POMPOUS DICKINSON

AUTHOR’S POV 

Kaiden looked at him.

"Do you have something to say?"

"No." Garrick folded his arms. "I'm just wondering whether you understand where you are."

"I understand perfectly."

"Do you? Because from where I'm standing, you look like a man who has mistaken shelter for surrender."

Kaiden's wolf snarled.

Rowan stepped between them before Kaiden could respond.

"Garrick, I will speak with him."

The other man held Kaiden's gaze for a moment before turning away.

Rowan waited until they were alone.

"You should be careful."

"Of what?"

"Of assuming Elena will respond to you as she once did."

Kaiden's expression darkened.

"I have not forgotten what happened between us."

"Have you?" Rowan asked quietly. "Because you have spent the past hour demanding special treatment from people who are simply following her instructions."

"I am an Alpha."

"And Elena is the leader of Haven."

"She is a healer who gathered a group of survivors."

"She is the reason those survivors have food, shelter, and an organized defense. From what I have seen, her people trust her more than some packs trust their Alphas."

Kaiden's jaw clenched.

Rowan continued.

"You wanted an audience. Ask for one. But do not walk into it believing that your title will force her to listen."

"She owes me the courtesy of a private conversation."

"No, Kaiden." Rowan's voice grew firmer. "She owes you nothing."

The words silenced him.

Again.

Kaiden turned away, looking across the yard toward the repaired buildings.

He was beginning to hate hearing that sentence.

He hated it because he knew it was true.

He had rejected Elena. He had allowed her to leave his territory alone. He had made no attempt to find her during the years that followed, and now he had arrived at her gates with a broken pack and expected her to help him.

He knew all of that.

But knowing the truth did not make it easier to stand in front of the woman who had once loved him and realize that he no longer had any claim on her.

"Then how do you suggest I approach her?" he asked.

Rowan's expression softened slightly.

"Like a man asking for help."

Kaiden gave a bitter laugh.

"I have never had to ask for help from someone who once belonged to my pack."

"She no longer belongs to your pack."

Kaiden's laugh died.

Rowan let the silence settle before speaking again.

"Her people are frightened, and they have worked hard to build something here. You cannot expect her to put them at risk because you have arrived with a group of survivors. She has to decide whether she can afford to shelter you."

"And if she decides she cannot?"

"Then we will have to find another way to survive."

"There is no other way."

"That may be true. But it does not mean she is obligated to save us."

Kaiden stared at the ground.

For the first time, the full weight of their situation settled over him.

He had spent weeks trying to find a territory that would accept them. Every refusal had felt like a personal insult, a challenge to his authority, or a betrayal of the alliances he had worked so hard to establish.

But Elena's refusal would be different.

Because she had once been the one person he could have trusted to stand beside him without asking what she would gain in return.

He had thrown that away.

Now he would have to stand before her and ask for the very thing he had denied her.

A place beside him.

Only this time, he would be the one waiting for an answer.

"Find her," Kaiden said quietly. "Tell her I would like to speak with her."

Rowan nodded.

"And if she refuses?"

Kaiden swallowed the bitterness rising in his throat.

"Then ask her when she might be available."

It was the closest thing to patience he had managed since arriving.

Rowan seemed to recognize it.

"I'll pass along the message."

He walked away, leaving Kaiden alone in the yard.

Kaiden watched the survivors working around him. A woman carried a basket of clothing into one of the buildings. Two children hurried past with a bucket between them, laughing when water splashed onto their shoes. Near the infirmary, a wounded warrior sat on a bench while Lydia changed his bandages.

No one appeared to be waiting for Kaiden to tell them what to do.

For the first time in his life, he was surrounded by people who did not need him to be their Alpha.

And the woman he had once rejected was the reason why.