Chapter Seven #2
“I reserve welcoming for paying customers and people I don’t want to stab.”
Maisie steps beside me, small and human and fearless enough to make me want to hug her and lock her in a cupboard for safety. “We can ask him to leave.”
Cole’s gaze flicks to her. “The help. How quaint.”
My wolf snarls, but I smile. It feels sharp enough to draw blood. “Careful. She bites, and she has better aim than most people I know.”
Maisie lifts one brow. “I also know where the knives are.”
Cole ignores her, which is his first mistake. His second is looking at my throat. At the place where there’s still no claiming mark. His smile turns cruel.
“So it’s true,” he says softly. “You’re still single.”
The bakery goes too quiet. The few customers inside look up, sensing drama if not understanding the danger. Humans are like that. No survival instincts around supernatural disasters, but mention the word single in a tone like a soap opera villain and suddenly everyone is invested.
I keep my voice flat. “That is none of your business.”
“Everything about you used to be our business.” He’s referencing the pack, and I want to smack the smug right out of him.
“Used to be,” I say. “Very important words. Write them down if you need help remembering.”
His jaw tightens. Good. Cole always did hate being mocked by someone he considered beneath him.
“He sent me,” Cole says.
My stomach twists, and I hate that my body reacts before my brain can stop it.
“He?” Maisie asks.
Cole smiles at her. “Her first...”
The words land like a slap, but I don’t flinch. Small victories and all that.
Maisie’s face goes pale with fury. “Her first?” She knows that someone hurt me but not all the details.
Cole’s gaze sharpens with annoyance. “This is a private conversation.”
“Then maybe don’t talk about them in a bakery, cupcake,” she counters.
I would laugh if my ribs did not feel like they are closing around my lungs.
Cole steps closer to the counter. “Rowan wants to talk.”
There it is. His name.
Rowan.
Once, that name lived under my skin like a promise, but he changed all of that. My fingers tighten until the counter bites into my palms.
“No.”
Cole’s brows lift. “No?”
“It’s a short word. I can write it in frosting if that helps.”
His smile disappears. “He made a mistake.”
“No, he made a choice.”
“You were both young.”
“I was twenty-three.” I glare.
“You were emotional.”
“He broke me.” The words fall from my lips, and his nostrils flare.
The room feels smaller. My wolf presses against my ribs, furious and shaking. The bond between Daniel and me hums somewhere beneath it, warm and distant. I don’t reach for it. I will not use him as armor.
This is my problem.
Cole leans closer, lowering his voice. “Do you have any idea how humiliating this has been for him?”
For a second, I think I mishear him. Then I laugh, and it comes out sharp. Ugly. Perfect.
“For him?”
Several customers pretend not to listen harder.
Cole’s cheeks darken. “You left. You made him look cruel.”
“He was cruel.”
“He panicked.” As if that can excuse what he did.
“He broke my heart in front of everyone.” I lower my voice. “He denied me.”
“You survived.” The words slice through me.
Simple, dismissive, and brutal. You survived. As if surviving erased the pain. As if crawling out of wreckage meant no one had to apologize for setting the fire.
My wolf lunges so hard my vision flashes gold.
Maisie shifts closer. “Holly.”
I breathe. Once. Twice. I’m not on the ground. I’m not broken. I’m not alone.
I look Cole dead in the eye. “Yes. I survived. Not because of him. Not because of my so-called family and friends. Not because anyone from Ash Hollow gave a damn what happened after he threw me away. I survived because I chose myself.”
I watch as Holly quickly escorts customers out of the bakery before locking the door. Again, she’s smarter than most, already knowing this isn’t going to end well. She also disappears, but I can’t focus on that now.
Cole scoffs. “You’re being dramatic.”
“And you’re being boring.”
His mouth tightens. “Rowan says the bond may not have fully severed.”
My stomach drops.
No!
Cole sees it, but then again, cruel men always notice when they hit their mark. “That’s why you haven’t let this new one claim you, isn’t it?” he asks. “Part of you knows. Rowan felt the pull again. He thinks the Goddess may be giving you both another chance.”
Fear flashes through me so fast it almost becomes nausea. Not because I want Rowan. Goddess, no. But because for one horrible second, I hear that old voice in my head.
You were never enough.
You should be grateful he wants you now.
Maybe fate made a mistake with Daniel too.
My wolf snarls, but the fear is human.
Cole’s smile turns satisfied. “You always were desperate for love, Holly. Running to some stray handyman because your real mate bruised your feelings? It’s pathetic.”
The back door opens, but I don’t turn around to look. The scent hits first—cedar, rain, and wolf.
