318 Back Home

    He tilted his head, studying me. “A while ago.”

    The hallway crumbled, the walls broke apart into dust, and I felt myself falling–down, down, down into a pit of cold darkness.

    After what Levi and Louis said, I decided it was best to just go to sleep.

    “Where the hell are youing from?” I snapped, my voice sharp and shaking.

    “Lennox!”

    Lennox was Sitting in the armchair across the room. One ankle hooked over the other. A ss in his hand. Watching me.

    Lennox stood slowly, setting the ss down on the side table. “Yes. I’m sorry I didn’te home. I was going to, but things gotplicated. I can exin—”

    I walked toward the sound. The closer I got, the heavier the air felt, thick with something sour–like betrayal.

    Because part of me still felt like I was dreaming.

    The bed shifted behind me. I felt a soft movement–Louis sitting up slightly.

    I turned a corner… and there he was.

    Lennox stayed seated, watching me like he knew this wasing.

    Olivia’s POV

    $%

    Louis leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “We’ll stay right here,” he whispered.

    My wolf kept urging me to apologize to make things right with them, but I refused. They were wrong. And if I apologized now, it would only make them think they were right.

    “Oh, really?” I cut him off, myugh bitter. “The Alpha meeting took all nightb?/bb” /b

    Then he smirked.

    318 bBack /bHome

    Louis was sitting up now, staring at me with a guilty expression. Leviy on bhis /bbside/b, his brows drawn, his eyes searching mine.

    Levi moved closer too, wrapping an arm around my waist, and I drew in a bdeep /bbbreath/b.

    And he wasn’t pulling away.

    Morning sunrise rom the window spilled across the room, too bright. My eyes darted-

    and froze.

    But I hated more that they didn’t even try to understand what I was feeling.

    Why was it so hard for them to see that this wasn’t just about Lennox not being here? Why couldn’t they understand that I was scared and tired, and maybe I just needed them to be patient?

    But he didn’t hear me.

    I bolted upright with a choked gasp, my body slick with sweat, heart pounding like I’d just run a marathon.

    I threw the nket off and stormed out of the bed, ignoring Levi’s hand that reached for me and Louis’s voice calling my name. My bare feet hit the cold floor as I marched straight toward him.

    His head snapped toward me suddenly, but his expression wasn’t shocked or guilty. He just… stared. Like he didn’t even recognize me.

    I didn’t even think. I just moved.

    “No,” I whispered, frozen in ce. “Lennox, what are you doing?”

    4

    So I just let it be… and closed my eyes, hoping sleep would take me before my thoughts

    did.

    And another part… wanted to p the juice right out of his hand. 1

    I stepped forward, shouting now, screaming his name.

    In my dream, I was standing in the hallway of the pack house. I could hear muffledughter echoing through the walls. A woman’sugh.

    He blinked, caught off guard by the fire in my tone. “The Alpha meeting—”

    318 Back Home

    He wasn’t fighting it.

    I hated this tension.

    Iy still, eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. But I wasn’t. My mind was still full bof /bLennox, of tonight, of how Louis and Levi had made me feel.

    I gasped.

    I turned my face further into the pillow, swallowing hard. His words hurt. How can they ever think they were never enough for me?

    His eyes were confused. His expression shocked.

    “Morning,” he said. Calm. It’s almost like he’d been here the whole time.

    Lennox.

    Pinned against a wall, his hands tangled in the hair of a dark–haired woman. She was pressed up against him, her mouth on his, her body flushed against his in a way that made my stomach twist.

    p. 1

    I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe.

    ???

    “I didn’t mean to make you feel like you weren’t enough,” I whispered. My voice cracked a little. “I’m just… scared that Lennox hasn’t arrived yet.”

    “She was here,” he said. “And you weren’t.”

    “And we’re sorry,” Levi added, “for assuming the worst. You don’t have to exin anything. Just go to bed… we will talk about it tomorrow, okay.”

    I nodded, blinking fast.

    But peace didn’tst long because I had a dream.

    I Blinked rapidly.

    For a second, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even tell if I’d really woken up. The dream felt too close. His face was too sharp in the morning light, and yet… wrong.

    So I said nothing.

    b318 /bbBack Home /b

    And then everything shattered.

    That same arrogant, knowing smirk he used to wear before everything went bto /bbhell/b.

    I pulled the nket up to my chin andy on my stomach, pretending to getfortable even though my heart was still racing. The room felt too quiet, btoo /bbheavy/bb. /bbI /bcould feel Louis shifting beside me, and Levi exhaled a long, tired breath–but none bof /bus said another word.

    My hand met his cheek before I could stop myself, and the sound echoed through bthe /b

    room.

    And just like that, something in me eased. I still didn’t have all the answers, I was bstill /bworried, but I pushed it away and forced myself to sleep.

    I stayed quiet.

    He sighed. “We shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. It’s just… when you act like that, it gets to us. We’re trying to be here for you, but sometimes it feels like we’re not enough.”

    I turned slowly to look at them.

    “Olivia…” His voice was low, hesitant. “I’m sorry.”

    He groaned into her mouth, one hand gripping her waist, the other sliding under her shirt.

    Louis reached out and brushed my hair back from my face. “We know. But he is fine.” His face turned slightly from the impact, his jaw tightening. But he didn’t say a word. He just looked at me.

    My mouth was dry. “When did you get back?”

    Then Levi’s voice joined, softer than I’d ever heard it. “We know Lennox has a strong pull on you. But… we’re here too, Olivia. We’ve always been. And tonight, we just wanted to be what you needed.”