Chapter 68

The silence hung heavy between us for a few moments until I opened my mouth, desperate to say something—anything—to break the tension, but Elroy beat me to it.

“I’m so sorry,” he said.

My breath caught in my throat. This was the last thing I'd expected.

Elroy ran a hand through his disheveled hair, his usual polished demeanor crumbling before my eyes. "I’m so sorry,” he choked again, voice thick as he reached for my hand like he wasn’t sure I’d let him take it. “I know you didn’t cheat.”

I swallowed hard. “You seemed pretty certain before,” I said softly. Elroy winced.

“I was,” he admitted, “but when you left I went to scream at Astor and…”

“He told you the truth?” I asked, surprised.

“Not in so many words, but he did give it away. I should have apologized to you that night, I wanted to, but…” Elroy's eyes met mine, brimming with anguish.

"I couldn't face you knowing you were right. I’ve turned into my father.”

The admission hit me like a physical blow. I’d thrown out that statement out of anger, I should have known it would affect him when I knew how much Elroy despised his father's cruelty. He was right, though, I hadn’t been wrong.

To realize he'd fallen into the same patterns must have been devastating.

"So I stayed angry at you," he continued, voice cracking. "It was easier than facing the truth about myself."

I stared at him, stunned into silence. The raw vulnerability in his expression, the genuine remorse—it was overwhelming. This wasn't the cold, distant man who'd been so cruel lately. This was Elroy, the man I'd fallen in love with.

Before I could stop myself, a sob tore from my throat. All the hurt, the fear, the loneliness of the past weeks came crashing down. I covered my face with my hands, my body shaking.

"Oh, Olivia," Elroy murmured. Strong arms encircled me, pulling me against his chest. I breathed in his familiar scent as the tears flowed freely.

I clung to him, finally letting myself fall apart. All the pent-up emotions I'd been holding back rushed out in a torrent. Elroy held me tightly, one hand stroking my hair as I cried.

"I'm here," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. I'm here now."

As my sobs subsided, I took a deep, shuddering breath and pulled back slightly. I was gutted to find that Elroy's eyes were red-rimmed, his own cheeks damp. I reached up to cup his face, my thumb brushing away a stray tear.

"Elroy," I said softly, my voice hoarse. "I... I need to apologize too.”

Elroy shook his head. "No, Liv. This isn't on you—"

"Please," I interrupted, "let me say this." I took another breath, steadying myself. "I only said what I did because in that moment, I wanted to hurt you. That doesn’t make it true.

“You are not your father, Elroy, and you never could be.”

His eyes widened, a flicker of hope igniting in their depths.

"Yes, you’ve done some things that hurt me, I won’t deny that,” I continued, “but your father did what he did on purpose, and you didn’t. And he never would have apologized like this. You’re a better man than him, Elroy, and I know that.”

A choked sound escaped him, and suddenly I was crushed against his chest again. I felt his body shudder as he tried to suppress his sobs.

"Thank you," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "Goddess, Liv. I don't deserve you."

I wrapped my arms around him tightly. He’d never called me by a nickname before.

“It’s not about deserving,” I said. “The Moon Goddess placed us here, together, and that’s all there is to it.”

“I was so scared,” he admitted hoarsely, head still buried in my shoulder. The words hurt. “When I woke up and you were gone, I just—I was so scared.”

I felt my throat clog up. Elroy was generally pretty open with his emotions, but he still had that tough-guy act ingrained in him so I really never thought he’d confess to fear out loud. If I thought about it from his perspective, though, why wouldn’t he be scared?

He’d followed me into a dangerous situation planning to protect me, and I’d been kidnapped right in front of him. I’d fought and screamed, and he couldn’t do anything. And knowing he was losing his baby too?

No wonder it drove his wolf to the surface like it did. I couldn’t imagine the fear he’d felt.

“I’m sorry,” I said thickly. “I only went because I was sure my aura would get me out if anything happened, but the nose plugs…”

“I know,” Elroy said. “I know you’d never do anything to harm our pup. No matter how mad at you I got, I never questioned that.”

That meant more to me than I knew how to express, so I didn’t. Instead, I asked, “How did you know I was going tonight?”

“Your investigation board,” he said, face still buried against me. I got the feeling he wasn’t going to move any time soon. “It didn’t have a date on it, but a little sleuthing told me what I needed to know.”

I hadn’t even thought about how much he could get from my office corkboard, which admittedly made me feel a little short-sighted. It was a good thing it worked out for me. Besides, I couldn’t be surprised that a tiny kernel of information was all it took for Elroy to put the pieces together—he was an intelligent man, to put it lightly.

“Did you find out why I was looking into the casino?” I asked, curious. Elroy shook his head against my collarbone.

“No,” he answered, “only that you were. The video footage told me why, but I never figured out how you got the lead.”

I huffed a little laugh. “You’ll never believe it,” I said, “it was Morse code. In one of Midnight Echoes’ songs.”

“…Oh now what the fuck.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. It was honestly an absurd way to find information, and I never would have even considered it if it weren’t for Mia going around telling people to listen to the rhythm. I had no clue how she got the idea, but clearly it worked.

“It was hard, investigating without you,” I admitted. Elroy squeezed me closer.

“You won’t have to do it again,” he said firmly. “From now on, we fight to govern Eclipse as a team. Fuck the council’s demands.”

As we held each other, I felt a sense of peace wash over me. My wolf, so long agitated and uneasy, finally settled. I was exhausted, physically and emotionally, but I was more at peace than I had been since all of this started.

Finally, my wolf sighed, there's nothing between us and our Mate. We are one, like we are supposed to be.