Chapter 69 — Before He Leaves

The agreement was finished. That should have made the rest of the day easier. Instead, Hallie became aware of every sign that the visiting party was preparing to leave.

Pages disappeared into travel folders. Two people crossed the yard carrying things back toward their quarters. Caleb confirmed one last practical detail with the young Alpha and then went inside.

Nothing dramatic happened. The visit was simply ending. Hallie stood near the long table with Cedar Draw’s copy of the agreement tucked against her side when the young Alpha approached.

“Do you have a minute?”

She looked at him.

“Yes.”

His people were still within sight. Grant was across the yard speaking with one of Cedar Draw’s residents.

The young Alpha did not lower his voice as if they were arranging a secret.

“I want to ask you one thing before I leave.”

Hallie already knew it would not be about the agreement.

“All right.”

He paused.

“Not about now.”

The distinction tightened something in her chest. He continued.

“You are married. You set that boundary clearly. I am not asking you to cross it.”

“I know.”

“And I am not asking you to promise that your marriage will end.”

Hallie held his gaze.

“Then what are you asking?”

“If your life changed by your own choice someday, would there actually be a possibility for me?”

The question was quieter than a proposal. Harder too. He had removed every answer Hallie could have used to avoid looking directly at what she wanted.

He was not asking her to betray Grant. He was not asking her to break a political agreement. He was not asking her to pretend the mate bond with Austin had disappeared.

He was asking whether the door existed. Hallie looked down at the signed pages in her hand. A week ago, she might have called the question impossible.

Too many conditions. Too much uncertainty. Too many futures she could not predict.

Now she understood that uncertainty could become its own kind of answer if she used it to keep someone waiting. The young Alpha had been honest with her. He had respected every boundary she set.

He had not used the negotiation to gain access to her. He had not punished Cedar Draw when she refused the easier structure. He had not turned his attraction into pressure.

If Hallie told him maybe simply because the future was unknowable, he would have a reason to hope. That hope would come from her. Not fate.

Not politics. Her.

“You want to know whether you should leave that possibility open,” she said.

“Yes.”

His answer held no demand. Hallie appreciated that, and the appreciation made the decision more important. He was a valid choice.

That was what everyone around them kept getting right.

She could imagine the life he had described. A recognized pack. A role her training fit immediately. A husband near her age whose place in the world required no explanation. Work she knew how to do, with people prepared to understand why she was doing it.

She could imagine attraction becoming affection, and the possibility carried weight. Hallie refused to make him smaller just because a clean rejection would be easier to deliver if he had some obvious flaw.

He waited.

“Can I ask you something first?”

“Of course.”

“If I said maybe, what would you do with that?”

His expression changed.

“I would not interfere with your marriage.”

“I believe you.”

“I would leave.”

“And after that?”

He took a moment before answering.

“I would know the possibility was real.”

His answer carried neither threat nor scheme.

Just hope. Hallie felt the truth settle with uncomfortable clarity. A maybe would not be neutral.

It would be something she gave him to carry home. She looked across the yard. Grant had finished his conversation.

He was not watching her now. He was reading something someone had handed him, giving Hallie the same privacy he had tried so hard to protect even when protecting it hurt him.

Hallie did not need him to look over for her answer to matter. She turned back to the young Alpha.

“I don’t want to answer you carelessly.”

His jaw tightened slightly.

“I am not asking for an answer this second.”

“I know.”

“But I am leaving tomorrow.”

“I know that too.”

The departure had felt abstract until he said it. Hallie shifted the agreement under her arm.

“I will answer you before you leave.”

He studied her face.

“Completely?”

“Yes.”

“No polite uncertainty because the future is unpredictable?”

Hallie almost smiled.

“You have learned me too well.”

“I have negotiated with you for several days.”

“That may be worse.”

A faint smile answered hers, then disappeared. Hallie sobered.

“I will not tell you maybe unless I mean that I want the possibility.”

He nodded.

“And I will not use Austin as the reason.”

The young Alpha absorbed that without answering.

“The mate bond is real. It is not the answer to this question.”

“Understood.”

“I also won’t tell you politics makes the decision for me.”

His gaze sharpened.

“Even though politics would make my offer easier in some ways.”

“Especially because of that.”

Hallie glanced at the agreement between them. They had spent days refusing to let a structure decide more than it should. She could not turn around and let one decide this.

“When I answer you,” she said, “it will be because of what I want.”

The young Alpha held her gaze for a long moment.

“That is the only answer I wanted.”

Hallie believed him. That made the coming conversation no easier. He stepped back.

“I’ll leave you to your evening.”

“Thank you.”

He turned toward his people. Hallie stayed where she was. The agreement under her arm no longer needed anything from her.

This did. For once, she did not search for the safest wording, the fairest compromise, or the version that kept every future available. Before he left Cedar Draw, she would give him one answer.

And she already knew it could not be borrowed from a bond, a title, a marriage contract, or anyone else’s idea of the life she should choose.