After Six Years The Alpha Begs For My Return Chapter 22
He looked up at me. For a split second, something flickered in his eyes, then vanished.
“This ends here. You don’t need to explain anything else to me.” My voice was quiet. “Whatever the truth is, what was between us ended six years ago. You carried that burden for six years, and it took me six years to let go of the past. What you owed me, what you endured—none of it needs to be settled with me anymore.”
We had never completed a mark, never truly formed a mate bond. But our old marriage pact, the pack’s expectations, and my ten years of love had still been enough to shatter me completely.
Now, all of that was over.
His jaw clenched so tight the veins stood out on his hand. My rejection made his wolf pressure spike for a moment before he wrestled it back under control.
In the end, he only said, “Avery, I never wanted to let you go.”
A faint sound came from behind us.
I turned. Ophelia stood in the doorway of the hospital room.
Her tears were gone. Her makeup was smudged, and there was a gray stain on the knee of her beige knit dress.
She stared straight at Gideon, her lips moving once without a sound.
Gideon did not turn around.