Daniel.
The bakery stills, but I don’t look away from Cole. I don’t need to.
Daniel steps into the kitchen doorway behind me, and every wolf instinct in the room reacts. His presence fills the space instantly. Not loud. Not performative. Not Alpha-posturing nonsense.
Just power. Steady, controlled, and utterly furious.
Cole’s eyes flick past me and widen slightly.
“Maisie called,” he says, stepping into the doorway, his words meant for me. When he turns to Cole, his voice is low and menacing. “You should leave.”
The words are quiet, but they still shake through me.
Cole straightens, recovering his arrogance quickly. “This doesn’t concern you.”
Daniel moves closer, and my wolf surges in relief, but I lift one hand without looking back. Stop, and Daniel stops. Immediately. The shock of that tiny obedience goes through the room like a spark.
Cole notices. Maisie notices. I notice most of all.
Daniel does not step in front of me, and he does not take over. He stands beside me. Not blocking or claiming.
My throat tightens so hard it hurts.
Cole sneers. “How sweet. She has you trained.”
Daniel’s eyes glow amber, but his voice stays calm. “She has me respectful. I understand that might confuse someone like you.”
Maisie whispers, “Oh, I like him,” and I almost laugh.
Cole’s face twists. “You don’t know her.”
Daniel looks at me. Not possessive or uncertain. Just letting me decide how much of myself I want to share.
I turn back to Cole. “He knows enough.”
“Does he know you were denied because Rowan believed your wolf was weak?”
The room tilts, and Daniel goes dangerously still.
Cole’s smile returns, cruel and satisfied. “Does he know Rowan had doubts long before the ceremony? That everyone did? You were always soft. Always too emotional. Too needy. Too human in all the wrong ways.”
My hands shake, and I fucking hate that they do. I hate that a man I don’t even respect can still find the old bruises.
Daniel’s hand appears beside mine on the counter. Not touching but close, just offering support if I choose it. I stare at it for a moment. Big, scarred, and steady. I place my hand over his and the bond warms instantly, not taking away my pain but standing inside it with me.
I lift my chin. “Rowan denied me because he was a coward.” Cole’s smile falters.
“He wanted a mate who made him feel powerful,” I continue, voice growing steadier.
“A mate who elevated him. A mate who made the pack clap and bow and whisper about bloodlines. I was never a woman to him. I was a title he didn’t want once he decided it didn’t shine bright enough. ”
Cole’s jaw locks. “And you know what?” I lean forward, smiling now.
“Thank the Goddess.” His eyes narrow. “Because if he had claimed me, I would have spent the rest of my life trying to become small enough for him to tolerate. Instead, he broke the bond, and it hurt like hell. It almost destroyed me. But then I left, and everything changed for the better. I built this bakery. I found my wolf again. I found myself.”
My fingers tighten around Daniel’s. “And now I have a man standing beside me who wants me because I’m me. Not because of what I can give him. Not because of a pack. Not because of a title. Not because fate dragged him here by the balls and told him to behave.”
Daniel makes a strangled sound, and Maisie coughs loudly, failing to hide her laughter.
I keep going. “So you can go back to Rowan and tell him this from me. He had his chance. He wasted it. I’m not a consolation prize he gets to reclaim now that his pride hurts. I’m not leftovers, I’m not broken, and I’m not his.”
Cole’s face darkens. “You think this is over?”
“No,” I say sweetly. “I think your time in my bakery is over.”
He looks at Daniel. “You can’t protect her forever.”
Daniel smiles then, but it’s not his warm smile. It’s all feral wolf. All teeth and promise.
“I don’t need to protect her from you,” he says. “She just handed you your ass while wearing an apron.”
Maisie sighs. “Team Handyman.”
“Out,” I snap, pointing at the door.
Cole hesitates, and Daniel’s growl rolls through the bakery, low and lethal. The bell above the door jingles behind him with offensive cheerfulness as he finally leaves. For three seconds, no one moves.
Maisie starts clapping, and I shake my head at her. “Oh, for Goddess’ sake,” I mutter.
I want the floor to swallow me. I also want to cry. Both feelings are deeply inconvenient.
I turn away from the counter, pulling my hand from Daniel’s, but I only make it two steps before the shakes hit. My knees threaten mutiny. My breath comes too fast.
Not here. Not when Cole can walk back into the bakery any second and see my weakness.
Daniel’s voice is soft at my ear. “Office?”
I nod once. He does not touch me until we are behind the swinging kitchen door. Even then, he only walks close enough that his warmth steadies me. We reach my tiny office, which is really a storage closet with a desk, and I step inside.