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I pause. “They left me for another omega. Even when I told them it wasn’t her, it was me, they ignored me. I was important and part of them until I wasn’t, and they just discarded me. Why the fuck would I put myself in a position of being vulnerable again?”

“Because you love them.”

“It’s because I love them that I can’t. They will destroy me completely this time.”

“There can be no epic happiness without risk,” Eben says like some sage wise man.

“Says the alpha who is holed up somewhere no one can find him.”

Eben laughs. “This is true. And yet, I’m never that far away.”

He shrugs his shoulders and holds up his phone. With a start and a flush of rage, I see Mael’s name and the green icon showing a call in progress.

“You fucking dick!”

Eben grins. “Suck it up, Princess Psycho. Now play nice and give into your alphas. Forgive them. Be happy.”

I take a step towards him, but he dances away, laughing. Except I can see the laughter is only skin deep. He’s oozing pain.

“Go find that person, Eben, don’t be a coward.”

He stops and glares at me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure, I don’t.”

“Wait for us, Eben,” I hear through the phone.

The alpha smiles, and, this time, I think it is real. “Nope. Give up trying to get me to come back, Mael. It’s not happening.”

“Shale would like to see you.”

Eben coughs, and I hear bullshit in the middle of it.

“Shale is wrapped around that cute omega of his. Nursing his bruised pride.”

“I know that you went there to help him, just like you’re doing now.”

“Oh,” I say loudly, cutting in. “This is repeat behaviour?”

Eben flashes me a wild smile. “It is, but, with Aspyn, it was worth it. She gave in and stopped giving them the cold shoulder after Shale beat me. Gael went to the island with his pack for the surf competition. You know, I paid a lot of money to ensure that it happened at his home. A lot of money. Pulled in some wild favours, too. They just needed a little nudge. Just like you.”

“Oh, do I just? I’m not the same as this Aspyn.”

Eben grins wildly. “No, you’re not. You’re more like Aunt Doreen. She was cunning and wild and full of this fierceness. Aspyn would have drowned with Mael and his overbearing pack. But you meet them head on and make them prove themselves.”

“How do you even know?”

“You’d be surprised how often I’ve been down here checking up on you, Selene. I knew they would come back. So, I keep an eye on you, too.”

He smiles and winks. “You can thank me later.”

Eben Daane lifts a hand and walks away. I watch him go somehow, knowing I won’t find him unless he wants to be found.

He’s given me a lot to think about, but no time. I turn as the pack rock up, pouring out of the car.

“Where is he?” Mael growls.

I shrug my shoulders. “Gone.”