His pheromones intensify, crowding my lungs, instincts warring with reason. The urge to soothe and protect battles the knowledge that his distress is a weapon aimed at my heart.
“You know what will happen if you send me there.” His fingers pluck at the bandage on his wrist. “Is that what you want? For me to hurt myself because you failed to protect me?”
“That’s your choice, not mine.” I rise to my feet. “But I think you’ll choose to be safe. You always yourself above all else.”
His pheromones surge, crushed violets turning rotten, filling the small room until it clings to everysurface, to my clothes, to my skin. It will follow me home, like every other piece of him I’ve never fully washed away.
His amethyst stare settles on me, the shimmer of tears finally gone. “You’d let them hurt me again. You promised you’d always protect me, and now you’re abandoning me when I need you most.”
“That’s not what’s happening, and you know it.” My fingers curl around the cold metal of the bed rail.
“Do I?” He tilts his head, exposing the slender curve of his neck in a gesture that once triggered every protective instinct I possess. “You never wanted to be my Alpha. You just wanted the status of having an pretty Omega. When it got hard, you bailed.”
Even as my mind tries to process the lies, the accusations twist through me like a knife, and my knuckles whiten on the rail. “I stayed when it got hard. I stayed through all the ‘emergencies’ that weren’t emergencies. Through the tantrums and the ultimatums. Through you bringing other Alphas into your bed without consulting me.”
He flinches, but it’s a calculated movement. “Because you were never there for me. You’ve never been any good at being an Alpha, have you?”
My hands shake, and I shove them into my pockets to keep from showing him that his words still affect me, even when I know they’re calculated to do nothing more than hurt. “I protected you long past the point any sane person would have.”
Auren tracks my reactions with the focus of a predator. His fingers pluck at his bandage, drawing attention back to his injury. “You know the worst part? I still care about you. Even after you abandoned me. Even after you replaced me with a broken Alpha who can’t even sense pheromones.”
My body goes rigid. “Leave Jared out of this.”
Satisfaction flashes before Auren buries it beneath a mask of hurt. “So thereissomething between you. I almost pity him. You’ll wrap him up in your care until he realizes you’ve been using him to feel needed. And when he does, he’ll walk away, leaving you alone again.”
My throat constricts, but I force myself to breathe evenly. “This isn’t about him.”
“No, it’s about you.” Tears slide down his cheeks, and Auren turns away as he shakes with silent sobs. “About how you promised to always be my Alpha, and now you’re turning your back on me.”
“I gave you everything,” I whisper, the truthraw. “All you ever did was take and tell me it wasn’t enough.”
The door swings open, the sound cutting through the tension. The nurse steps in, clipboard in hand. “Mr. Dovelle, the doctor wants to observe you for another hour before discharge.”
Auren doesn’t respond. His profile remains turned away, one tear suspended at the corner of his jaw, catching light like a diamond.
The nurse turns to me. “Are you the one handling his discharge?”
I stare at the back of Auren’s head. “Do you want to go back with Mark and Jacob?”
In response, he tucks his injured wrist tighter to his body.
I turn back to the nurse, my tongue thick in my mouth. “Yes, I’ll handle his discharge.”
Her pen scratches against paper. “The police officers said they’ll return to finalize their report.” She tucks the clipboard under her arm. “I’ll be back with those discharge forms.”
When the door shuts, Auren remains motionless, and the only sounds in the room are the steady beep of the monitor and the faint hum of the heating system pushing warm air through the vents.
“I’ll wait outside,” I say to his back, receiving no acknowledgment.
I step into the corridor, the door clicking shut behind me. Mark and Jacob are nowhere in sight. Did they give up on Auren, or will they be back to beg his forgiveness, the same way I did so many times when I was in their shoes?
My back meets the cold wall, and I slide down to sit on the hard tile, knees drawn up. The chill seeps through my jeans, numbing my skin. Even out here, his pheromones cling to me, threading through the fibers of my clothes, confusing my mind and dragging me backward.
I tried to leave him before, on my terms, at the beginning, and it had ended with late-night calls, sirens, and a guilt that never shut up.
If Mark and Jacob don’t come back, if Auren pushes through with these charges, I don’t know what I’ll do.
I tell myself I’ll wait until the paperwork’s done, then leave. I’ll drive home alone, and that will be the end of it.