Chapter 31

**** Beta Jayvon ****

It's almost midnight, and I'm trying to convince my drunk Alpha buddy to go to bed. He doesn't let himself get this drunk often. Usually, he insists on perfect self-control. That self-discipline is the one thing his father never had and the one thing Enzi has always tried to maintain to prove to himself that he'll never be like the old Alpha. Not that the way he went about it was always perfect.

Today is her 21st birthday. It's also the anniversary of when she left him. Technically, she left the day before her birthday, but it's this day each year that he's always a wreck. If she'd stayed just one more day, Enzi would have explained everything. If she'd stayed just one more day, the mate bond would have snapped in for her. Not that Enzi wanted to rely on the bond, but he hoped it would encourage her to give him a chance, encourage her to listen. He wanted her to love him for him. To understand that the choices he made were for her protection.

But she left just