Something flickered across his face at that. Something that looked almost like regret.

"Right," he said quietly. "You’re leaving soon."

The words hung between them. Two more days until the weekend. Forty-eight hours until she went back to Shadowmere, back to her mother, back to her life. Back to never seeing him again.

"Yes," Lilith said, the word smaller than she intended. "Two more days."

Lucian turned away from her. His jaw was working, like he was trying to decide whether to say something. Behind him, she could see the defined muscles of his back, the dark stain of sweat on his skin, the way his shoulders were held rigid with tension.

When he turned back, his expression was controlled again. The raw intensity was locked away behind a wall of discipline.

"Don’t come out here alone again," he said, his voice formal now, the alpha in him asserting itself. "The training grounds can be dangerous. You could get hurt."

"I was careful," Lilith said.

"I know," Lucian replied. And there was something in his tone that suggested he meant more than just about her physical safety. "Still. Stay away from here."

Lilith nodded, even though his request felt wrong somehow. Like there was something unfinished between them, something she was missing.

"I should go back," she said.

She turned to walk away, back toward the tree line and the path that would lead her back to the house. Her heart was beating faster than it should be. She could feel Lucian’s gaze on her back, burning like a physical touch.

"Lilith," he called out when she was halfway to the trees.

She turned back.

Lucian was standing exactly where she’d left him, shirtless and glistening with sweat, his golden eyes locked on hers from across the distance.

"I’m glad you’re feeling better," he said quietly.

The words should have been simple. A platitude. Something polite and appropriate.

But the way he said them made them feel like a confession.

Lilith felt something twist in her chest. Something she couldn’t articulate or understand. She nodded because she didn’t know what else to do, and then she turned and walked back toward the house.

Behind her, Lucian watched her go.

He stood there for a long moment after she disappeared into the trees, his chest still heaving, his entire body vibrating with the effort of not following her. His golden eyes were bright, burning with a need that was only partially satisfied by training.

Zev was screaming inside him, demanding that he go after her, that he claim her, that he mark her before she left them forever.

But Lucian stood still.

Because in forty-eight hours, she would be gone. And standing on the training grounds, watching her disappear into the trees, Lucian finally understood the full depth of what they were about to lose.

She was his mate.

And they were letting her go.

***

Back in her room, Lilith sat on her bed and tried to slow her racing heart.

She had seen Lucian fight. She had witnessed the raw power underneath the tenderness he showed her. She had felt the intensity of his gaze and the struggle it was taking him to maintain control.

And she had no idea why it mattered.

She had no idea that she would never see him like this again...powerful and unconstrained and burning with a hunger she couldn’t satisfy. She had no idea that the brothers were slowly breaking apart as the hours counted down to her departure.

She only knew that something had shifted in that moment on the training grounds. Something fundamental. And she didn’t know how to process it.

Lilith lay back on her bed and stared at the ceiling, her body still thrumming with an energy she couldn’t name.

Two more days.

Forty-eight hours and she would be home.

She should have felt relieved.

Instead, she felt like she was saying goodbye to something she’d never quite been allowed to keep.

***

Nicholas’s private room was darker than usual.

The curtains were drawn against the late evening light, keeping out the last golden rays of the day that refused to acknowledge that tomorrow would change everything. A single lamp burned on the desk, casting long shadows across the walls lined with books and the accumulated weight of centuries of alpha decisions.

Lucian stood by the window, his hands pressed flat against the glass so hard the tips of his fingers had gone white. His breathing was ragged. Uncontrolled. Behind him, Sebastian sat in one of the leather chairs, his head in his hands, his shoulders hunched inward like he was trying to make himself smaller.

Nicholas stood behind his desk, his posture perfect despite the chaos crackling through the room like electricity.

"We’re letting her go tomorrow," Nicholas said quietly. His voice was absolute. Final. The voice of an alpha who had made a decision and would not be moved.

Lucian’s entire body went rigid.

"No," he said. The word was sharp. Immediate. A rejection so fierce it was almost a snarl. "Absolutely fucking no, Nicholas. We are not letting her go."

"We are," Nicholas replied, his tone not changing. "We all agreed that the contract ends tomorrow. Lilith returns to Shadowmere."

"The contract is a lie," Lucian spun around to face his brother, his golden eyes blazing. "The debt was never real. It was never about repayment. It was about keeping her here long enough for the bond to form, and now you want to just... what? Let her walk out the door? Let her go back to her pack and pretend none of this happened?"

Sebastian’s head came up. He was watching the exchange like a man watching a disaster unfold in slow motion, unable to stop it but unable to look away either.

"That’s exactly what we’re going to do," Nicholas said calmly. He was reviewing paperwork on his desk as if they weren’t in the middle of this conversation. As if his hands weren’t trembling slightly as he turned the pages. As if Kael wasn’t screaming inside him, demanding the same thing Lucian was demanding.