Page 103 of Knot Your Sunshine
The silence stretches between us. My throat works but no words come. What could I possibly say that would fix this catastrophe I created?
"You know you're being a terrible pack leader right now, right?"
My head snaps up. "What did you just say?"
He doesn't flinch. His eyes hold mine, steady. "I said you suck right now."
Heat flares in my chest, an instinctive alpha response to challenge. My shoulders tense, ready to remind him exactly who leads this pack. But the words die in my throat because—
"You're right." The admission tastes like ash. "I do suck."
His voice loses its confrontational edge and becomes something rawer, almost pleading. "You need to get a grip, Noa. Are we really going to let our scent match leave because we screwed up?"
He stands, and I watch his spine straighten.
"I'm hurting like hell right now too, man." His fist clenches and unclenches at his side. "But this isn't over. We can still make this right. Together."
Together…
"How?" The question comes out broken. "How do we fix this when we've shattered her trust?"
Keanu's quiet for a moment, then sits back down beside me. "I don't know the specifics, but I know we can figure it out. Together. Remember when we started the company? Everyone said three kids from nowhere Hawaii wouldn't amount to anything."
He shifts closer, his shoulder pressing against mine. "Remember what you said then? When Josh wanted to quit after that first investor laughed us out of his office?"
The memory surfaces reluctantly. Josh pacing our tiny garage, talking about giving up. The defeat in his eyes.
"You said we were like a three-stranded rope." Keanu's eyes burn with conviction. "That alone, each of us was just one fragile thread, but twisted together we became unbreakable. We built a multi-billion-dollar empire from that belief in just six years. Don't forget who we are when we work as one."
The words sink in slowly, penetrating my brain fog.
When did I become this? This brooding, self-pitying excuse for an alpha who lets his pack fracture? Who lets his omega walk away? I've faced hostile takeovers, backstabbing investors, family crises, and I've never just... given up.
Keanu's right. We've overcome impossible odds before. We can do it again.
I push myself to my feet. My legs shake for a moment but they hold.
"You're right." The words scrape out rough, fighting their way past the tightness in my throat. "I'm sorry."
Keanu stands and grips my shoulder, something shifting in his expression. Relief maybe, or hope.
I pull in a breath that fills my lungs completely for the first time since Mia walked out.
"Let's fix this. Together."
Chapter forty-two
Josh
My fingers hover over the keyboard, but they won't move.
Her face fills my vision instead. Violet eyes wide with betrayal. The way her voice cracked when she said we didn't see her as an equal.
I press the heels of my hands against my eyes until I see stars. Why, oh why did we treat her like she'd shatter at the first sign of trouble? What if she's really gone? What if we lost her because we couldn't see past our own need to shield and protect? Because we couldn't treat her like the capable woman she—
A knock breaks through my spiral.
Silence.
