Page 25 of Sovereign Oaths

She squeezed my hand and shut her eyes, sighing into Cruz.

He and I stared at each other. This felt big. She was telling us she cared about us in more than a physical way.

“We’ll always be here,” he murmured into her dark, wavy hair.

“No. You won’t.” She blinked down at the floor. “Once this is over, we’ll all go home. You four will be together, and I’ll be alone again.”

I tugged on her hand, willing her to look at me, but she didn’t. “Maybe not. You have a say in your life. If you want to be with us, we can make that happen.”

She only had to ask, and we’d destroy the world for her.

Fuck what our Alpha or Pack wanted for her. She’d done more than enough to warrant a say in her own life. This mission could be her leverage. If we got Rod to agree, he could help her lessen the ties to the Pack’s base. She wouldn’t need to retire or even take different missions. She’d just live with us.

Why wouldn’t the Alpha approve?

I couldn’t think of a legitimate argument, but that didn’t mean El Lobo or his council would agree.

Her sad smile nearly broke me. “Let’s worry about that later. We still have to survive this before we move on to our next battle.”

She didn’t want to get her hopes up. If anyone could understand keeping your expectations low to protect yourself, it was the four of us. We’d known more loss and disappointment than anyone should.

“I’ll call him.” She repeated with more determination.

She went back to my room, and I expected her to stay for privacy. Instead, she came out, took Cruz’s hand, and leaned against me as she tapped his name on her phone.

It rang only once before he answered. She didn’t need to put it on speaker for us to hear his booming voice perfectly.

“Millie.” Dias sounded as relieved as I would have been in his position.

“Hi, Alessio.” She sighed. “I got your gift.”

“You did? Good.”

“Thank you. The dress is beautiful. I’m surprised you remembered it.”

He chuckled. “I immediately pictured you in it and knew I had to see it in person one day.”

She dropped her head against my shoulder, and I wrapped my arm around her waist.

“I know a gift doesn’t make up for everything that happened. Nothing can, but I want you to know how sorry I am. I swore to keep you safe, and I failed repeatedly.”

“That’s not what made me mad. I have no doubt that if someone entered the room with a gun aimed at me, you’d do whatever you could to protect me. I never doubted that.”

There was a beat of silence. “Then why did you leave?”

He couldn’t possibly be that thick.

She shook her head, and Cruz’s shoulders rocked as he silently laughed.

“I was terrified. From the moment you called your guards to being shoved into a safe room and then whisked away in a helicopter without you telling me where we were going. It wasn’t just knowing your mom’s house was under attack and the fact that it was happening at all. She told me it was probably a robbery, but she knew it wasn’t. You knew it wasn’t. Your enemy sent men after me, to do fuck knows what.” She sucked in a breath, and I rubbed her back.

“I’m so sorry. I needed you to trust me to take care of you.”

“But that’s the problem. I can’t trust you. I don’t even feel like I know who you are anymore,” she shot back.

“Millie.” He sounded physically wounded. “You know me. The real me. Isn’t that what matters?”

“No!” She paused and shot me a wicked look. “You’re not just a land developer or club owner, are you?”

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