Page 85 of The Alpha King’s Hidden Mute Mate

She paused, her gaze studying me with chilling scrutiny. "After I help you restore the Howling Ceremony, we're even. Don't come looking for me again. Don't disrupt my life."

I felt a knife twist in my chest.

But I nodded.

"Deal," I said, my voice barely recognizable.

She stared at me for a few seconds, as if confirming I meant it. Then she nodded and stood.

"Good. Then it's settled." She walked toward the hallway, pausing beside me. "Guest room, end of the hall, right side. I have work in the morning. Remember to leave early."

"Mia—"

She stopped but didn't turn around.

"Thank you for taking me in tonight," I said.

She was silent for a beat.

"Don't thank me," she said, her voice carrying something complex. "I just didn't want you dying in the street and causing me trouble."

Then she walked into her room. The door clicked shut behind her.

I stood there, staring at that closed door, feeling the knife wound in my chest slowly bleed out.

But she agreed.

She agreed to come back with me.

That knowledge worked like painkillers, temporarily numbing the wounds. I turned toward the guest room and pushed the door open—

The room was small but tidy. Single bed, nightstand, lamp, light blue curtains. White sheets with the fresh scent of detergent.

I sat on the edge of the bed and looked around. Then I noticed a photo frame on the nightstand.

I picked it up, tilting it toward the lamp—

A photograph. Mia holding Lily, standing in a garden, sunlight pouring over them, both smiling. Mia's smile—that genuine, unguarded smile—was something I'd never seen before. She looked so happy, so content, so whole.

My fingers traced the glass edge, stopping on Lily's face.

Her eyes.

Those gray-blue eyes.

My eyes.

My throat tightened. My eyes burned.

I set the frame down and lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. There was a crack running across it, shaped like a winding river. I stared at that crack, thinking about the river five years ago, about her falling into darkness, about her final words—

"I reject you..."

I closed my eyes and let the darkness swallow me.

The next morning, the doorbell woke me.

I opened my eyes and took a few seconds to remember where I was.