Bryan doesn’t flinch this time, nor does he defend himself. He just sits there and takes it, like he’s been taking my anger since the moment he stepped back into Silvercreek.
I hate that he won’t fight back. I hate that he accepts my cruelty like he deserves it. Maybe he does deserve it, but his acceptance makes it harder to keep hurting him, and I’m not ready to stop.
“Why did you join them?” I demand. “The Black Ops. Why did you leave everything behind to become a killer?”
“That’s not—”
“Don’t tell me it’s complicated. Don’t tell me I wouldn’t understand. I deserve an answer, Bryan. After everything you’ve put me through, you owe me that much.”
He’s quiet for a long moment. I watch the war play out behind his eyes—the part of him that wants to tell me fighting against the part that’s determined to keep his secrets locked away.
The secrets win. They always do with him.
“It was necessary,” he answers with a shrug. “That’s all I can tell you.”
“You destroyed me. You walked away without a word, without an explanation, without even the decency of a real goodbye. And all you can say is that it was necessary?”
“Skylar—”
“I waited for you. That night, after you left, I went back to our spot every evening for a month. I kept thinking you’d come back, that you’d realize you made a mistake, that you’d explain everything, and we could fix it.” My voice cracks, and I hate myself for showing this much vulnerability. “You never came. You never even tried.”
Bryan closes his eyes. When he opens them again, something has shuttered behind his gaze. “I couldn’t.”
“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?”
“Does it matter?”
“It matters to me.”
He stands so abruptly his chair scrapes against the wooden floor. For a moment, he just looks at me—really looks, like he’s memorizing every detail of my face. Then he turns away and carries his plate to the sink.
“I did what I had to do,” he says with his back to me. “I made choices that kept you safe, even if you can’t see that. Even if you hate me for it. That’s all I can say.”
I want to scream at him. I want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him until the truth falls out. I want to know why he left, what happened in the months after his family died, what turned the boy I loved into this hollow-eyed stranger who speaks in riddles and refuses to let me in.
But I’m tired. Bone-deep exhausted. And I have patients waiting for me, people who actually need my help, problems I can actually solve.
I push back from the table and stand. “I’m going to work.”
“Skylar, wait—”
“No.” I hold up a hand to stop whatever he’s about to say. “You’ve made it clear that you’re not going to tell me anything real. Fine. Keep your secrets. But don’t expect me to sit here and pretend we’re going to work through this like some normal couple with normal problems. We’re not normal. We’re not even a couple. We’re two people who got forced together by magic and circumstance, and I refuse to pretend otherwise.”
I grab my bag from where it sits by the door and sling it over my shoulder.
“At least let me walk you—”
I yank open the door and step out onto the porch before he can finish. The morning is too bright, the birdsong too cheerful for the weight pressing down on my chest. “Stay away from me, Bryan. I mean it.”
I don’t wait for his response. I just start walking, putting one foot in front of the other until his cabin disappears behind the trees.
The mate bond fights me with every step, urging me to go back, to stay close, to seek comfort in his presence. I ignore it the same way I’ve been ignoring it for ten years.
Chapter 7 - Bryan
She doesn’t know I’m following her.
I keep to the rooftops and the shadows between buildings as I maintain enough distance that my scent won’t carry. Ten years of tracking targets has made me very good at staying invisible, and Skylar is too focused on putting distance between us to notice the wolf trailing her every step.
