~ NYSSA

Footsteps echoed behind me but I pushed them out of my mind and kept going, weaving through nurses and people in the waiting area until I stood in front of the car, desperately trying to catch my breath.

The image of that boy lying in the bed was etched into the back of my mind, and his mother’s heart wrenching scream echoed in my ears long after I’d left the room.

"Nyssa!" there was panic in my mate’s voice as he made his way over to me. "Are you okay?"

I forced myself to nod. "I’m fine, you should... you need to be with her right now. She is a part of your pack and she—"

"Can you stop with the overtly empathetic bullshit?" he snapped, stepping in front of me. He tilted my chin with one finger, forcing me to stare up at him. "Are you good?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but I could not bring myself to lie one more time so I shook my head. "I just... it’s one thing to know that people blame you and another to see it unfold in real time. I can’t help but wonder how many pack members truly feel that way."

He sighed, leaning over to press his lips into my forehead. "She is just hurting, she doesn’t truly believe that you are behind this."

"Doesn’t she?" I asked with a snort. "The vampires are making good on their threats. They’re going to throw us into a war."

"And we are going to end this soon enough. All of this will be over and they will realize just how much effort you put into this pack," he whispered softly, brushing my hair out of my face. "I just need you to relax, okay? Do you want to head home?"

I began to nod but stopped myself quickly.

Rowan was still King, and the last thing I wanted was for my displeasure to cause a rift between him and his pack. He had to be there for the woman, regardless of how I felt.

"I think you should go back inside," I murmured, taking a step back from him.

He frowned, his brows knitting together. "Is that what you want?"

No. "Yes. I’ll be fine out here."

I could tell he didn’t believe me. He stood there for a long minute, eyes narrowing as he carefully assessed me. After a while, he sighed and stepped back, pulling the keys out from his pockets and placing them in my open palm.

"If you feel like you want to leave at any moment, mind link me and I’ll be right there, okay?"

We both knew I would never do that but I nodded nonetheless and slipped into the passenger seat of the car.

He stared at me for one more minute before disappearing back into the hospital.

The silence was terse, and it made my skin crawl, but I forced myself to sit with it as I tried not to let the thoughts swallow me whole.

"On the bright side, you don’t have to pretend like you want to end the war when you speak to the vampire king," my wolf offered. "After this, he’ll believe anything you say."

I couldn’t help but shake my head. "Only you would try to find the positive in this."

"What else am I to do? Sit her mourning the whole time? More people are going to die if we don’t end this, Nyssa. This isn’t just Rowan’s pack, it’s ours as well and I..." she trailed off with a sigh. "This needs to end."

I didn’t get to respond because the car door slammed loudly. I snapped out of the conversation with her and turned to the driver’s seat where Aria sat, her hands resting on the steering wheel.

She kept her gaze straight ahead and her lips were pressed into thin lines. I watched her warily, unsure of what exactly she wanted with me.

"This cannot happen again," she said finally. "I cannot keep comforting pack members who watch their children die. I can’t sit by and let it happen."

"Do you think I want to let it happen?" I asked incredulously. "You think I enjoy being the villain in everyone’s story? I want it over as much as you do."

She whirled on me. "If you did, you would be doing everything in your power to make it stop."

"I am!"

"What exactly are you going?"

It was at the tip of my tongue to tell her about the plan with Allister, but his warning from earlier flashed in the back of my mind and I quickly clamped my lips shut.

She scoffed. "I fucking thought so. Look, I don’t know what he wants because neither you nor Rowan will tell me, but whatever it is, surely it can’t be that bad. Just fucking give it to him. The pack is living in fear for goodness sake. No one can go out in peace. Everyone is scared they’ll be the next one dead and unlike you, they don’t have the luxury of having guards who watch over them."

I exhaled deeply, running my fingers through my hair as I quickly realized just how tired I was.

Before, Aria was the one person I’d always want to converse with because she just had a way of making me feel better. Lately, it’d been the direct opposite.

"If you came here to berate me, you can leave, Aria. I understand that you’re upset, but that doesn’t justify the way you’ve treated me in the past few weeks. You know better than anyone that I didn’t ask for it. Your fear doesn’t give you the right to be a shitty person to me."

She held my eyes for a long minute.

Neither of us spoke, we just stared as the air around us grew thicker with unease. After what felt like hours, she sighed and turned away.

"You’re right," she murmured. "I’m sorry, it’s just... it’s hard when everyone is coming to me to fix things. They’re not used to the fact that someone else is in charge and it just feels like a lot because I don’t know what to do. I should considering I’ve been in this for so long."

"If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think Rowan does either."

Her lips curved upwards. "Actually, it does."

It looked like she wanted to say more but her phone buzzed in her hands. She cursed low as she picked it up. "Aria speaking."

"We have a problem," a low male voice began. "We found someone at the border. She looks... hurt."

"Why are you calling me for that? You know the protocol."

"She’s wearing the sigil of another pack."