The admission doesn’t surprise me. Maybe I’ve known for weeks, been dancing around it, afraid to name it.
It’s more than the fated mate bond. Strip away the supernatural connection, and I would still want her. Still crave the way she challenges me, the fire in her eyes when she’s angry, the vulnerability she shows when she thinks I’m not looking.
I love her for every sharp edge and guarded moment. For the way she doesn’t need me but chooses me anyway.
Or she did, until I destroyed what we had.
But I’ll rebuild it. Even if I have to tear down everything else in my life to do it.
Decision crystallizes in my mind, clear and sharp. I grab my cell phone and look up flights. I am going to be on the next one back toMoonvale. I’ll track her down, make her listen, show her that she’s not second place. That she is everything.
We’ll leave the pack if need be. Hell, we can leave the country if she wants to. Start someplace new, where pack politics don’t dictate our lives. Somewhere she can be Violet, and I can be the man who loves her, not the alpha heir with a hundred conflicting obligations.
My phone buzzes as I start booking my flight, and I see that I’m getting a call from Jeddian Vince, a fellow pack member and head of the Gulf Coast Coalition.
I decline the call.
His name flashes on the screen again almost immediately.
I grit my teeth and answer. “Not a good time, Jeddian.”
“Make time.” His voice is clipped, urgent. “We need you at the Coalition building tomorrow. Two p.m. sharp.”
“I can’t. I have a personal emergency.”
“This is urgent.” Jeddian’s tone sharpens. “The packs have called an emergency session. They’re voting on the hybrid situation tomorrow afternoon, Darius. If you’re not there to argue our position, we’ll lose everything we’ve worked for.”
“Send someone else.”
“They specifically requested you. Your presence carries weight. Without you, this whole thing collapses.” He pauses. “I wouldn’t insist if it weren’t critical. You know that.”
My jaw clenches so hard, it aches. Violet, somewhere out there, believes I chose the pack over her. And now, the fate of thousands of hybrids is up in the air.
What kind of man will this decision make me? The kind who abandons his mate for politics? Or the kind who abandons his duties while he chases after a woman who doesn’t want to see him?
My throat goes dry, the choice tearing me in half. “How long will it take?”
“Two, maybe three hours.”
I glance at the clock on the nightstand. Nearly midnight. Based on the options I just saw online, Violet’s flight will probably land soon. Then, she’ll be in Moonvale, no doubt erasing everytrace of us.
By the time this meeting ends and I catch a flight back, she will have had the entire day to disappear. A full day to get on another plane or drive across state lines and hide somewhere I’ll never find her. Plenty of time to convince herself I’m not worth the risk, that she made the right choice by walking away.
My grip tightens on the phone. Every instinct tells me to refuse, to get on the next flight out and track her down as soon as possible, before the trail goes completely cold.
But she has already gone to ground. She won’t answer my calls or texts. Even if I could fly back right now, she’s way ahead of me. I’d be wasting time while the hybrid threat hangs in the balance.
Ethan. If I can finish this meeting quickly and get back to Moonvale by tomorrow evening, maybe Ethan can gather intel during the day and narrow down the search. Maybe I’ll still have a chance.
Maybe.
The doubt gnaws at me even as I say, “I’ll be there. But the second the vote is done, I’m gone. No matter what the outcome is.”
“Understood. I’ll see you at two p.m. tomorrow. Don’t be late.”
I end the call and immediately dial Ethan. He answers on the second ring, voice groggy.
“Do you know what time it is?”
