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Without saying a word or even acknowledging Daniel, Silas rested one enormous hand against the small of my back and left it there.

The bell rang for a third time.

Kaelen came in wearing his long black coat. He took in the table with a single glance, crossed the café, and stopped directly behind my chair. He did not sit down. He simply stood there with his hands in his pockets, his gray eyes fixed on Daniel with such steady, controlled attention that it was more unsettling than if he had threatened him outright.

Daniel looked from Jax to Silas, then up at Kaelen before turning back to me. Color had risen unevenly across his face.

"Wren," he said. "Who... who are these people?"

"Book club," Jax said cheerfully, finishing the last of his biscotti.

"I don't— Is this some kind of... is this a cult? Wren, have you joined some kind of cult? Because Chloe said—"

"Mate," Jax said, leaning back in his chair with an amused smile. "Calm down. You were saying?"

"What?" Daniel stared at him. "I was having a conversation with Wren. You interrupted us."

"So you do have something else to say to her?"

"Not with you here, I don't."

Jax gave a small shrug. "Then leave."

Daniel stared at him as though he had misheard.

"What?"

"Leave."

That was apparently enough. Daniel pushed back from the table so quickly that his chair tipped over behind him. He snatched his phone off the table and looked at me.

In the three years I had known him, I had never seen that expression on his face. He looked frightened and bewildered, suddenly unsure of himself in a way I had never thought possible. For once, he was the one struggling to hold his ground, and the realization left me almost stunned.

I discovered then that I did have something left to say to him.

"You were right, Daniel," I said as he turned away. "I am a lot. But guess what? You just weren't enough."

He stopped and stared at me for another second. Then he turned and walked out of the café into the rain without looking back.

I watched him go and waited for some familiar hurt to arrive, but there was nothing. No regret, no anger, no ache in my chest. There was only an unexpected sense of release, so complete that for a few seconds I hardly knew what to do with it.

Jax let out a low whistle. "Dios, reina."

Behind me, Kaelen spoke quietly.

"It's ten to four."

The two gray-suited escorts near the door had already risen from their table.

They crossed the café toward us with pleasant smiles, as though nothing unusual had happened. One of them was already holding out his hand to help me from my chair.

"Miss Hale," said the taller man. "Time we were going. Your aunt will be waiting."

"Her aunt is at home in her kitchen making tea," Kaelen said without turning around. "I drove past her window on the way here. Your leave papers were in my father's glove box, and her address was typed at the top. She looked perfectly well."

When I heard it, a weight fell off my shoulders. Somehow I knew Kaelen wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.

The escort's smile stayed in place, but his eyes shifted immediately toward the door and the rain-dark parking lot beyond it.