Chapter 7

After that day, Damien and I visited Margaret's grave together. Then we left the country.

He brought me into his work, showed me how to navigate the kinds of situations I'd always struggled with.

He took me to galleries. He gave me books. He ran with me.

He rebuilt me, piece by piece, from the inside out.

Six months later, Damien walked me into a small café and proposed.

No elaborate setup. No sea of flowers.

He just set the ring down in front of me and looked at me with a steady, honest expression.

"Nora, will you let me take care of you?"

I stared at the ring, then at his serious face, and I laughed softly and nodded.

The day I was trying on my Bonding Ceremony gown, my phone lit up with a news alert.

"Sterling Pack Alpha and Former Mate Found Dead After Bridge Fall."

Ethan Sterling and Serena.

Serena had been held by Pack enforcement for a year and a half before they let her go.

She walked out with nothing. The years she'd spent with Ethan had spoiled her for real work.

She ended up at a bar, dancing.

She had good looks. She used them to catch the attention of a wealthy rogue.

He got what he wanted and then handed her off to an older man thirty years her senior.

She was beaten down to nothing before she managed to slip out while the man was asleep.

Running, she came across the river bridge. Ethan was sitting on the railing, drinking.

She ran at him.

"Ethan Sterling, you worthless piece of garbage."

"I gave you the best years of my life. How could you throw me to those people?"

Ethan was already in a dark place. Seeing Serena — the source of every ruin — sent him over the edge.

"You piece of trash. How do you have the nerve to come to me?"

"If it weren't for you, Nora would never have been with someone else. We'd still be together."

They fought. They went over the railing together.

Serena fought to swim. Ethan locked his hand around her ankle.

Neither of them came up.

Seven years ago, when I thought he was dead, I almost went with him.

Seven years later, he was actually dead. And I felt nothing.

My love had been used up a long time ago. Emptied out. And filled with someone new.

I set down my phone and pulled open the curtain to look at the man on the sofa.

"How does it look?" I asked.

Damien's eyes brightened. Then his expression cracked, and his eyes went wet. He crossed the room in two steps and pulled me into his arms.

His voice broke.

"Nora, my whole life before you — all thirty years of it — was just leading up to this moment."

"From here on, I'll protect you. Always."

I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my face against his chest.

I nodded once, hard.

Mom, I'm ready to hold on to a new life.

Thirty years old. Everything is exactly as it should be.