The dangerous stillness shifts and becomes just stillness.
She figured that out fast, I think. How to reach him. When to reach him.
I watch them longer than I should.
Then Alex appears in the doorway.
He looks at me, at Finn, then at the living room where Vee has apparently found the one way to keep our most volatile packmate from doing something irreversible.
"Outside," Alex says. "Now."
"I'm fine."
"You're about to put your fist through a wall. Outside."
I follow him because he's right and we both know it.
The porch is still wet from the storm. Rain has stopped but everything drips. Water falls from the eaves in a steady rhythm that does nothing to calm the rage boiling in my gut.
I lean against the railing. Grip it hard enough that the wood bites into my palms.
Alex stands next to me. Doesn't say anything. Just waits.
The silence stretches.
"I want him gone," I say finally.
"I know."
"He hurt her. He left her alone during her heat. He—" I stop and take a breath that doesn't help. "And she brought him inside. She's taking care of him. Like he deserves for her to even look his way."
"Yes."
"Why aren't you angry?"
Alex is quiet. "I am angry. But it's not my call."
"He could report her location to Ragon. He could—"
"He broke his pack bond to come here," Alex interrupts. "Bond-break sickness nearly killed him on the drive. He showed up on his knees in the rain to apologize to her."
"So?"
"So he's not going to report her. He's not a threat."
I turn to look at him. "You can't know that."
"I can." Alex's sounds steady in that way that makes me want to hit something. "I've seen enough desperate men to recognize one. He's not here for Ragon, he's here for her."
"That doesn't make it better."
"No. It doesn't." Alex turns to face me fully. "But it's still not our call, Malcolm. She gets to decide who she forgives. Who she lets in. Even if we hate it."
I know he's right, but I still don't want to hear it.
"She said she doesn't forgive him," I point out.
"Yet."
