Page 24

Emmie

The small bookstore tucked between the coffee shop and the antique dealer has become my refuge over the past three days.

After the incident with Cerise, I've been avoiding the estate grounds—Romeo specifically—as much as possible, only returning to sleep and reassuring Mom that I'm fine.

Luckily, the bookstore owner, Mrs. Vincent, is a sweet Beta woman who doesn't ask questions about why a college student spends her afternoons reading in her store instead of attending classes.

"You're here early today," she observes as I settle into my usual corner chair. "Is everything all right, dear?"

"I just needed some quiet time," I reply, which isn't entirely a lie.

The cottage feels suffocating lately. Since Mom found out that Beck took me to the hairdressers after my run-in with Cerise, she's watching my every move. And on top of that, I'm constantly aware that the Silver men are just mere steps away.

Here, surrounded by books and the gentle hum of the afternoon customers, I can almost pretend I'm just a normal girl with normal problems.

My new haircut catches my reflection in the window, and I'm still adjusting to the bob Vivian created from Cerise's destruction. It makes me look older, more confident—which is ironic since I've never felt more uncertain about anything in my life.

The bell above the door chimes, and I glance up automatically.

My heart stops seeing Eli standing in the doorway, his green eyes scanning the store until they land on me.

He's wearing a simple Henley and jeans, dirt under his fingernails suggesting he came straight from the gardens.

His expression shifts from surprise to something that looks almost like relief when he sees me.

I duck my head back to my book, hoping he'll buy whatever he came for and leave. But when his footsteps approach, and I can smell that familiar scent of pine, roses, and earth that makes my Omega purr despite everything.

"Jolie." His voice is soft, careful. "I thought that was you I saw earlier."

I don't look up from the page I'm not actually reading. "Hello, Elias."

"May I?" He gestures to the empty chair across from me.

Every instinct tells me to say no, to maintain the distance I've worked so hard to establish. But Mrs. Vincent is watching from behind the counter with curious eyes, and making a scene would only draw more attention.

"It's a free country," I say, still not meeting his gaze.

He settles into the chair, and immediately the space feels too small, too intimate. His presence wraps around me, bringing back memories of our afternoon by the lake, the way he'd kissed me like I was something precious.

"Your hair," he breathes. "It's beautiful, but...what happened to the rest of it?"

Now I look up, meeting his concerned green eyes. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

But Eli knows me well enough to read between the lines. His jaw tightens, and I can see his alpha instincts stirring. "Who hurt you?"

"It doesn't matter." I close the book, preparing to leave. "It's handled."

"Jolie, please." His hand moves toward mine on the armrest, then stops just short of touching. "I know I hurt you. I know I was a coward about what happened between us. But if someone else hurt you—"

"Then what?" I finally look at him directly, seeing the conflict in his eyes. "You'll protect me? Take care of it? Be my knight in shining armor?"

"Yes," he says simply, and the conviction in his voice nearly breaks my resolve.

"Until when, Eli?" I lean forward, keeping my voice low but letting the pain I've been carrying bleed through. "Until your scars bleed again? Or until you decide I'm not worth the risk?"

He flinches like I've slapped him. "That's not what happened."

"Isn't it?" I stand, clutching the book to my chest like a shield. "I offered you everything I had, and you only gave me part of you because you're still in love with a ghost."

"Kate is—"

"Kate is gone," I interrupt, feeling tears prick my eyes. "She left you three years ago, Eli. But you're still waiting for her to come back, aren't you? Still hoping she'll realize she made a mistake and choose you after all."

The raw pain that flashes across his face tells me I've hit the mark. "You don't understand—"

"I understand perfectly." I move toward the door, but he stands, blocking my path. "You're terrified that if you let yourself love someone again, they'll leave you. So you push people away first. You make sure you're the one doing the leaving. So what is this? You want to be my friend?"

