+25 BONUS
Chapter 294
ELENA
He said it, just like that.
“Because I was a coward.”
And for a moment, I didn’t breathe. Didn’t blink. I just stared at him, this towering Alpha, folded in on himself like the weight of everything he’d done was finally more than he could bear.
It wasn’t what I expected. It wasn’t defensive. It wasn’t self–righteous. It wasn’t even an excuse. It was raw. Honest. And the terrifying part was–it made me want to forgive him.
I hated that.
Tears stung my eyes, sharp and hot. But I didn’t look away.
He lifted his head, slowly. There were shadows under his eyes. Lines in his face I hadn’t noticed before. This was a man who hadn’t slept Who had been haunted. Who had been breaking while I-
While I… had been trying to piece myself back together.
He opened his mouth, but the words came like gravel.
“I’m not worthy of you, Elena.”
I believed him. Goddess help me, I believed him.
And it shattered something in me.
Tears slipped down my cheeks, silent and uninvited. He didn’t move to wipe them away. He just watched them fall, his face full of something that looked like mourning.
I swallowed, my voice splintered.
“You destroyed me.”
He flinched. His whole body seemed to fold inward.
“I know,” he said.
I shook my head, slow and small, trying to hold myself together.
“But I loved you,” I whispered.
His eyes snapped up to mine, wide and wet.
“And I you,” he said. “Goddess, Elena, I loved you.”
He took a deep, shaky breath.
“I still love you,” he went on.
That was it. No begging. No argument. Just the truth.
And it left me trembling.
I stood slowly, my legs unsteady beneath me. My hands clenched at my sides, aching with restraint. My wolf, Nox, paced beneath my skin, anxious and hungry for the familiar feel of his next to her.
“I need time,” I said.
He nodded. Once. He didn’t try to stop me.
Chapter 294
Didn’t follow me.
I walked out of his office, and as the door clicked shut behind me, felt Nox rise in a silent howl for Erebus.
+25 BONUS
Back in Moonstone, I couldn’t sleep.
The bed felt unfamiliar, like it belonged to someone else now. The sheets were too cool, too crisp. The pillow too firm. The air in the room was heavy with silence, thick enough to drown in.
I turned over. And then again. My body was tired, but my mind refused to rest.
Thoughts kept tumbling in circles. Snatches of conversation. Glimpses of Derek’s face. The way his voice cracked when he said he was a coward. The way he hadn’t followed me. The way he’d let me go.
I stared at the ceiling, counting the shadows as they shifted and stretched with the moonlight. I listened to the quiet hum of the house, the distant ticking of the old clock downstairs. I waited, breath held, hoping for sleep that wouldn’t come.
Sometime near dawn, I heard it–soft footsteps padding across the floor outside my room. Small. Familiar. The door creaked open just a sliver, just enough to let a slant of hallway light spill in
“Mommy?” came a whisper.
Aiden.
I sat up immediately, heart tugging toward him even before I saw the outline of his small frame in the doorway. He was clutching his stuffed wolf to his chest, his hair rumpled from sleep, his eyes wide and uncertain in the half–light.
I lifted the blanket. He didn’t hesitate. He padded across the room and climbed into bed beside me, his little body cold from the hallway. He curled into my side like he used to when he was younger, fitting into the curve of my arm like he belonged there.
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