y's

eep. Not fo

l dressed in yesterday's clothes, his tie long gone, and headed straight pa

to talk

He didn't even slo

e between us. "You can stand watch at someone's bedside all n

around. "Don't make this

my voice even, though my hands weren't. "I'm a

, warning. "I'm not doin

plain. He di

and something from last night surfaced, uninvited. In the hospital corridor, he'd said it without t

d swallowed sev

that the weight on his shoulders wasn't mine to

andra-soft, careful, like she was something b

it. He'd simply never c

my eyes

's get a

behind his eyes. "W

get to finish the

ning me back against the wall. Not hard enough to bruise. Hard e

he was stating a fact I'd forgotten. "You used a marriage to tr

t was from the lack of air or from how long I'd waited for h

is pho

d down.

t had never been there, and he was already straightening his co

n before I could stop myself. "If we had

e door, not qui

u were pregnant, I wouldn't claim it as mine. You know exactly how ca

rame. His words had already done the damage,

an answer. Now I understood I'd

ever once considered m

ing mirror across the room and bare

t him do this to

pulled the bottom drawer all the way out, pushing aside scarves I'd never

ce pa

ormer Alpha-had a lawyer draw these up just to ta

very night of our wedding. My l

six months ago. I'd let myself believe that meant someth

ever needed the papers to

a hundred other ways to make sure I ne

at the edge

igned m

before the ink

ma. I know you had a night shift. I hope you had a good sleep. I had a dream abou

u. When are you c

e before I co

mine, and it finally hit me-all the years I'd wasted trying

pent watching my dau

face and ca

I said, before she

. "Ivy, I thought you were finally going

se." I kept it short because if I let myself say more, I wasn'

ng hard and furious c

caught herself. "Good. Leave hi

er

year now. You saved his mate's life, Ivy. Nadia would've died in that delivery room

g in my chest loosening fo

ed fast, and most Alphas didn't want the complications that came w

afe for a mother and a daughter no

kindness. It was a door I

n it. I just need a little time to

when you're here," Beryl said gentl

self out of it. "I'll come see you both to

r voice softening.

e signed papers were still lying on the

f a drawer, buried under scarves I never wore, as if

ned. There was no

d instead, out in the open,

kind that felt like the first r