"Ragon, please—"
"That's the law, Marie." Flat. Final.
She stops walking and stares at her suitcase like it belongs to someone else.
I should feel something. Pity, maybe. I've heard Vee talk about the registry enough times to know what it does to an omega—the fluorescent lights, the clinical interviews, the constant sense of being evaluated and found wanting.
I don't feel it.
The biological pull is still there. The alpha instinct to go to her, purr, make the tears stop. She’s my omega.
Fuck biology. I'm done with that.
Marie was fine with Ragon sending Vee back to that same fluorescent hell. As long as it wasn't her. She never said it but I get the feeling that was her goal.
So no. I don't feel sorry for her.
She looks back once at the kitchen where Eli and Jasper sit. Jasper's coffee mug is suspended halfway to his mouth. Eli's eyes are fixed on the wood grain.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," she says softly. "I never wanted to hurt anyone."
No one answers.
The door closes with a soft click behind them.
"He's been on the phone with lawyers for three days," Jasper says now that they’re gone. He sets his mug down. "He’s trying to find loopholes so he can report her missing without the registry finding out about the heat abandonment."
"He talks about her like a recovered asset," I say. "Not a person he failed."
Eli's eyes cut to me. "You noticed that too."
"Hard not to." I drag a hand through my hair. "Every conversation is about getting her back, not about what we did. Just recovery, like she's lost luggage."
Eli exhales slowly. "I don't know what I want anymore."
I look at him. The dark circles, and wrinkled shirt. Hands wrapped around his mug so tight his knuckles have gone white.
"Me neither," I admit.
"I love her," Eli says, still looking at his mug. "I want her back. But I also know she's probably better off wherever she is. And that kills me."
"Yeah." My throat is tight. "Same."
Jasper stands abruptly, chair scraping. "I need air."
He walks out the back and leaves it open. Cool air drifts in, wet earth and rain.
My room doesn't smell like her anymore.
I haven't changed the sheets. Her scent is gone, I know that, but I can't bring myself to wash away even the idea of it.
I sit on the edge of the mattress and drop my head into my hands.
I love Ragon. He taught me what pack loyalty looked like, what it felt like to belong somewhere without looking over your shoulder.
I love Eli. He’s my best friend and my anchor. The person who knows me better than I know myself.
I love Vee. Since the first time she stress-baked cookies at two in the morning and I found her in the kitchen, flour in her hair and panic in her eyes.
