Ronan’s POV

Blood seeped through the gauze on my palm bagain/b.

Mia had just finished wrapping it up, but the second Kael stormed out and Riley stood there like the world couldn’t touch her, 1 clenched my fist btoo /btightly,

Again.

I didn’t even feel it.

Just a dull, distant throb. A whisperpared to the chaos inside my chest.

Scarlett was gone upstairs–following her parents, trying to “smooth things over,” no doubt. The room emptied out in minutes, like they couldn’t wait to let the dust settle.

Now it was just me.

And Riley.

bShe /bstood across the room, her hands clenched at her sides, her chin lifted like a wolf ready for the next hit. She looked… tired. bNot /bthe kind of tired that could be fixed with sleep. The bkind /bthat bseeps /bbinto /bthe bones after years of holding yourself together while everyone else tried to tear you bapart/b.

I stood. I didn’t beven /bknow why.

She moved too–too fast, too sudden–and bumped hard into the edge of the coffee table.

She winced, but didn’t make a sound.

She didn’t beven /bnce back.

She just walked away.

Not to Kael’s room. Not even to her assigned bedroom. She headed toward the far end of the hall–toward the old supply. closet the Pack used to throw things they didn’t want.

Of course.

The e unwanted daughter returns to the unwanted room.

Before I realized I’d moved, I bwas /balready behind herb. /b

The second she stepped inside, I mmed the door open. She jumped, turned–and I kicked it shut, hard.

My hand shot out.

Pinned her to the wall.

Her breath caught, chest heaving against my palm.

Our faces were binches /bbapart/b.

Close enough for me to see the way her pupils red. Close enough to smell the faint trace of antiseptic and blood under the synthetic rose perfume clinging to her hair.

She trembled under my bhand/b. Not from bweakness/b. From trying too hard not to show fear.

I hated how much I noticed that.

I hated how it still made me want to protect her.

I should’ve walked away. Should’ve said nothing.

But my voice came bout /banyway–sharp, biting, soaked bin /bsomething I refused to name.

“So you’re really that eager to get married?”

Her lips parted, her eyes shing. She shoved at my chest with both hands–small, pale fists that didn’t budge me ban /bbinch/b.

Ronan.”

“It’s none of your business, R

My name in her mouth didn’t sound like it used to.

No softness.

Just, finality.

I leaned closer, unable to stop myself.

“None of my business? After what you did to Tessa? After what you did to my family? You think you bcan /bjust walk out of here and marry into Stormridge like none of it matters?”

I could feel my voice rising, heat crawling up my neck.

But I couldn’t stop.

I didn’t want to stop.

She went still.

And thenb, /bher bvoice/b–t, cruel–cut through the air.

“Better Stormridge than this house. Better being a stranger’s bride than your family’s burden.”

The words hit harder than I expected.

And then she looked bme /bin the

eye.

“Tell me, Ronan… Is the Stormridge heir more dangerous than you?b” /b

That made my breath catch,

Just for a second,

bI /bsaw the flicker in her gaze. The fear. The memory of that night,

Of what I did.

of how low I sank bwhen /bthey told me what she did to Tessa–and I believed it. Of how I stood in that courtroom and let her

bfall /b

I’d buried that memory for years.

Now it stood between us again, more breal /bthan ever.

She looked at me like I was ba /bba /bmonster.

And maybe I bwas/bb. /b

Maybe that’s why stepped closer again–until there was nowhere left to go.

Because this wasn’t just about jealousy. It was about control. Territory. Duty.

The alliance between ckmaw and Ebonw had to happen. That much was clear.

bAs /bthe heir to ckmaw, I would have to choose a daughter of Alpha ric..

IT

you asked me who I wanted–it would’ve been Riley.

Always Riley.

But she attacked my sister Tessa. She went to prison.

My mate can’t carry that kind of stain.

bBut /bthat doesn’t bmean /bbshe /bcan belong to someone else.

“You think I’ll let you marry him?” I asked, voice like gravel. “You think I’ll just watch you bwalk /baway after everything?”

She didn’t flinchb. /b

Bubher voice was blow /bnow. Cold.

“Who marry has nothing to do with you.”

Iughed.

Short. Biner. Twisted.

“In what world, Riley? You think you’re free? You think because you’ve been paroled you’re clean?”

I reached out again, not to hurt–just to remind her. My fingers brushed her shoulder, just above the bandage. bShe /bdidn’t cry out, but her body flinched.

I hated that.

Hated how her bpain /bstill felt like mine.

“You’re still marked by what you did. And as long as my sister doesn’t wake up, you belong to the ckmaw Pack. bYou /bbelong

to me.

Her eyes widened.

She looked up at me like I’d struck her.

And still she said nothingb. /b

Just stared.

bAnd /bin her silence, something inside me cracked.

I remembered her tears when I had a fever. I remembered her skipping her only national academicpetition to sit by my bedside. I remembered how she used to whisper her dreams of Ashmoor Academy at midnight.

And I remembered that I’d crushed every one of those dreams.

Her eyes bnow /bwere nothing like the girl I knew. Just grey ss, frozen to survive.

1 loosened my bgrip/b.

Slowly.

Carefully.

bLike /bI bwas /bbafraid /bshe might shatter if I touched her too long

Her breath came out bshaky/b, but steady. bShe /bdidn’t bmove/b.

And I…..

I couldn’t look at her anymore.

1 let go

The warmth of her body slipped out from under my palm. She didn’t say thank you. She didn’t curse me.

She just stood there. Quiet. Proud. Unbreakable.

I turned away before she could see the worst of it

Before she could see that the bAlpha /bheir of bckmaw/b–Scarlett’s fiance, their future alliance’s keystone–had almost begged a convicted trautor to stay.

And worse?

That a part of him still wanted her to say yes..