“Stop them!” I shout at the others. “We have to?—”
But they’re all still frozen. Staring and processing what Villeneuve just revealed and what Killian is doing in response.
I don’t wait for them. I push right through them and run toward the fight, magic gathering in my hands, not to attack, but to intervene.
To stop this fucking insanity before someone gets killed.
“Killian!” I’m close now. Probably a little too close for comfort, but I feel the others pursuing me. “Killian,stop!”
His head whips toward me.
Those ice-blue eyes are all wrong. Yellow bleeds through them like an infection, and for one horrible moment, I don’t recognize him. Don’t see my mate behind that feral, hungry gaze.
Time slows. I see his massive form pivoting away from Villeneuve, see those jaws opening, see the wolf that isn’t quite my Killian anymore staring at me.
And then Rowan is there, tackling Killian from the side, and Micah is grabbing my arm, pulling me back. Sean shouts something I can’t make out over the roaring in my ears.
Killian stumbles. Shakes his head like he’s trying to clear it. The burning gold fades from his eyes, and I see the moment he realizes what he almost did.
The horror on his wolf’s face is devastating.
He runs.
Shifts direction mid-stride and bolts for the tree line, disappearing into the woods before any of us can even react.
“Killian!” I’m already moving to follow. “Killian, wait!”
Strong hands catch my arms. Rowan, his grip firm but gentle as he holds me to his chest.
“We’ve got this.” His voice is calm and steady and commanding. The voice he uses when everything is falling apart and someone needs to hold things together. “Let us handle it.”
“But…”
“We’ve got this, Regina. Stay here. Sean, stay with her,” he orders.
He’s gone before I can argue, Micah at his heels, both of them shifting as they hit the tree line. Two wolves chasing their pack alpha into the forest.
I’m left standing in the ruined garden with Sean and Villeneuve.
Sean is staring at me, his eye wide and his jaw slack. He glances between me and Villeneuve a few times, a thousand different emotions splashed across his face like an abstract painting, masking every last trace of the carefree, goofy Sean I know and love.
He wants answers and he deserves them. They all do, but I know it’s too late. I should have told them before, and now…
I turn back to the tree line, looking into darkness where Killian disappeared.
“I’m sorry, Regina.”
Villeneuve’s voice is quiet, coming from somewhere behind me, but I don’t turn around.
“I know you didn’t want it to come out this way.”
No. I didn’t. I wanted time. Wanted to figure out how to explain and understand it myself before I had to make my wolves understand.
And now it’s out there. The truth I’ve been sitting on for weeks, dropped like a nuclear fucking bomb in the middle of everything else we’re dealing with.
I can’t do this right now.
I turn and walk toward the mansion, my legs moving on autopilot, my brain refusing to process anything beyond the next step. The next breath.
