My brain short-circuits.
I bend down, snatching up the towel and clutching it to my chest like it’s going to shield me from the weight of four intense stares and every bad decision I’ve ever made.
The room is dead silent except for the wood crackling merrily in the fire. I canfeelthem exchanging looks, measuring reactions, reading the room like a battlefield.
I can’t do this.
Everlyn breaks the silence, seemingly oblivious to the rising tension, reaching out to take the towel from my hands. "Let me hang this for you."
I grip it tighter. She frowns at me like I’m acting insane, but she’s the one who’s trying to steal my last shred of control. Eventually, she tugs it out of my grasp and drapes it over the drying rack by the fire.
“Halley, don’t be rude,” she says, way too casually. “Say hello to our guests.”
My nostrils flare.
I don’t know what fracking game she thinks she’s playing, but I am notamused. I know I need to talk to them, to hash out the mess between us, but… I needed time. Time to think, to rehearse, tobreathe. Not this ambush. Not this overwhelming wall of Pack scent and half-processed heartbreak.
“Hi…Hello,” I utter, my voice strained.
Everlyn exhales likeI’mthe irrational one here, shooting me a look that screams,pull yourself together.
And sure, from her perspective, I probably seem like a stuttering, emotionally unstable lunatic.
All she sees are the broad shoulders and smoldering gazes of the soldiers I’ve been not-so-subtly pining over since the day I arrived at this fortress, half-feral, half-frozen, and entirely out of my depth.
I mean, I’vetoldher what happened.
I told her I left them, that I used my Omega Command, and forced them to stand down while I ran.
She knows the facts, but I don’t think shegetsit. Not really.
Not how deep the fracture goes.
It’s not just that I walked away from the Pack. It’s that I cracked the foundation of something fragile and sacred. It wasn’t a clean break. None of us have healed. It’s still raw and throbbing. A gaping wound exposed to the elements even months later, and I’m too scared to find out if we can ever come back from it.
I risk another glance at the table, and the scene is almost laughable in its domesticity.
Four massive super-soldiers crowded around a tiny dining table that is one firm hit away from collapsing into kindling… I feel about as sturdy.
Viper is looking at me with such deep yearning that it makes my insides quiver. His green eyes are shining bright, his lips curved into a smile as if I’m the most important person in the world. He doesn’t look at me with annoyance or disgust that I’ve spent the last two days hiding from him. I can only see his adoration. I focus on him and his unwavering faith in me, and take a steadying breath.
‘It’s okay. I’m here. I see you and I still love you.’His deep, rumbling voice calmly explains.
The silence stretches too long, pressing down until I snap.
"What’s for dinner?" I blurt loudly.
“Roast boar,” Everlyn chirps like we’re hosting a dinner party, not navigating emotional fallout. She places a plate at the only empty seat, right between Viper and Shade. “Jason sweet-talked the cook into saving us the best cuts. Aren’t we lucky?”
I swallow as she gestures for me to sit.
“Yeah. Lucky us…”
I still can't make eye-contact, but my peripheral vision picks up every movement like it's a threat.
Shade flashes me a smile, all teeth and smug satisfaction, the crinkle at the corners of his eyes practically shouting his amusement at my discomfort.
"Doctor Everlyn invited us," he says, like it’s perfectly normal and not at all an ambush.
