After Six Years The Alpha Begs For My Return Chapter 25
“Then did you love him?” she demanded, staring me in the eye.
I was silent for three seconds.
Behind me, Gideon seemed to stop breathing. The corridor was so quiet that only the low hum of the central air remained.
“I did,” I said.
Ophelia’s lips pressed into a thin line.
“From twelve to twenty-two, I loved him for ten years. Everyone in Gray Harbor knows that. I don’t need to deny it.” My voice stayed level. “But those ten years are over. I have my own work, my own identity, my own choices. I don’t need to prove anything by looking back at the Alpha I loved as a girl.”
Gideon stood in the backlight, his expression unreadable. I could only see the way his hand slowly clenched at his side.
That was the moment he finally understood. True loss wasn’t my hatred.
It was this: no matter how much his wolf suffered, mine no longer answered.
I turned away and walked toward Reese.
He was waiting by the elevators. At some point, he had acquired a bag of hot roasted chestnuts from the old bakery across the street.
He popped one into his mouth, then shoved the bag into my hand as I approached. “Eat something. You haven’t eaten since last night, have you?”
“How do you know?”
“I could hear your stomach growling from halfway down the hall.” He pressed the elevator button. “Come on. Let’s get some real food. Your mother’s surgery hasn’t even happened yet. Don’t collapse because your healing is weak.”