Chapter 15
Annalise
I felt him before I saw him. The familiar tingle along my nerve endings that had once meant comfort and belonging, now just a painful reminder of what I'd lost. The coffee pot in my hand suddenly felt impossibly heavy, and I had to grip it with both hands to keep from dropping it.
He's here, Sapphire said, her voice sharp with alarm. Our former mate is here.
My heart hammered against my ribs so hard I was certain everyone in the diner could hear it. The baby kicked frantically, as if sensing my distress, and I pressed my free hand to my belly in an instinctive protective gesture.
I turned slowly, my legs feeling like water, and there he was.
Marshall Kane. Alpha of the Cascade Pack. The man who'd destroyed my life, standing in the doorway of Rita's Diner like he belonged there.
He looked the same and completely different all at once.
Still impossibly handsome, with those amber eyes that had haunted my dreams for months.
Still carrying himself with that natural authority that made people step aside.
But there was something new in his expression—uncertainty, maybe even fear—that I'd never seen before.
My knees went weak, and I had to grab the edge of the nearest table to keep from swaying. All the strength I'd built, all the confidence I'd gained, threatened to crumble at the mere sight of him.
Breathe, Sapphire commanded. We are not that broken girl anymore. Breathe.
I forced air into my lungs, straightening my spine and lifting my chin. The familiar weight of my rounded belly reminded me of who I was now—not the desperate, heartbroken teenager he'd banished, but a woman who'd learned to stand on her own.
The entire diner had gone quiet. Conversations stopped mid-sentence as everyone turned to stare at the stranger who'd just walked in. In a town like Crescent Bay, where everyone knew everyone, an outsider drew attention.
But this wasn't just any outsider. This was the man who'd made me run three thousand miles to escape.
Marshall's eyes found mine across the room, and I saw something flicker in their depths. Recognition, yes, but also shock. He was staring at me like he'd never seen me before, his gaze traveling from my face to my belly and back again.
"Annalise," he said, my name barely a whisper.
The sound of his voice saying my name after all these months made my chest tighten with pain. I'd dreamed of this moment, imagined it a thousand different ways, but none of my fantasies had prepared me for the reality of seeing him again.
"Marshall." I was proud that my voice didn't shake, though my hands were trembling so badly I had to set the coffee pot down before I dropped it.
He took a step forward, and I instinctively stepped back. The movement was small, but it might as well have been a slap. I saw him freeze, his face crumpling slightly as he registered my retreat.
"I—" he started, then stopped, his eyes darting around the diner as if just realizing we had an audience.
And what an audience it was. Brett the lobsterman had gone perfectly still, his weathered hands gripping his coffee cup like a weapon. Mrs. Walker was staring with open concern. Tom had started to rise from his seat, his usually jovial face set in protective lines.
These people might not know the whole story, but they knew enough. They knew I was running from someone, and they'd taken me under their wing.
"What are you doing here?" I managed to ask, my voice barely above a whisper.
"I came to find you," Marshall said, his voice carrying that familiar note of authority that had once made me melt. Now it just made me angry. "We need to talk."
"No." The word came out sharper than I'd intended. "No, we don't."
I could feel the weight of every gaze in the diner, the protective tension rolling off the people who'd become my family. Jimmy appeared in the kitchen doorway, wiping his hands on his apron, his young face already hardening with determination.
"I made a mistake," Marshall said, taking another step closer. "I was wrong about everything—how I treated you, the pregnancy. Please, just let me explain—"
"Stop." I held up a shaking hand, and he froze. "Don't. Don't come any closer."
"Please, just let me explain," he repeated.
The desperation in his voice was almost enough to crack my resolve. Almost. But then I remembered the feel of the mate bond severing, the agony of his rejection, the way he'd looked at me with such disgust and fury.
"I don't want to hear your explanations," I said, my voice growing stronger. "I don't want to hear about how you were wrong or how you've changed. I lived with the consequences of your choices. I'm still living with them."
"Annalise, please—"
"Is there a problem here?" Rita's voice cut through the tension like a blade. She stepped out from behind the counter, all five-foot-two of her bristling with protective fury. Despite her small stature, she managed to look formidable as she positioned herself between Marshall and me.
Marshall turned to face her, and I saw him blink in surprise at the fierce determination blazing in her eyes. "I'm Marshall Kane. I'm Annalise's—" He caught himself, glancing around at the human faces surrounding us. "I'm her... partner. We need to talk."
"Partner?" Rita's laugh was sharp and bitter. "Boy, you gave up any right to call yourself that when you abandoned her while she was pregnant. She's not your anything."
Our family, Sapphire said with fierce pride. These humans are more family than our pack ever was.
"You don't understand," Marshall said, and I heard the first hint of his old arrogance creeping into his voice. "This is between me and—"
"And nothing," Tom interrupted, rising fully from his seat. The hardware store owner was a big man, and he used every inch of his height to loom over Marshall. The Alpha was still larger, but the significance wasn’t lost on Marshall.
"The girl's made it clear she doesn't want to talk to you. Time to go."
"She's carrying my child," Marshall said, his voice growing desperate. "My son."
