CHAPTER 25

DRAKE’S POV

The morning sun felt like it was taunting me.

I stood on the balcony where I had kissed Lillian just hours ago, watching Andre load her bags into the SUV. Every movement was precise, careful…the way he handled her things as if they were sacred.

Kael snarled beneath my skin. Ours.

But were we?

The memory of her turning away from me…the bond screaming in protest…stabbed deeper than any blade.

Lucas materialized beside me, smelling of coffee, with concern etched all over his face. “You sure about this?”

“No.” I replied dryly. “But the mountain safe house is the most secure location we have.”

“Andre is the best protector.” Lucas paused. “Even if it kills you to admit it.”

Below, Lillian emerged from the pack house. She glanced up at the balcony, her eyes wide and uncertain. The bond between us buzzed…a desperate, hungry thing that made my teeth ache.

Then Andre touched her elbow, murmuring something that made her smile, and the connection snapped like a severed thread.

I turned from the railing and muttered, “I need to talk to him.”

Lucas gazed at me pitifully and said, “try not to break anything.”

I found Andre checking the SUV’s tires, his movements well practiced. He didn’t look up as I approached.

“The eastern ridge road got washed out in last night’s storm,” I said. “Take the northern pass.”

“Already planned to.” He said blankly.

We stood in silence so thick that a blade could slice through….two wolves who had shared everything since childhood, now divided by the one thing we couldn’t share.

“The tattoo,” I said finally. “If they are after the formula—”

“I will die before I let them touch her.” Andre said and stood up to meet my gaze. “You know that.”

I did, and that was the problem.

“I never wanted this,” I said quietly. “To hurt you.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Funny way of showing it.” He replied tensely.

The words hung between us. Uncomfortable. Sharp as broken glass.

Andre sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. “Remember the winter we were fourteen? When we got lost in the blizzard?”

How could I forget? We had stayed tightly together for body warmth, very certain we would die before morning.

“You told me then that pack comes first.” Andre smiled bitterly. “Guess we both forgot that.”

The memory was like a sharp ache in my heart. “She is my—”

“I know.” He cut me off. “But the bond says she is mine too. And until she choose, we are both stuck in this hell.”

I studied my brother…the tense of his shoulders, the shadows under his eyes, the way his scent had gone thin with pain. This was the man who had carried me bleeding from battlefields, who had taken a bullet meant for me last winter.

And I was breaking him over a woman.

“Keep her safe,” I said roughly. “Whatever it takes.”

Andre’s gaze softened as he replied, “Always.”

For a heartbeat, it was like old times…just two brothers standing together against the world.

Then Lillian’s voice cut through the moment. “Andre?” The engine is making a strange noise.”

The spell broke. Andre’s attention snapped back to her and his entire posture shifted instantly into protector mode.

I forced myself to step back. “Go. Before I changed my mind.”

His hand brushed my shoulders…a tiny contact that spoke volumes. Then he was gone, sliding into the diver’s seat beside the woman who held both our hearts.

I watched until the SUV disappeared into the tree line, the bond stretching thinner with every mile away from me.

The pack house felt like an cave without her.

I strolled around the empty halls with Kael restless beneath my skin. Her scent still lingered everywhere…in the library where she had researched her father’s work, in the kitchen where she had burned toast trying to cook for me, in our bed where she had—

No. Not our bed. My bed.

The distinction was like a knife to the gut.

I found myself outside the guest suite instead—drawn by a scent I barely recognized…lavender, chocolate and loss.

The door stood open. Lillian’s mother sat by the window, an old photo album open on her lap. She didn’t look up as I paused in the doorway.

“She forgot this.” She said softly as her fingers traced a picture of a laughing toddler with wolf curls and grass stained knees…Lillian, years before exile stole her brightness. “Or left it deliberately. It is hard to tell with her.”

I stepped inside gingerly. The room felt like a museum of a life stolen…Lillian’s few belongings arranged with military precision, the bed nearly made. Only the arrangement of the pillow suggested someone had slept here.

“She never could stand goodbyes,” I said quietly.

Her mother’s smile was bittersweet. “She comes by it honestly. Her father would rather face a firing squad than stay around for a farewell.”

My breath hitched at the mention of him. “About her father’s research—”

“Later.” She closed the album with swift thud. “First, we talk about you loving my daughter.”

The directness shouldn’t have surprised me. Lillian got her bluntness from somewhere.

I moved to the window, watching a hawk circle over the distant mountains. “Is it that obvious?”

“To anyone with eyes.” She came to stand beside me, her presence calm and unnerving. “The question isn’t whether you love her. It is whether you understand what that love will cost her.”

I turned from the window. “I would die for her.”

“Death is simple,” she replied blankly as her eyes…Lillian’s eyes…holding a world of sorrow. “Living with a half soul is the true punishment. You haven’t found your true mate, have you?”

The question was so sudden that it aches my chest. “No.”

“And if you do?” She pressed relentlessly, “Where does that leave my daughter? Loving you doesn’t just make her a target. It makes a weakness for your entire pack. You are an Alpha, Drake. Your heart isn’t your own to risk.”

The truth of it was like ice in my stomach. I looked at my reflection in the glass…a man shaped by duty and violence, that is crowned with a power that demanded everything.

“Andre would be safer,” I reluctantly agreed, the words like ash in my mouth.

“Safer?” She shook her head. “Love is a risk. But with him, the danger is….contained.”

Her hand covered mine where it rested on the photo album. “The tattoo is not what you think. It is not a weapon. Her father was trying to reverse the experiments. It is a cure. The Eastern pack doesn’t want to use it. They want to destroy it.”

The world stilled around me. Everything I had believed, every strategy, was built on a lie born of fear.

The bond suddenly pulled sharply…Lillian’s fear…jolted through me . I moved instantly, but her mother’s grip on my arm was surprisingly strong.

“Wait. If you charge in, you will get them killed. They are not there for the tattoo.” Her eyes glazed over, the seer’s energy clouding them. “They want the bond itself. Mated pairs are strong, but a severed bond…that is a power they can harness.”

Ice filled my veins. Our love was not just a vulnerability…it was the very weapon that could destroy us all.

The door burst open. Lucas stood there with blood on his temple. “Eastern Pack. Heading for the mountain pass.”

I met his gaze, the Alpha rising to the surface, shoving the devastating revelation aside. “Gather the warriors. We move now.”

As he left, I turned back and Lillian’s mother pressed the album into my hands.

“Bring my daughter home. And when you do…be certain you are what she needs, not just what you want.”

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