Chapter 158

Fiona

Did he just say that?

After all the back and forth, getting close to me then going away, and the relationship struggles we’ve had, he goes and tells a bunch of reporters that we’re dating.

AND that I’m the only woman he wants to be with?

I shake my head and let hit fall back against the door with a thump. My head and heart war with each other again, fighting over whether or not I should believe his words or not. I already told him it was over, so he shouldn’t have said that to the media, but at the same time, the words bring a warm fluttering feeling to life within me.

“Give him another chance,” Ryan had said, and honestly, the sincerity in Ethan’s voice just now has me rethinking my earlier feelings. Was I too harsh in sending that breakup text? Is Ryan right? Would giving Ethan another chance be the exact thing we need to push past the trouble and finally be happy together?

I don’t know. There are so many bad things that could come from getting back into bed with him, literally and figuratively. I don’t feel like having my heart trampled on any more than it already has been. It’s beaten up enough.

The warmth in my chest slowly chills, becoming a lump of ice that sends a cold front into every part of me.

My heart can’t take much more damage, and Ethan leaving again- possibly for good- would literally rip it in half.

A knock behind me interrupts my internal crisis, making me jump.

“Fiona?” His voice is soft yet commanding at the same time. I want to open the door, but I hold back. Should I let him back in?

“They’re gone,” he says, and I blink back the tears that had gathered in my eyes. Would any good come from giving him another chance?

Let him in, something inside me whispers. My body moves without my permission, as if it’s on autopilot. My fingers fall on the doorknob, and I stare at the dark brown wood. Everything grows more distinctive. The silence becomes deafening around me. The knowledge that he’s just a few feet away is overwhelming. The fact that there’s nothing more than a door separating us is wild considering he was just hundreds of miles away earlier today.

To open or not to open.

“Fiona, can you open the door?” His voice pulls me back from the hole I was spiraling into, and I let my fingers close around the doorknob. I turn it, take a deep breath, and pull.

“Are you okay?” Ethan asks, moving toward me. I step back with each step he comes toward me. Quickly, he realizes I want distance, and he stops advancing. “You’re not hurt?”

Wrapping my arms around myself, I look away and shake my head. I’d been elbowed twice and jostled, but I’m not hurt, so I mutter, “No. I’m fine.”

A deep exhale falls from his lips, making me lift my eyes again. Those mesmerizing green eyes immediately connect with mine, and just like when I saw him not twenty minutes ago, my breath catches and everything else falls away. There’s nothing separating us and nothing to keep me from throwing my arms around him… nothing except myself.

And his family, the Lycan leaders, Angela, the laws of his home, and probably a million other things.

My heart doesn’t care, though. It wants me to reach out to him, to let him hold me and chase away all my fears.

Like he can sense my internal struggle, Ethan reaches for me, but I move further away.

My foolish heart.

“Please don’t,” I whisper, shaking my head. If he touches me now, I might cave.

“I read your text, and I… we… Can I explain?”

“You have one chance to explain everything, Ethan. I’m tired of being led on and told one thing only to find you turning the other direction,” I tell him, pinning him with my best glare. I don’t think it does much, but I try. I need him to know I’m serious.

Ethan nods in understanding, and thankfully, he doesn’t try to move closer. I’ll give him this one chance to explain, even if it’s just to say I gave him plenty of chances to try to fix things. There’s not much I feel like I can do on my side unless he works with me on this, but that’ll only happen if he stops keeping me in the dark about what’s going on.

“There’s so much going on back home,” he says while raking a hand through his hair. “The Council has decided to revoke my invitation for the Lycan King Selection, which only leaves me with one choice.”

“Which is?” I only ask to keep him from not answering. I think I already know the answer.

“The Challenges… did Ryan tell you about them?”

Shaking my head, I cross my arms over my chest and motion for him to continue.

“I have to enter into a series of potentially deadly fights and come out as one of the top fighters if I want to be in the Lycan King Selection. The fights will be brutal and could be very damaging, but I’d rather subject myself to the Challenges than marry Angela,” he says, the last part coming out a bit softer.

My heart squeezes at his words, and I take in a sharp breath.

“They threatened to disqualify me, but the laws state that anyone can enter the Challenges. The King is the only one who could disqualify me, and they didn’t want to bother him,” Ethan explains.

“Okay, but that doesn’t tell me much about why you keep denying our relationship and hanging around with Angela,” I say, raising an accusatory eyebrow.

“There are many people in my country who don’t approve of our relationship. I wanted to keep you from being harmed, and the only way I could think to do that was to not officially announce that you were my mate,” Ethan tells me, rubbing the back of his neck and sighing. “I’ve been trying to keep the peace between mine and Angela’s pack, but after seeing your message, I couldn’t keep playing it safe because I want to be with you, Fiona. You’re my mate.”