"That's not—" He runs his hands through his hair, frustration radiating from every line of his body. "Jolie, please. Just let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain." I try to step around him again, but he moves with me, his larger frame effectively trapping me between the chair and the bookshelf. "You made your choice clear when you pulled away from me. You're not ready for an Omega, remember?"

"I was scared," he admits. His voice is so quiet that I barely hear it. "You're so young, so full of life. I couldn't bear the thought of watching you realize you'd settled for a broken Alpha when you could have anyone."

The vulnerability in his confession nearly undoes me. But I've learned the hard way that good intentions don't protect hearts from breaking.

"I'm not Kate," I say firmly. "I wouldn't have left you for my scent match because you are my choice. Biology didn't make that decision for me—I did. But you couldn't see that, could you? All you could see was your own fear."

"I see it now," he says desperately. "I see you, Jolie. I see how strong you are, how brave. I see you chose me over Romeo, over biology, over everything that should have mattered more. And I threw it away because I was too much of a coward to believe I deserved that kind of love."

Tears are flowing freely now, but I swipe them away angrily. "You don't get to do this, Eli. You don't get to break my heart and then show up with pretty words when it's convenient for you."

"It's not convenient," he protests. "I haven't slept since you left my cottage. I can't eat, can't focus on anything but the memory of how you looked at me when I rejected what you were offering. I've been going out of my mind trying to figure out how to fix this."

"You can't fix it," I whisper. "Because the problem isn't what you did—it's what you couldn't do. You couldn't trust me enough to believe that I meant what I said. You couldn't trust yourself enough to take the risk."

"I trust you now—"

"No, you don't." I finally step around him, putting distance between us before his proximity destroys my resolve. "You're still the same scared Alpha who would rather be alone than risk being hurt. And I deserve better than that."

The words hang between us in the quiet bookstore, and Elias stares at me like I've just delivered a death sentence. His face pales despite his tan.

"Jolie," he says. "Please don't give up on us. I know I don't deserve another chance, but I'm begging you—"

"There is no us, Eli." I back toward the door, clutching the book so tightly my knuckles are white. "There never really was. That was just me, fooling myself into thinking I'd found something real."

"It was real," he insists, following me. "What we had was the most real thing I've felt in years. Don't let my cowardice destroy that."

I pause at the door, one hand on the handle. For a moment, I let myself look at him—really look. He's beautiful and tortured and everything my Omega heart wants to heal. But I've learned that you can't save someone who’s not ready to be saved.

"Goodbye, Elias," I say softly. "When you're ready to stop living in the past, when you're ready to be the Alpha someone deserves instead of the broken man Kate left behind—maybe then you'll understand what you lost."

I push through the door before he can respond, the bell's cheerful chime a bitter contrast to the pain I'm leaving behind.

I don't look back though, despite every instinct screaming at me to turn around, to throw myself into his arms and pretend that love is enough to overcome fear.

But love isn't enough when it's one-sided.

Not when one person is willing to risk everything while the other clings to their safe, lonely existence.

The afternoon sun is warm on my face as I walk down Main Street, but I feel cold inside. Empty. Like I've just closed the door on the last chance at happiness I might ever have.

My phone buzzes with a text as I reach the bus stop.

Jude: How are you holding up? Want to grab dinner tonight?

I stare at the message, remembering the peace I felt in his apartment, the way he held me without asking for anything in return. Jude understands what it's like to be an Omega in a world that doesn't see past biology. He understands the exhaustion of always having to prove your worth.

Me: Yes. I need friendly company.

Jude: My place at 7? I'll cook.

Me: Perfect. Thank you.

I slip the phone back into my pocket and board the bus that will take me back to the estate.

But as the bookstore disappears behind us, I glimpse Elias standing in the window, watching me leave. His face is sad, possibly heartbroken, desperate, but I force myself to look away.

Some bridges, once burned, can't be rebuilt. Some trust, once broken, can't be repaired with pretty words and regret.

Elias Silver had his chance to choose me, to choose us. He chose fear instead.

And I refuse to spend my life waiting for someone to become brave enough to love me the way I deserve.