Chapter 27 #2
“Especially after everything,” Dax says, his voice rough with emotion. “Sierra, we can’t just—we’re not ready to let you go. Not yet. Maybe not ever.”
My breath hitches.
“We want you,” Jalen says softly, and the sincerity in his voice makes my eyes sting. “We want you to be our omega. Our pack omega. Not just for a week, not just because of heat. We want you.”
“This week wasn’t just biology for us,” Cole adds. “It was... fuck, Sierra, it was everything. You’re everything.”
I look between them, seeing the hope and fear warring on each face. They’re bracing for rejection, I realize. Expecting me to say this is too fast, too much, too complicated.
But my heart is swelling so much it feels like it might burst.
“I don’t understand,” I manage. “A week ago, you were my biggest competitors. You’ve made my professional life difficult for two years. Why would you want—”
“Because we were idiots,” Malik interrupts. “We saw you as competition when we should have seen you as... as the missing piece we didn’t know we needed.”
“We’re in love with you, Sierra,” Jalen says, and the simple honesty of it makes a tear slip down my cheek.
“I’ve been falling for you for two years, and this week just..
. it made everything clear. Made me realize I don’t want to go back to just watching you from across event halls.
I want to come home to you. Build a life with you. Be your pack.”
“We all do,” Dax adds gruffly. “Even if we’re shit at showing it. Even if we fucked up royally before this. We want to be better. For you. With you.”
Cole takes my hand gently. “I know it’s fast. I know we barely know your favorite color or what you like for breakfast or whether you’re a morning person—”
“I’m not,” I interrupt, and it comes out watery with unshed tears. “I’m very much not a morning person.”
He grins, that brilliant Cole grin that lights up his whole face. “See? Already learning. We’ll figure out the rest. We’ll take it as slow as you need. But please, Sierra. Come home with us. Let us try to make this work.”
I should be practical. Should point out all the very real obstacles. We work in the same industry. We’re still technically competitors. Clients might talk. There are logistics to figure out. My apartment, my business, my entire life is here.
But looking at their faces, seeing the hope and love and desperate want in their expressions…
None of that matters.
Not really.
“My stuff,” I hear myself say, gesturing weakly toward my building.
“We’ll get it tomorrow,” Cole promises immediately. “Or this weekend. Or whenever. We’ll help you move everything, or you can keep this place if you want your own space. Whatever you need. But right now...”
“Right now, just come home,” Dax finishes. His hand comes up to cup my face, thumb brushing away the tears that are now falling freely. “Let us take care of you. Let us show you what this could be.”
I look at them. Four alphas who wrecked me in the best possible way for a week. Four alphas who I think I might love.
I also look at my apartment building. My office window on the third floor. The business I built from scratch while they were actively trying to bury me.
The fog of the heat lifts just enough for the cold, sharp edge of reality to slice through.
I step back.
Dax’s hand falls from my face. The loss of contact is physical pain, but I force myself to stand my ground.
“I can’t,” I whisper.
The air leaves the parking lot. The hopeful expressions on their faces shatter, replaced by instant, crushing devastation.
“Sierra?” Jalen’s voice is a broken thing. “Did we... did we do something?”
“No,” I say, wrapping my arms around myself, trying to hold my trembling body together. “But I can’t just... slip into your lives like the last two years didn’t happen. I can’t move in with the people who spent twenty-four months trying to put me out of business.”
Malik flinches like I slapped him. “Sierra, we told you. We were idiots. We regret—”
“I know you regret it,” I interrupt, my voice gaining strength. “I know you love me. I believe that. And God help me, I think I love you too.”
Hope flares in Cole’s eyes, but I hold up a hand.
“But love isn’t enough. Not for me. I’m not just an omega. I’m a business owner. I’m Sierra Smith Events. And you guys... you hurt me. Professionally, financially, and personally. You poached my people. You snatched my contracts. You made me feel small so you could feel big.”
I take a deep, shuddering breath. The scent of distressed alpha is filling the parking lot, sour and sharp, but I don’t back down.
“If I go home with you right now, I’m just giving in to the biology. I’m letting the heat decide. And if I do that, I will wake up in a month, and I will resent you. I will wonder if you only respect me because I’m your mate, not because I’m your equal.”
Dax looks like he’s been gutted. He looks at his brothers, then back at me, his jaw working. Finally, he nods. A sharp, jerky motion.
“You’re right,” he rasps.
“Dax?” Cole looks panicked.
“She’s right,” Dax says, turning to the pack, his voice hard with self-loathing. “We didn’t just compete. We tried to crush her. We can’t just sex our way out of that.” He turns back to me, his eyes dark and serious. “We broke your trust. We have to fix it. Properly.”
“Go home, Sierra,” Malik says softly, though he looks like the words physically hurt him. “Get your rest. Get your space.”
“We’re not giving up,” Jalen adds fiercely, stepping forward but stopping short of touching me. “Just so you know. We are respecting your boundaries, but we’re not giving up.”
“I don’t want you to give up,” I admit, tears leaking out again. “I just want you to earn it.”
I turn and walk toward my building. It takes every ounce of willpower I possess not to turn around.
I don’t look back until I’m in my apartment, watching from the window as their truck finally, slowly, pulls away.
My apartment is cold. It smells like stale air and loneliness.
I slide down the wall and bury my face in my knees.
I did the right thing.
So why does it feel like I just ripped my own heart out?