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“What’s wrong with here? We have everything we need,” her mother defended.

Jayden shook her head. “We aren’t free. You see the fence. They keep us locked up here.”

He huffed out a breath. “This is only temporary. The new place is wide open with enough land so you won’t feel confined.”

Jayden shook her head. “My decision has been made. There will be no more discussion about it.” Her expression softened when she looked back at her parents. “I hope you find peace. You know I love you both, but I can’t go. I don’t want to.”

“Jayden, please. We need you,” Mallory pleaded in a trembling voice.

Jayden glanced at Peterson and Van. There was an expression in her eyes that perplexed him. He barely glimpsed it before she lowered her eyelids and averted her eyes. He started forward, only to stop when Van gripped his arm and shook his head.

“I love you both,” she murmured, touching her mother’s damp cheek before she turned and walked away.

Peterson watched in silence as Jayden walked away from them—again. He took a step forward only to stop when Van squeezed his arm before he released him. Rand wrapped his arm around Mallory’s waist, murmuring reassuring words that Jayden would change her mind as he led her away.

Mitchell sighed. “Jayden is determined to resist all help—” He stopped short and looked down at Tracy.

“You can say it. She doesn’t trust the Others,” Tracy commented in a dry voice.

Mitchell shook his head. “It’s more than that. She blames herself for what is happening.”

“Blaming herself for what?” Van demanded.

Mitchell looked around the compound. “All of this. She blames herself for Ella being found. For our clan being discovered.”

“Oh, Mitchell. She has no idea how happy that has made so many people,” Tracy murmured, staring after Jayden.

“She doesn’t see it as that. She sees us as being uprooted from our way of life and cast into the unknown,” Mitchell replied. “I’ve tried to talk to her about it, but she refuses.”

“Why would she think that she is to blame?” he asked.

“It was Jayden who insisted on going past the boundaries we had set. She was the one who broke into the shifter’s shed. Ella was with her when they fell into the trap. She believes if she hadn’t gone, that shifters would still believe we were extinct,” Mitchell explained.

“So, she is going to punish herself for the rest of her life? What the hell is she going to do once everyone is gone? Stay here by herself? Every dick of a shifter will be hunting for her if they find out she is alone out here,” he retorted.

“That is exactly what she plans to do. It is her choice,” Mitchell replied.

“Well, it is the wrong choice,” he snapped in response.

“Come on, Peterson,” Van muttered, pulling on his arm.

“She was so damn close! We could grab her and take her back to our place before she knew what happened.”

“And what do you think she would do the second we took our eyes off her?” Van asked in a quiet voice.

Peterson pursed his lips when he realized he had spoken his thoughts aloud. Van stopped and waited for Peterson to look at him. He reluctantly pulled his gaze away from Jayden.

“You know she can’t stay here alone. Hell, I don’t think I could survive in the forest alone and I’m a Goddamn wolf shifter!” he muttered.

Van chuckled. “Yeah, I know I couldn’t. Shitting in the woods isn’t much fun.”

“I hate raw food,” Peterson grumbled.

Van slapped his shoulder. “You and me both, brother. I guess now isn’t the time to mention to her that we bought a ranch that borders the new compound so she could be close to her family.”

He chuckled. “Probably not. So… what are we going to do?” he asked.

Van looked in the direction Jayden had disappeared. “We corner her and ask her why she feels the way she does, convince her that what happened was a frigging miracle, and charm the shit out of her.”