Page 93 of Pack Reject

Epilogue

BACK INTO HELL ~ LUKE

Iwas too weak to let her leave unobserved. Or perhaps my love was too strong.

Either way, I watched through the windows as she spoke to the Alpha Heirs. Watched as the shifters around her dropped their gazes, some nearly bowing to her as she walked past like a queen in disguise, not that she noticed. A few of them swallowed hard, as if they wanted to speak to her, but none of them mustered the will to do so.

Of course, Brand and Glen were sending out waves of Alpha energy, driving the other males away. She probably thought no one wanted to approach her.

I smiled, remembering her oblivious way of moving through the world, simultaneously aware of every small threat that existed, yet unaware of the way she drew others like flies to honey.

She’d been blissfully unaware of the way I’d stared at her for years, and had never understood that the Alpha’s threats and commands were the only reasons the other unranked shifters hadn’t flocked to her.

Everything about Flor was magnetic, her quiet, subtle power and strength swirling like an invisible cloak around her. Sure, some of the higher-ranked shifters hated her, but only because their wolves knew instinctively that she was their superior in every way.

She was my mate. I’d known that since we were both children, caught in a trap that bled all the joy and light from the world. But I was almost certain she was the other Alpha Heirs’ true mate, too. Even Finnick’s, though it had been all I could do not to open the door I’d been hiding behind and give him the beating he deserved for rejecting her.

The words he’d used, and repeated, had come close enough to a formal rejection that I knew they had hurt her. They’d gutted him almost as painfully as I’d wanted to when I’d seen her pain. He’d vomited blood on the side of the Pack House for a while before asking one of the Mountain shifters to drive him to Northern, claiming he’d changed his mind about Flor.

Of course, he’d come up with a rationale, insinuating that she might bear further watching. If I didn’t trust Finnick with my life, I might have believed his cleverly phrased falsehood. He’d watch her, all right. Watch her like a wolf watched a rabbit.

Flor was no rabbit, though. Yes, she was small and battered, but the angle of her chin, the hard light in her eyes, her ready stance and wary attention to every detail around her, made it clear that she was the strongest shifter at Southern.

She should be. She was Callaway’s daughter, after all.

I watched her slide gracefully into the SUV after Glen, Brand throwing me a glance as I stepped out onto the porch, before he followed her. I nodded my thanks.

His father had given me some advice on how to survive the separation that was coming, which had shocked me. “I lost myself to my wolf for years after my beloved died. But I do not believe you should let yourself shift. I’m not sure your wolf would allow the separation.”

I’d agreed, knowing my wolf would run straight to her side, which would be the final death knell for the vulnerable Southern pack… and she didn’t want me.

Of course she didn’t.

Brand had brought her bedding to my room in a sealed plastic bag, warning me to make it last. I’d laughed, but he’d made me promise not to open it for as long as possible. “You said you knew she was your mate. But you were able to be apart from her. I’m afraid this separation will be different.”

He was right. This one would be longer. And it would end in my death, if she never returned. I hadn’t told him, but I’d already locked my room so no one could change the sheets she’d slept on in my bed. I’d use them to stay sane until the last trace of her jasmine and cinnamon had vanished.

At least she had the others—Glen and Brand, even Finnick—to help her through it. Even if I died, she would survive. As long as she was safe, what happened to me in the long run didn’t matter.

“Don’t come back,” I whispered aloud as the SUV turned the corner. I raised my hand, imagining I could see her doing the same inside, pressing her small fingers to the glass. “Stay away, stay safe, and be happy, Flor. I will always love you.”

I loved her, but I couldn’t ever save her. I wanted her, but I couldn’t keep her safe here.

I prayed that the other Alpha Heirs would be enough. That they would do better.

Then I turned my back on the only Southern shifter I’d ever cared for, the only scrap of heaven I’d ever found… and walked back into Hell to try and save the ones that were stuck in the abyss with me.

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