CHAPTER 24

LILLIAN POV

The scent of dried lavender and cedar filled my old bedroom as I folded the last of my sweaters. Outside, the first rays of dawn painted the sky in sections of rose and gold, but the beauty was lost on me. My stomach buzzed with a nervousness that had nothing to do with the imminent move to the mountain safe house.

Weaponized shifting. The key is on her skin.

Drake’s words from last night replayed over and over again in my mind, making my fingers tremble as I traced the tattoo on my hip…a delicate swirl of vines and moons that my father had painted himself when I was twelve. For protection, he had said, his eyes sad. Had he known even then what it would cost us? Cost me?

I felt a sudden pull deep in my chest and I gasped in shock. The mate bond…faint but persistent…tugged me toward the door just as a soft, almost hesitant knock sounded from the other side.

I knew who it was before I opened it.

Andre stood at the corridors, the morning light reflecting the gold in his eyes. He looked tired with shadows bruising the skin under his lashes, but he still managed to smile a little.

“Ready to go, little rogue?”

Normally, the nickname would have sounded offensive in the mouth of another, but it was like an endearment on his lips.

“I did not know you were escorting me,” I said in surprise as I stepped back to let him in.

His scent…freshly painted wall and citrus filled the room as he brushed past me. “Drake is needed at the border. Eastern pack scouts were spotted again.”

The words should have had me worried, but all I could focus on was the way his gaze kept darting to my half packed bag with tension in his shoulders.

“Andre?”

He turned and the raw pain in his eyes stole my breath.

“I need to tell you something before we leave.”

He walked to the window and backed me. “When the bond snapped into place that day in the garden…it wasn’t a surprise for me.”

I froze. “What do you mean?”

“I have felt it for years.” His voice was so low that I had to strain to hear. “This…pull toward you. Since we were sixteen.”

I stared at him in shock, unable to believe my ears.

“But you never—”

“Because you only had eyes for Drake.” He turned m, his expression bleak. “Even when he treated you like dirt, you would still light up when he entered a room. It was a fucking torture to watch, but he is my best friend.”

I sank onto the edge of the bed as the memories rushing back…Andre always sitting where he could watch me in the cafeteria. Him ‘accidentally’ bumping into Drake’s cronies when they cornered me. They way he would leave wildflowers on my locker after particularly bad days.

“Those wildflowers…I didn’t know,” I whispered.

“Of course you didn’t.” He laughed dryly. “I made sure of it. But when the moon goddess decided to make it official.”

He knelt before me and placed his hands hovering over mine without touching. “I know you love him. But this bond….if we sever it, it will leave scars on both our souls.”

Tears rolled down my face. “Andre—”

“Let me be selfish for once,” he pleaded, his voice rough. “Let me protect you. Let me claim you before the Eastern pack tries to.”

The door slammed open before I could respond.

Lydia and Salome stood there, with a grim expression on their faces.

“Interrupting?” Lydia asked, even though she made no move to leave.

Andre stood up abruptly, and placed his mask of indifference back on. “I will be waiting outside.”

His fingers brushed mine as he passed…a whisper of contact that sent the bond singing excitedly through my veins.

The moment the door closed, Salome rushed towards me and asked breathlessly, “you cannot be seriously considering this?”

Lydia folded her hands and pouted, “Andre is a good guy, but forcing a bond you don’t want?”

“It is not that simple.” I pressed a hand to my chest where the bond ached. “I feel it too. It’s just…quieter and calmer than what I have with Drake.”

“Quieter?” Salome laughed dryly. “Lily, Drake’s your nuclear explosion. Andre is a campfire.”

“And campfires don’t burn down entire forests,” Lydia pointed out.

I hugged my knees to my chest and said fearfully, “My mother thinks Drake has a true mate out there.”

The room went silent.

Salome sank onto the bed beside me. “She is a seer, Lily. Her visions—”

“Aren’t guaranteed,” I finished. But what if she is right? What happens when she appears?”

Lydia exhaled loudly. “Then you will have broken a mating bond for a man who can’t be yours.”

The truth of it all settled over us like a cloud.

“Andre would never force you.” Salome said softly. “But every day you spend with Drake is a knife in his gut.”

I thought of the way Andre had looked at me—like I was breaking him simply by existing.

“My mother thinks I should choose Andre. That he is safer.”

“Is he?” Lydia challenged. “Or are you just trading one kind of danger for another?”

The tattoo on my hip seemed to burn. Weaponized shifting. The Eastern Pack wouldn’t care who I loved—only what was etched on my skin.

I found Andre on the porch, his shoulders slumped as he stared at the rising sun.

“You don’t have to do this,” I said softly.

He didn’t turn. “Do what?”

“Pretend this is only about protection.” I moved to stand beside him. “You want me to choose you.”

His jaw tightened. “Is that so wrong?”

“No.” I touched his arm, feeling the muscle leap under my fingers. “But I need you to understand—even if I say yes, it might always be Drake I am thinking of.”

The words were cruel, but necessary.

Andre finally looked at me, his eyes full of a sadness so deep it stole my breath. “I know. But maybe in time…”

He trailed off, but the hope in his voice undid me.

The bond between us flared to life, warmer than I would ever felt it. It wasn’t the consuming inferno I felt with Drake, but steady glow—a lukewarm heat rather than a wildfire.

“My mother thinks Drake’s true mate is out there,” I whispered.

Andre’s hand covered mine. “Then let me be your safe harbor until she appears.”

It was the worst possible reason to accept a mating bond. But as his scent wrapped itself around me—safe, familiar, steady—I found myself nodding.

“After the tournament,” I said. “If we survive…we will discuss it.”

His bright smile was like the sun breaking through storm clouds. “That is all I ask.”

As he led me to the waiting SUV, I glanced back at the pack house to see Drake standing at our balcony, his grey eyes burning into mine from across the distance.

The bond between us screamed in protest.

But for the first time, I turned away.