder if you only respect me because I’m your mate, not because I’m your equal.”
Dax looks like he’s been gutted. He looks at his brothers, then back at me, his jaw working. Finally, he nods. A sharp, jerky motion.
“You’re right,” he rasps.
“Dax?” Cole looks panicked.
“She’s right,” Dax says, turning to the pack, his voice hard with self-loathing. “We didn’t just compete. We tried to crush her. We can’t just sex our way out of that.” He turns back to me, his eyes dark and serious. “We broke your trust. We have to fix it. Properly.”
“Go home, Sierra,” Malik says softly, though he looks like the words physically hurt him. “Get your rest. Get your space.”
“We’re not giving up,” Jalen adds fiercely, stepping forward but stopping short of touching me. “Just so you know. We are respecting your boundaries, but we’re not giving up.”
“I don’t want you to give up,” I admit, tears leaking out again. “I just want you to earn it.”
I turn and walk toward my building. It takes every ounce of willpower I possess not to turn around.
I don’t look back until I’m in my apartment, watching from the window as their truck finally, slowly, pulls away.
My apartment is cold. It smells like stale air and loneliness.
I slide down the wall and bury my face in my knees.
I did the right thing.
So why does it feel like I just ripped my own heart out?
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Sierra
It’s been three days.
Three days of silence. Three days of staring at my phone, willing it to ring, and hating myself for it.
I expected flowers. I expected Cole to show up with a boombox, or Jalen to leave baked goods on my doorstep. I expected the relentless pursuit they’re known for.
Instead? Radio silence.
I’m sitting at my desk, trying to focus on the mood board for the Traynor event, when the front door of my office chimes.
My receptionist buzzes my intercom.
