Chapter 7 #3
Heat pooled in my chest at the domestic images. Not just claiming or marking, but belonging. Building something together.
“She saved Logan tonight,” I said, changing the subject before they could push deeper.
I reached for my sandwich, taking a large bite to cover the emotions threatening to overwhelm me.
Turkey and mustard, simple and grounding.
“Her neural stabilizer worked better than anything I’ve brewed. If her research succeeds…”
“It changes everything,” Quinn finished. “And makes her a target.”
The reminder sent ice through my veins. Pharmaceutical companies didn’t give up billion-dollar revenue streams without a fight. Rozi was gifted, fierce, but she was also alone.
“I won’t let anything happen to her,” I said.
“Good,” Mack said, his smile sharp as a blade, impatience evident in the way he tapped his fingers against the counter.
“Because protecting her means staying close. And staying close means facing what you walked away from. No more running, no more excuses. Time to soldier up and complete the mission.”
“Twenty-five years, Brody,” Emmett added. “A lifetime of wondering what if. Do you really want to die wondering?”
Die. The word dropped into the kitchen like a stone, the ripples spreading outward in widening circles of silence.
Quinn’s jaw muscle jumped beneath his skin.
Rhett’s eyes lowered to the counter. Emmett’s knuckles whitened around his glass.
We all knew what happened to unmated males when the progression became irreversible, the Walk into the Outer Ridge, the final shift, the slow fade of human consciousness never to return, because we all knew that’s exactly what was happening.
My rejection of the mate bond was literally killing me.
“Three months,” I said quietly, my voice steady despite the death sentence it represented.
“I’ve seen the progression pattern in dozens of unmated males over the years.
Tracked their symptoms, supplied them with tonic, watched them fight it.
” My left hand trembled as I reached for my glass.
“And I’ve watched those same men eventually walk into the Outer Ridge when the symptoms became irreversible. ”
A heavy silence fell over the kitchen. The Outer Ridge, the place where all unmated males with feral sickness went to die. A tradition as old as the pack itself.
“The tremor in my left hand started just like Fritz’s did last year,” I continued, staring at my traitorous fingers as they betrayed me with another involuntary spasm.
“First the trembling, then the deterioration in fine motor control. After that, Baldwin’s eyes began showing flashes of his wolf when he was provoked, exactly like mine are doing now.
” I flexed my fingers, trying to steady the subtle shaking.
“Three weeks ago, I got stuck in wolf form for three hours during a hunting trip. Baldwin had the same problem four months before he took his walk.”
I leaned against the counter to hide the momentary unsteadiness in my legs.
“Every unmated male follows the same progression pattern. First, the nondominant hand, then balance issues, then the eye changes that eventually become permanent. By the time the tremor spreads to both arms and the breathing starts to sound neither fully human nor wolf…” I downed the rest of my drink.
“Three months. That’s how long I have before my wolf takes permanent control and I’ll have to make the same choice they did. ”
“The Walk isn’t your destiny,” Quinn growled, refilling my glass with more force than necessary. His eyes flashed with that protective fury that had made him alpha. “Not while I’m in charge of this pack. I don’t give a damn what’s happened before—your story ends differently.”
“No,” I agreed. “Not if Rozi’s breakthrough changes everything.” Or she forgives me for rejecting her and accepts me as a worthy mate… giving me permission to claim her.
“Or maybe proximity to your mate slows the progression,” Quinn suggested. “Maybe being her security escort is exactly what you both need.”
“She can barely stand to be in the same room with me.”
“That’s because you make her feel things she’s tried to forget,” Rhett said. “There’s a difference.”
I stared into my now-empty shot glass, processing their words. Could they be right? Was the fury I’d seen in her eyes really pain disguised as anger?
Emmett refilled our glasses with steady hands while Quinn opened another bottle of BF Home-Brew.
Jasper continued working on his architectural sandwich masterpiece, adding layers with the focus of a man who understood that sometimes you needed to build something with your hands while your heart figured itself out.
We want to court her properly, my wolf mused, his mental voice soft with longing. To hunt for her, provide for her, show her we can be a worthy mate.
The romantic sentiment from my usually territorial animal caught me off guard. This wasn’t about conquest or claiming. This was about proving myself. Earning what I’d thrown away.
“I need her,” I said quietly, the admission torn from somewhere deep inside.
“Not because of the pre-feral symptoms. Not because proximity might slow the progression.” I met their gazes, letting them see the raw truth.
“I need her because I’ve been half alive for a lifetime.
Because every woman since has been a pale shadow of what I lost. Because she’s my fated mate, and I was an idiot to walk away.
“I dream of building a life with her,” I continued, my voice gaining strength. “Waking up to her scent every morning. Watching her mind solve problems I can’t even comprehend. Giving her everything I should have offered all the years since we parted.”
Mack leaned forward, his expression serious. “What if she can’t forgive you?”
“Then I’ll spend whatever time I have left making sure she’s safe and her research succeeds,” I said without hesitation. “Because that’s what you do for your fated mate. You put their needs above your own fucking pride.”
“Now, that,” Rhett said, his perpetual scowl softening for just a moment, “sounds like a man who deserves a second chance.” He cleared his throat roughly, immediately reaching for his drink as though embarrassed by the brief display of sentiment.
“Tomorrow, we’re meeting up. She needs to see her lab setup and get to work,” I said.
“And after that?” Emmett asked.
I met their gazes, feeling something shift inside my chest. Not just determination now, but purpose.
“After that, I’m going to fight for the woman I should never have let go.”
My pack brothers exchanged glances, something shifting in the atmosphere from concern to solidarity.
Quinn raised his glass. “To second chances and redemption.”
“To fighting for what matters most, your fated mate,” Mack added, lifting his glass.
“To a stubborn wolf who finally pulled his head out of his ass,” Emmett said with a grin, clinking his glass against mine.
Jasper’s eyes gleamed with approval as he joined the toast. “To the woman brave enough to come here knowing half the town wants her dead.”
“And to success in another pack brother claiming his fated mate,” Rhett added.
“To Rozi,” I said, my voice rough with emotion. “And to proving that I’m worthy of her forgiveness.”
The sound of clinking glasses filled Quinn’s kitchen, the familiar ritual transforming into something more significant, a pact, a promise, a battle plan.
The Home-Brew burned a fiery path down my throat, pooling like liquid courage in my gut.
The scent of brotherhood, Quinn’s cedar, Emmett’s sage, Mack’s pine, Rhett’s rain-washed stone, Jasper’s smoke and amber, surrounded me like a shield against the darkness I’d face tomorrow.
I drank deeply, feeling the liquor burn down my throat. Tomorrow would bring security protocols and professional boundaries. But tonight, surrounded by my pack brothers in the safety of Quinn’s kitchen, I allowed myself to believe that maybe, just maybe, a broken wolf could learn to love properly.
Even if I died trying.