Amber
As the days slipped by like pages of a book I wasn’t quite ready to close, I noticed the shift in Ichika. Subtle at first—longer glances at me when she thought I wasn’t paying attention, the quiet hum of thoughts she didn’t say aloud. But I knew that look. The way she smiled when Ian was in the room, the way her eyes softened when she watched him laugh with Evalie or how he looked at me like I was the only person that mattered. She was convinced. Convinced Ian was the right man for me.
But I wasn’t.
Not because he wasn’t good—he was. Too good, really. Kind, patient, funny in that dry British way that made you smile even when you were trying not to. Sometimes I had to ask myself if he was actually real, he was nothing like all the other Alphas. But the truth was, I’d made peace with the idea of being alone. I had Evalie. I had my career. I had enough.
And most of all, I had no choice.
Because no matter how far I ran, no matter how many years passed, I was still partially bonded t
