"I have to." His voice drops and there's something feral in his eyes. "You don't understand what I am. The things I've done. I'm not like Caspian with his noble Alpha control. I'm the wolf they send when they need someone hurt. When they need someone who won't hesitate. Getting close to you puts you at risk."
"From what?"
"From me." He says it simply, and the cold certainty in his voice makes my survival instincts prickle. "I don't know how to be anything but dangerous."
"I don't need gentle. I need honest."
He studies me for a long moment, something shifting in his expression. "You really mean that."
"Yes."
He shakes his head slowly. "You're either brave or stupid."
"Maybe both."
Almost a smile. Just a slight lift at the corner of his mouth, there and gone. "Maybe."
He moves past me to the practice dummy and demonstrates the proper striking form. I watch and copy, and he corrects my stance with touches that are careful but firm.
We train in silence for twenty minutes before he speaks again.
"Caspian's going to be a problem," he says.
"Why?"
"Alpha instinct. He's going to want to know who else is competing for you." Knox glances at me. "And he won't react well to sharing."
"Then he'll have to learn."
"Will he?" Knox's eyes are sharp. "Alphas don't compromise easily. Especially not about mates."
"I'm not asking him to compromise. I'm asking him to accept reality."
"Reality being that you want more than just him."
"Yes." I don't apologize for it.
I send the message at eleven that night, sitting on my bed with my phone in my hands and my heart racing. The text is short and direct because I don't know what else to say.
Old chapel. Midnight. Important.
I send it to three people. Caspian. Knox. Julian.
I don't send it to Nico. I'm not ready for that yet, not ready to include him in this when I'm still struggling to forgive his betrayal. The broken bond between us aches but I can't accept it, can't accept him, not when I don't know if I can trust him.
I don't know if they'll all come and I don't know if this is a terrible idea. But I can't keep dancing around this anymore.
The chapel is dark when I arrive, moonlight streaming through the broken windows and casting shadows across the old stone floor. I've been here before, that first day when Nico brought me here and everything started falling apart.
It feels fitting to bring it full circle.
I'm pacing near the altar when I hear footsteps.
Caspian enters first, hands in his pockets, expression annoyed. "This better be important. I was asleep."
"It is."
He moves to lean against one of the old pews, watching me with that focused stillness that gives nothing away and takes everything in.