Months after calling my baby a bastard, of accusing me of cheating, he dared to claim ownership now?
"Where were you when she was sick every morning for two months?" Rita demanded, stepping closer to Marshall with the fearlessness of a woman who'd faced down much worse than one entitled Alpha. "Where were you when she could barely afford to eat? Where were you when she was scared and alone?"
"I was looking for her," Marshall said, but his voice lacked conviction. "I've been searching—"
"For how long?" Mrs. Walker spoke up from her table, her teacher's voice cutting through his excuses. "How long have you been looking, exactly?"
Marshall's jaw tightened. "Weeks."
"And before that?" Tom pressed. "What about when she first left? What were you doing then?"
I watched Marshall's face crumple as he realized he couldn't answer that question. He couldn't admit that he'd probably done nothing for weeks, that he'd been content to let me disappear until his guilt, or maybe Luna Etta’s desire for her grandpup, finally drove him to action.
"I made a mistake," he said again, the words sounding hollow and desperate now.
"You made a choice," I said quietly, and the room went silent again.
Every eye turned to me, but I only had eyes for Marshall.
"You chose to believe the worst about me instead of the best. You chose your pride over our.
.. relationship. You chose to throw me away rather than admit you might have been wrong. "
Something in Marshall's expression cracked, and for a moment I saw through his careful composure to the pain underneath.
"I was scared," he said, his voice breaking slightly.
"I was twenty-three years old, and I'd never felt anything like what I felt for you.
I didn't know how to handle it. But I was always planning to be the partner you deserved once you turned eighteen.
I was going to stop everything else and be completely yours. "
The admission hung in the air between us, raw and honest in a way that reminded me of the boy I'd fallen in love with. But it wasn't enough. It could never be enough.
"After my eighteenth birthday?" I repeated, my voice growing stronger. "You were going to be completely mine after you'd spent years showing me exactly how little I mattered? After you'd let every other girl bully me while you entertained yourself with them?"
Marshall flinched, but I was on a roll. "You were scared?" I continued, my voice barely a whisper. "I was seventeen and pregnant and alone. But you were scared?"
"I know," Marshall said, taking another step forward. "I know I don't deserve your forgiveness. I know I don't deserve a second chance. But I'm begging you to give me one anyway."
"Why?" The word came out as a broken sob. "Why now? Why after all this time?"
"Because I can't live without you," he said simply. "Because I wake up every morning wishing I could take back what I did. Because our son deserves to know his father."
Pretty words, Sapphire said with disgust. But words are easy. Actions are what matter.
"Your son?" I placed both hands on my belly, feeling the strong kicks of the life inside me. "You mean the child you wanted nothing to do with? The child you accused me of creating with someone else?"
Marshall flinched as if I'd struck him. "I was wrong about that. I was wrong about everything."
"Yes," I said, my voice growing stronger. "You were. And now you want me to just forget it happened? Pretend those months, no years, of hell never existed?"
"I want to make it right," he said desperately.
"You can't make this right, Marshall." I was amazed at how steady my voice sounded, how strong I felt despite the emotional chaos raging inside me. "You can't undo what you did. You can't give me back the months I spent believing the person I loved most in the world thought I was worthless."
"I never thought you were worthless," he said, his voice cracking. "I thought you were too good for me. I was trying to protect you, to wait until you were ready. I was saving myself for you—my real commitment, my devotion. I thought you deserved better than someone who couldn't even remember—"
"Stop." I couldn't bear to hear him talk about that night, about the memory he'd lost and the way it had destroyed us both. "Just stop."
The diner had gone completely silent. Even the usual sounds of the kitchen had ceased, as if the entire world was holding its breath. I could feel the weight of everyone's attention, their protective concern, their readiness to defend me.
"I'll go," Marshall said finally, his voice barely audible. "But I'm not leaving town. I'm not giving up on us."
"There is no us," I said, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. "There hasn't been for a long time."
"Please," he said, and the desperation in his voice almost broke my resolve. "Just five minutes. Five minutes to explain, to apologize properly. That's all I'm asking."
I looked into his amber eyes and saw the boy I'd loved for five years, the man who'd held me so tenderly one night and then thrown me away the next morning. The father of my child, who'd come three thousand miles to find me.
Don't, Sapphire warned. Nothing good will come of this.
But I was tired of running. Tired of looking over my shoulder, waiting for this moment. Maybe it was time to face him, to show him exactly what he'd lost.
"Five minutes," I said finally. "Outside. Away from here."
Rita grabbed my arm, her eyes blazing with concern. "Hon, you don't have to—"
"It's okay," I said, covering her hand with mine. "I need to do this. I need to say what I should have said months ago."
"We'll be right here," Tom said firmly. "You holler if you need anything."
"I will," I promised.
Marshall looked surprised that I'd agreed, hope flickering in his eyes. But as I moved toward the door, I made sure he saw the strength in my stride, the protective curve of my hands around my belly, the way I held my head high.
The broken girl he'd banished was gone. The woman who'd replaced her was about to make sure he understood exactly what that meant.
Five minutes, Sapphire said grimly. Then we're done with him forever.
"Five minutes," I agreed, stepping out into the bright afternoon to face my past one last time.