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“He’s going to lose me.”

“Yep.”

“And he’ll deserve it.”

Milo looked up. “But willyoudeserve to walk away from the one thing that might actually be yours? I’m not saying you owe him anything, but you owe yourself everything and a life of regret and the unknown is a long, lonely path. Trust me.”

Lyra swallowed.

Because she didn’t know. She didn’t know how to forgive someone for fearing her love. She didn’t know how to keep wanting something that hurt so much.

But shedidknow this.

If Jace wanted to keep her, he was going to have to stop holding her at arm’s length and start showing up with something real.

Not just protection. Not just instinct. But choice.

Because she wasdonewaiting for him to figure out what she was worth.

22

JACE

The Keep was quiet, too quiet, as he paced the perimeter of the old ward line—boots crunching across frost-stiff grass just past the east slope where the shimmer of the veil had once danced strong and sure.

Now it flickered.

Not broken, not yet, butthinning.

He could feel it in his bones. The tension in the air, the pressure behind his eyes like a storm was coming—not fast, not loud, but steady.Inevitable.

And it wasn’t just the wards.

It was him.

Inside, beneath skin and bone, his wolf was pacing, restless and pissed, snarling at every moment that passed without Lyra beside them.

Jace growled under his breath, palms fisting at his sides.

He’d told her. Finally.

Spit the truth between clenched teeth like it might kill him if he didn’t.

And it still hadn’t been enough.

Because knowing she was his mate didn’t stop the weight in his chest. Didn’t erase the fear that he’d screw this up the way his father had screwed upeverything.

The world still rememberedKieran Montgomeryas the greatest Alpha Celestial Pines had ever known. Strong. Brilliant. Strategic.

And then one night, without a fight, without a note—he vanished.

Just gone.

No battle. No farewell.

Just dust and silence and a son left with a legacy carved in stone and shadows.

Jace had only been twenty-three.