Chapter 45

Cora

Earlier that Day

I didn’t want to cry. Especially not in front of Kingston, but as I stood in my living room, clutching Ethan’s hand like a lifeline, tears burned hot and merciless behind my eyes.

Moments before, Ethan had looked at me with concern.

“I can’t believe I’m actually asking you this,” I said, pacing across the living room, my stomach in knots. “But I need you to pretend to propose to me.”

Ethan blinked at me from the couch, setting his coffee down slowly. “Cora… what? Are you serious?”

I stopped pacing and turned to him. “Kingston won’t leave it alone. I heard the interns gossiping that he was going to get a ring and… I can’t have that.”

Ethan whistled low. “Wow. I mean… he’s smitten, huh?”

“I can’t let him get closer,” I said, wrapping my arms around myself. “After hearing my wolf again, I realized that I need to find my true mate. I would love it if it were Kingston, but he can’t be. He already has a kid, a whole life.”

Ethan stood, his expression softening. “So you want me to fake propose so he backs off?”

“Just long enough for me to think clearly. To sever whatever this is before it becomes irreversible.” I met his eyes. “I trust you, Ethan. And I know you won’t make it weird.”

He exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. “This is definitely weird.” He smiled faintly. “For what it’s worth, I like being your co-conspirator.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Are you sure about this?” Ethan asked gently, glancing down at the ring box I had given him, pinched between his fingers. Inside, the ring was tasteful, silver, and minimal, the kind of ring someone like me might actually wear.

No, I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t been sure about anything since the night my wolf whispered to me in that fragile, echoing voice. And what she said… that she was too weak to return without my true mate…

My stomach twisted painfully. I needed to protect myself. Protect Riley. And maybe even protect Kingston. It was better to move on, to find my mate and resolve this.

But first, I needed to dissuade Kingston. Rip the bandage off.

“Yes,” I whispered, barely able to push the word out. “Let’s do it.”

The knock came too soon. I froze, Ethan still crouched in front of me, sliding the ring onto my finger.

The door creaked open, and there he was.

Kingston.

He didn’t speak at first. His eyes, always so commanding, so controlled, flickered with something I’d never seen before.

Loss.

I opened my mouth. I wanted to scream that it wasn’t real, that it was a lie, that I didn’t choose Ethan—not really. But no sound came. And soon, after some verbal sparring with Ethan and I, Kingston turned around.

He walked away.

I wanted to follow. I wanted to beg him to listen, to understand why I’d done something so reckless, so stupid. But my body wouldn’t move.

Instead, I sank onto the couch like my legs couldn’t bear the weight of what I’d done.

“I’m sorry,” Ethan said, rising slowly. “I didn’t think he’d come.”

“He wasn’t supposed to,” I said, hollow. “He was going to have to find out eventually, though.”

Ethan sat beside me. “But you didn’t really want him to right now.”

In truth, I had hoped for more time. I had expected a little more of a grace period to sort through my emotions. But no, of course I couldn’t be granted even that.

“I don’t know what I want,” I admitted. “That’s the problem.”

That wasn’t entirely true. I wanted the impossible. I wanted a mate who didn’t already have a child with and an obligation to someone else. I wanted to stop feeling like my heart was going to split in two every time Kingston looked at me like I was his whole world.

And most of all, I wanted my wolf back.

That whisper the other night had haunted me. I kept trying to reach her, closing my eyes in the break room, focusing while pretending to edit spreadsheets. But all I ever found was silence. Cold, empty silence.

“I thought if I shut the door,” I murmured, staring at the ring, “if I made it clear that it wasn’t an option… maybe I could move on. Maybe I’d find my mate and she’d come back.”

Ethan didn’t answer right away. He just studied me with that frustratingly perceptive gaze of his.

“But you think Kingston isn’t your mate because he had a child with someone else?”

“Because he chose someone else,” I corrected, too quickly. “He is preparing to build a life around Billy.”

“And yet he’s chasing you. Risking everything for you.”

I shook my head. “If he felt the mating bond, he would have told me by now. He would have sensed I had a wolf and was his mate from the start, actually.”

I sighed, standing. “It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change anything.”

But it did. It changed everything.

Because no matter how hard I tried to push him away, Kingston kept showing up. With flowers. With concern. With a look in his eyes that shattered every wall I built.

And now he had left after the little show I had put on. Maybe for good.

I pressed my palm to my chest, trying to ease the ache blooming behind my ribs. My fingers brushed the ring, and I recoiled like it burned.

“I think I made a mistake,” I said, barely a whisper.

“I know,” Ethan said gently. “But it’s not my place to fix it.”

He reached over, pulled the ring from my finger, and set it on the coffee table. “We can tell people we broke off the engagement, if you want.”

Tears stung again. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this. I was just so worried.”

Ethan smiled softly. “You’re my friend, Cora. And I think… you’re about to lose the one person who makes you feel alive.”

The front door clicked shut behind him, and I was left alone.

The silence was suffocating.

I curled my knees to my chest and buried my face in my arms. I didn’t want to cry again, but the tears came anyway. They came hard and from someplace deep and ancient that I couldn’t reach.

I wanted Kingston back. I wanted his voice, his arms, the way he looked at me like I mattered more than the moon itself.

But I also wanted my wolf. I wanted to be whole. Not just for me, but for Riley, too.

Yet I couldn’t help but feel like I had sacrificed something huge for it.

“Please,” I whispered into the empty room, trying to stir my wolf. “Come back. I need you. I need answers.”

No response. Not even a flicker of warmth in my chest.

I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. I didn’t know if Kingston would forgive me or if I’d ever hear my wolf’s voice again.

But I knew one thing.

Lying to him hadn’t set me free.

It had only reminded me how deeply I needed him.

Even if I wasn’t brave enough to admit it.