"Couldn't what?" He took a step closer and I backed up instinctively, my shoulders hitting the wall. "Couldn't send atext? Couldn't let us know you were alive? Do you have any idea what that did to us?"
Us.
The word hung between us like a blade.
"I had to leave," I said, my hands curling into fists. "You know why I had to leave."
"Because of the incident." His jaw ticked. "Because of what happened in the locker room."
"Because of what I caused," I corrected, heat rising in my voice. "Because my scent turned a dozen Alphas feral. Because you and Jaxon nearly killed each other. Because..."
His eyes softened a bit. "Because you thought it was your fault."
The quiet certainty in his words stopped me cold.
Luca took another step closer. Now he was only a few feet away, close enough that I could smell him. Cold cedar and clean ice and something underneath that was purely him. The scent hit my system like a drug, making my suppressants waver.
"It wasn't your fault," he said, his voice dropping lower. "It was never your fault, Reina."
"You don't understand," I whispered, pressing harder against the wall. "My scent, it's Category Red. It makes Alphas..."
"I know what it does." His eyes tracked over my face like he was memorizing every detail. "I remember."
The heat building in my core was getting harder to ignore. My suppressants were slipping, I could feel them failing under the weight of his proximity. Under the weight of twelve years of separation and a bond that had never been properly severed.
"Luca, you need to step back."
"Why?" He moved closer, invading my space completely. "What are you afraid of?"
"I'm afraid..." My voice caught as another wave of heat rolled through me. "I'm afraid of what happens when I lose control."
His hand came up, bracing against the wall beside my head. Not touching me, but caging me in. His scent was everywhere now, wrapping around me like smoke.
"Maybe," he said, his voice rough and low, "you need to stop trying so hard to stay in control."
My scent spiked.
I watched it hit him in real time. Watched his pupils dilate and his breathing change. Watched his carefully maintained control start to fracture at the edges.
"Fuck," he breathed, and there was something almost reverent in the word. "Your scent..."
"Luca." I pressed my hands against his chest, trying to push him away even though every instinct was screaming at me to pull him closer. "This is exactly what I was afraid of. This is why I left."
"This is why you should have stayed."
His head dipped, his nose tracing along my neck where my scent was strongest. Not touching, just breathing me in. The sensation sent electricity racing down my spine.
I was losing this battle. Losing it fast.
With the last shred of control I had, I shoved him. Hard.
Luca stumbled back, surprise flickering across his face.
"No," I said, my voice shaking. "I'm not doing this. Not here. Not like this."
"Reina..."
"I have a job to do," I continued, straightening my spine even though my legs felt like water. "And you have practice. So we're both going to walk away and pretend this didn't happen."
