"Would you?"
"No," I say, barely audible.
"No." He repeats it. "You would not. You would say exactly what I'm saying to you now. That we're human. That we're alpha. That being alpha doesn't mean being made of stone. That one moment under impossible pressure doesn't define what we are."
His forehead drops to mine.
"You have spent your entire adult life fighting for omegas," he says, quieter now. Still the dominance in it but somethingwarmer running underneath. "You wrote the thesis at twenty. You went undercover. You spent months in that house watching someone suffer and you did everything Chase asked because you believed it was right. You did not walk away."
"I should have done more. I was afraid to get too close to her when she was probably destined to go to Alex's pack. I was a coward. I didn't want to fall in love. But I should have done more."
"Yes," he says plainly. "And you know that. And you'll carry it. But carrying it doesn't mean destroying yourself. It doesn't mean walking away from the people who love you."
"The promise—"
"Is something we made together," he says, firm. "And the three of us decide together what it means. What counts and what doesn't. That's not your call alone to make." He pulls back just enough to look at me. "And I'm telling you my call."
Then his mouth is on mine.
The kiss hits like everything held back for too long finally given somewhere to go. Months of distance compressed into this. His hands move from my face to my shoulders and I clench my fists in his shirt because I need something to hold onto.
He kisses me like an argument I can't counter.
When he pulls back we're both breathing hard. He stays close, hands on my shoulders, eyes on mine.
He grinds down against my lap. Deliberate. I'm already hard and he knows it.
Then his mouth is at my neck. Teeth. Enough to sting. Enough to leave something I'll feel tomorrow.
Finally he pulls back.
"You are not leaving this pack," he says. Each word its own sentence. "I am not losing you over something that happened in a room Ragon built to break you. I am not letting your guilt costus years of everything we've been working toward. You deserve an omega. Say it."
I shake my head.
His dominance flares. The growl is back. "Say it now."
The command in his voice makes my throat close up.
"I deserve an omega," I force out.
The words taste like a lie.
He presses his lips to my forehead. Then he steps back, goes around his desk, and sits down.
He picks up his pen, the professional mask back in place like the last twenty minutes didn't happen.
"I'll see you next week," he says. "Don't be late."
I stand on shaky legs and walk to the door.
"Jasper."
I stop.
His expression is open. Soft in the way it only ever goes for me.
"I meant what I said. I'm not losing you."
