She steps closer.
Malcolm's hand tightens on her shoulder but she shrugs it off.
She kneels in the mud in front of me.
Her hand comes up to my face. She cups my jaw and lifts my eyes to hers.
"You broke your pack bond?" she asks.
I nod. Can't speak past the lump in my throat.
"Why?"
"I couldn't follow him anymore." The words come out broken. Raw. "He's not the man I used to love. Maybe he never was. I don't know anymore."
Her face changes.
Grief. Understanding. Things I can’t name.
I hear movement on the porch.
A sound. Low. Not aggressive but present.
Finn's voice. Quiet, urgent, saying something. And then Alex's voice under it, steadier.
The movement stops.
Vee glances toward the porch. Something passes across her face. Something soft and complicated.
Then she looks back at me.
"Come inside, Drake,” she says. "You're sick. I don't forgive you, but I'm not going to let you kill yourself out of guilt."
Malcolm appears at my side.
His hand slides under my arm, supporting most of my weight.
I can feel the tension radiating off him. Every muscle coiled tight. He doesn't want to help me. Every line of his body says he'd rather throw me back in my car and send me away.
But he's doing it for her.
I understand why he hates me.
I would too.
He hauls me up. My legs are jelly. I lean on him heavily as we make it to the porch steps.
I have to pass the big alpha to get inside.
He's stepped back from the doorway. Not far. A few feet. Alex is still beside him. Finn has moved to open the door.
I don't look directly at him.
I can feel him anyway. The same way you can feel a fire without looking at it. The heat and the presence of something that could do significant damage but choosing, in this moment, not to.
Choosing it because of her.
I make it through the door.
